Wanted:Dead

[Gamer707b]

Didn't know anything about this game till I saw a short video about it. Looked decent, but the gameplay piqued my interest. After being VERY disappointed by Bayonetta 3, I wanted something similar to scratch that itch. All I can say is WOW!! It's cool when I know little of a game or don't expect much and it turns out this good. This is what Bayonetta 3 should have been. I've been learning some of the cancels, block buffering and more of the advanced mechanics. It's pretty satisfying to learn actually. Like I said, I didn't expect to get this hooked. Fellas, if you're into hack and slash games, give this one a chance. I almost didn't give it a try, because a couple of the "reputable" YouTube channels were shitting on it. Anyway, good times.

[Kriegor]

Fishing for counters is just a bit too powerful and encouraged. The fact that they decide only one enemy can melee you at a time, unlike Ninja Gaiden's "give no quarter" attitude means repositionning is not really essential as long as you're not in the crosshair of too many long range foes. A parry leads to arm dismemberement of many threats, and a gun counter leads to the iai stance slash that cut the legs, both of those reward with an invulnerable finishing move. So just baiting and punishing is probably the optimal strat, from normal to japanese hard. Advanced threats won't die from just that but they discourage proactive play even more.

At the same time, there are definitely more ways to play than what you tend to think at first glance. They balanced gunplay and swordplay really really well, and it feels so good to start draining your opponents' health with bullets then finish them with your katana, or alternatively, stunning them with your katana, then chain a block cancel and a good shotgun blast or a big salvo point-blank range. These smooth transitions let you remain active at all time despite the emphasis on punishes. It's a bit sad you can't instantly select your rifle with either left or right, gears of war style (since you only carry two) and have to cycle through them... This kind of oversight is jarring.

I really enjoy the level design. It's straightforward and filled with enemies. Those long gauntlets against what seems at time like an infinite number of reinforcements reminds me a lot of Razor's Edge. I'm not surprised many people dislike that, but after the highly diluted Hi-Fi Rush and especially Bayonetta 3, it's so refreshing! I dig that so much! I'm going against many reviews but, to me, the checkpoints felt really on point as well.

I don't mind only 5 levels but the difficulty options change nothing in terms of enemies distribution. It should have! There are no real additional challenges to undertake after that as well, like all those ninja trials you can enjoy in the Ninja Gaiden. Add to that the lack of additional melee weapons/characters, the limited moveset, the few enemy types... I understand why many people feels it should have been a $40 game.

So, mixed feelings... Ultimately, I still have so much fun playing it and I'm glad this kind of games still come out from time to time. It's so much better than Bayo 3, that's for sure (at least for my kind of taste). But it's not on the level of a 3D Ninja Gaiden.

[Sengoku Strider]

Electric Underground just did a pretty good breakdown on how the game actually works, and the things reviewers got completely wrong about it:

https://youtu.be/xH3xxSQnZXg

[Volteccer_Jack]

It's getting bad reviews for the same reasons as vanilla NG3. Non-existent enemy variety, limited player-side variety, barely any upgrade system to speak of, janky and unbalanced combat mechanics, severe overemphasis on story, combat is easy but generates difficulty by using endless human wave tactics to turn everything into an endurance test. And who could forget the performance issues.

I scraped a fair amount of enjoyment out of vanilla NG3, and you can do the same with Wanted: Dead, but calling either a good game is a stretch. (and needless to say a game like Bayo 3 is lightyears ahead of both )

[Kriegor]

Bayonetta 3 and Wanted: Dead are almost two opposite visions of "character action games". The time you spend fighting in Bayonetta 3 is ridiculously low while the 5 missions of Wanted: Dead feel almost like an endless stream of enemies from start to finish. Having grown with games like Double Dragon, I never tire of this kind of level design. On the contrary, I hate when I have to explore, solve puzzle, do a large amount of platforming, sneak around and only fight for like 1 minute max before a medal is given to me. But for people who are more into adventure games, I understand the appeal of what Bayo 3 did.

Regarding the player possibilities, Bayo 3 gives a ton of interchangeable dial-a-combos, insanely long aerial juggle combos that makes you fly well above your foes, weapons that auto-target with perfect accuracy from miles away or instant close-in attacks that makes touching your left stick a waste of time, a super permissive cancel system that makes everything possible everywhere anytime.

Wanted: Dead is 100% grounded combat with short combos mostly made by chaining independant moves together. Said moves emphasizes spacing and positionning. There's no lock-on. The cancel system is entirely articulated around block cancels forcing you back into neutral everytime.

Enemy design philosophy is also completely different. Bayonetta 3 loves to spam a ton of "turret-type" enemies, "tower-type" enemies and other gigantic immovable monsters. Most of the opposition is under super armor at all time to promote a straightforward Simon Says ballet. Wanted: Dead makes you fight almost nothing but humanoïds and doesn't punish you from being pro-active as long as you know how to keep them stunned and dispersed.

Regarding balance, I do think Wanted: Dead is straight out better. There's a real moveset synergy with a strong incentive to mix your different weapons and moves together. Bayonetta 3 is a mess with stupidly overpowered summons and the usual accessories that lets you play without learning anything since you build up magic so quickly.

BUT, regarding content, Bayonetta 3 is miles ahead. The only thing Wanted: Dead has more is fights, since you probably spend more minutes engaged with the enemies in the 4 hours long Wanted: Dead than in the 16 hours long Bayonetta 3, even if that sounds crazy.

[Volteccer_Jack]

while the 5 missions of Wanted: Dead feel almost like an endless stream of enemies from start to finish. Having grown with games like Double Dragon, I never tire of this kind of level design.

Double Dragon has more than 2 enemy types.

Wanted: Dead makes you fight almost nothing but humanoïds and doesn't punish you from being pro-active as long as you know how to keep them stunned and dispersed.

It gives you no reason or incentive to be proactive since you have a gun and a waist-high-wall to hide behind, plus the OP parry.

Most of the opposition is under super armor at all time to promote a straightforward Simon Says ballet.

Bayonetta 3 is a mess with stupidly overpowered summons

Just quoting these to point out that they contradict each other

[Kriegor]

Double Dragon has more than 2 enemy types.

If I take you at your words, I could write that Double Dragon has 8 enemy types including bosses while Wanted: Dead has 16 enemy types + 5 bosses. And I'm not counting enemies with Assault Rifle A or Assault Rifle B or Submachine Gun A or LMG (...) as different enemy types.
Now it's obvious Wanted: Dead lacks variety and content for a $60 game but for a 4 hours long game, it's ok. Some games suffer from this problem a lot more.

One problem it has with this short pool is how it favors, like many modern action games, context other gameplay. So, for instance, Stage 2 has only 4 enemy types recycled ad nauseam and you won't find any of them outside this stage because there appearance is story driven. By the time all the different types of enemies are presented to the player, each battle feels plenty unique enough for what remains of the game.

It gives you no reason or incentive to be proactive since you have a gun and a waist-high-wall to hide behind, plus the OP parry.

As long as you have to move around and are rewarded for getting first strikes, I'm happy. I have low standard I admit, but the current state of action games doesn't allow me to be too picky.

Just quoting these to point out that they contradict each other

That's a fair point!
It's something I hold against Bayo 2 as well but I just don't like when you have pretty much no hitstun until you use your super OP rage mode and then it's a button mashing fest.

[Gamer707b]

Fishing for counters is just a bit too powerful and encouraged. The fact that they decide only one enemy can melee you at a time, unlike Ninja Gaiden's "give no quarter" attitude means repositionning is not really essential as long as you're not in the crosshair of too many long range foes. A parry leads to arm dismemberement of many threats, and a gun counter leads to the iai stance slash that cut the legs, both of those reward with an invulnerable finishing move. So just baiting and punishing is probably the optimal strat, from normal to japanese hard. Advanced threats won't die from just that but they discourage proactive play even more.

At the same time, there are definitely more ways to play than what you tend to think at first glance. They balanced gunplay and swordplay really really well, and it feels so good to start draining your opponents' health with bullets then finish them with your katana, or alternatively, stunning them with your katana, then chain a block cancel and a good shotgun blast or a big salvo point-blank range. These smooth transitions let you remain active at all time despite the emphasis on punishes. It's a bit sad you can't instantly select your rifle with either left or right, gears of war style (since you only carry two) and have to cycle through them... This kind of oversight is jarring.

I really enjoy the level design. It's straightforward and filled with enemies. Those long gauntlets against what seems at time like an infinite number of reinforcements reminds me a lot of Razor's Edge. I'm not surprised many people dislike that, but after the highly diluted Hi-Fi Rush and especially Bayonetta 3, it's so refreshing! I dig that so much! I'm going against many reviews but, to me, the checkpoints felt really on point as well.

I don't mind only 5 levels but the difficulty options change nothing in terms of enemies distribution. It should have! There are no real additional challenges to undertake after that as well, like all those ninja trials you can enjoy in the Ninja Gaiden. Add to that the lack of additional melee weapons/characters, the limited moveset, the few enemy types... I understand why many people feels it should have been a $40 game.

So, mixed feelings... Ultimately, I still have so much fun playing it and I'm glad this kind of games still come out from time to time. It's so much better than Bayo 3, that's for sure (at least for my kind of taste). But it's not on the level of a 3D Ninja Gaiden.

Very well said. Agree with everything but the level design part. I thought the look of the levels specifically were boring and generic. When I read that it was a action game set in a futuristic, cyber punk world, I immediately thought Einhander, Bladerunner, that kind of thing. Otherwise, excellent game. price wise, I get most aren't going to pay $60 on this. Me personally, I get maybe 2-3 AAA games all year and they're usually a disappointment. With this game, I can honestly say, I feel like I got my money's worth. Still not done. I still want to do hard and Japanese hard.