The Hack 'n' Slash, Beat 'Em Up, Musou Lovin' Thread

[beni 2149]

For those games that you just can't put down because there's thousands of enemies to massacre to kill time with plenty of rewards and an addicting gameplay style.

 

While all three genres of gaming are different, they do have their similarities, hence the united thread for each category. Instead of simply listening all the games that can go under each, I'll go straight ahead on naming my personal favourites (and not so favoured lot), explain why they're worth trying (and why they're really not worth anything), then hand it over to you. 

 

Popular hack 'n' slash games I have purchased, still have and am playing at the moment are Bayonetta and Devil May Cry. I have the HD Collection of Devil May Cry to Devil May Cry 3, and have yet to see the appeal. I admit I had played the Xbox DmC before trying the first lot, but I really prefer that one. It's a lot more fun and reminds me of the splendor that is Shadows of the Damned (Grasshopper reference for later~). Bayonetta has yet to grip me too, which I have always said when bringing this one up. It has very fluid and awesome gameplay, but despite it being so quick and engaging, it still doesn't get me (and I have this same problem with many well recieved titles like Asura's Wrath).

Some oldies now. The Bouncer and Jackie Chan Stuntmaster (both from 2000) were my go to games as a kid. They both were the equilivant to those movies you kept rewatching after each viewing when you were at that age. Despite never getting far in The Bouncer, I loved the really typical and simple anime style, and still do to this day. It's not the kind of game I'd even bother playing now (static and almost two dimensional), it's still fun and has that nostalgic factor I seem immune to with almost every other title I've played years ago. The Jackie Chan game is one of the few games I can remember music/BGM from, and very clearly at that. I did complete the game many amount of times and I wish to replay it even now. 

 

Footage of the 'oldies' -

 

I never realised how many games I have which fall into these categories (now onto what's supposedly beat 'em ups). There's four in particular that are quite literally my babies. Heavenly Sword, Blades of Time, Drakengard 3 and Lollipop Chainsaw all kick ass and rightly so. I put HS and BoT together quite often because while they play out just as materfully done as the already mentioned Bayonetta, it has that pull I've been missing from that game. The characters are surroundings are interesting and beautiful. BoT has a feature of pausing time, while HS gives you another character to use as a sort of mini game that's a lot more challenging than your main girl where you're controlling her long range, arrow attacks to progressive the story. I had never played a Drakengard title before but its third installment got my pumped. I adored the art and soundtrack (Nier name dropping!), and almost finished my first run through. It's frame rate and rather outdated looking graphics shouldn't put you off. Even I managed to love it for what its worth, and it's totally worth it. Lollipop Chainsaw is literally a guilty pleasure. All these games are subject to the "too repetitive" slam down, and I've got to say, no one would surely disagree with me if I say LG is the worst culprite of this, closely followed by D3 (can you see where I'm going with this?) Despite that repetitive gameplay, I love it. It's a short but sweet game, with its obviously flaws, that allows for repeated runthroughs thanks to that good and bad ending options depending on if you save all of your school 'mates'.

The last bunch I have of these are Genji, Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll and Ninja Gaiden Sigma. The latter is like the male counterpart to Bayonetta; looks flashy, but it's really all just for show. A bore, I've only ever tried to get through five minutes of the game only to not bother to reach a save point and try it again another month. Trinity I have actually gotten through a lot of. I was addicted with for a while but ended up forgetting about. I had no idea about its tie in to the Dynasty Warriors (which I'll be getting to btw), but I haven't gotten that far with Genji, which reminds me of the musou games because of it's traditional Japanese surroundings and characters, which makes me come to...

 

Musou now, and I only knew about Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes and only that for a long time. I didn't even know about its genre other than assuming it was just a hack 'n' slash one. I was quite addicted to its gameplay and characters (Little Crane Tsuruhime and that gorgeously dark and morbid Oichi that kicks Dynasty Warrior's Oichi into a home run) but never really got into the whole musou genre itself until my bf introduced me to One Piece Pirate Warriors 3, Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn and Warriors Orochi 3. OPPW3 makes me pumped for more of its games unlike the feeling the Naruto games gave me (I've ended up not even bothering to buy them ever since Naruto Shippuden Ultimate Ninja Storm Generations). OPPW3 is just perfect of the genre, it's much quicker unlike WO3, and has even more of a challenge and balanced amount of enemies to wipe out than SB:SH. On the topic of WO3, I do love how long it's taking to complete and its almost endless amount of content to unlock, from weapons to characters. The story is simple to follow yet really involving (going back in time to save a variety of comrades that you even need to go further back in time to change certain events then retry the stage in order to rescue them). I haven't played much of DW:GR though, but that also looks like good fun and with loads of the franchise's characters, I'm sure I'll end up being excited to try more of the series (only ever watched Gundam Build Fighters) like I did after having played OPPW3 (unfortunately have gotten head over heels for plenty of characters now). Too bad there's no Kid... >.> The worst of the worst with this genre is definitely the Bleach: Soul Resurrection game. I have played it twice only because I wanted to get all the characters out and secondly the trophies which I had to delete the save and start all over on my new PS3 account due to the lost sign in password... The fact that it only goes over the "rescuing Orihime" arc and nothing before or after it is a joke and an embarrassment. It being the only Bleach game to ever grace the PlayStation makes me more than upset, so I reluctantly play it just because it's Bleach. they could've done a lot better, but even so, the gameplay enjoyment is there for barely a few hours if you're patient I guess. 

 

Oichi's gameplay of nightmares:

 

Bird bae from OP:

 

She keeps me sane:

 

Phew, now over to you! Remember to keep videos wrapped in a spoiler and feel free to expand and discuss on points from others and your own. Enjoy, and happy gaming/discussing.

[YuyoDrift 1540]

Ehhhh I'm not sure if I have it in me to do a whole review lol. Maybe I'll add to it as I go.

 

I am a huge fan of this genre, ever since I first played Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time on the SNES.

 

Stories are usually meh, but I'm not in it to listen to the characters babble. I wanna fuck shit up. Cut MFers in half, and see all the blood spew out.

 

 

I think I'll just give my list if that's ok?

 

PS4

D.M.C (Devil May Cry) Definitive Edition

Onechanbara II

 

PS3

Devil May Cry Collection (1,2, and 3)

Devil May Cry 4

Ninja Gaiden

Dead Rising

Scott Pilgrim (PSN Network)

 

PSP & PSvita

Guilty Gear Judgment

 

Wii

Bayonetta I & II

 

Game Boy Advance

Astro Boy: Omega Factor

 

SNES

Spider-Man and Venom: Separation Anxiety

Spider-Man and Venom: Maximum Carnage

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time

Armored Warriors

Night Slashers (Fucking loved this)

Sailor Moon (Don't judge me bro)

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers

 

Games I've Wanted to Play

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

The Dishwasher Vampire Smile

 

Will add more later.