I Think I’m in Love with Platinum Games

As a development studio, Platinum Games is actually fairly young. The group started as Clover Studios, a development team owned by Capcom that produced Okami, God Hand, and the Viewtiful Joe series. You may notice that all of those games got outstanding Metacritic scores, and are considered cult classics of the last generation of gaming. After some drama with Capcom however, Shinji Mikami (Resident Evil, Viewtiful Joe), Atsushi Inaba (Phoenix Wright, God Hand) and Hideki Kamiya (Devil May Cry, Okami) decided to leave, and start their own development studio, the rest is history.

Since forming Platinum Games, the dream team of Mikami, Inaba, and Kamiya have produced hit game after hit game. They remind me of a 90’s era Rare Software, being able to make games for nearly any genre, and produce a masterpiece time after time. Let’s look at their short but amazing history:

Madworld: An arena-style spectacle fighter for the Wii, which featured a unique visual style, similar to Sin City, and witty characters. It received excellent reviews, and was a boon for Wii owners at the time who were looking for hardcore titles.

Infinite Space: A space exploration point-and-click RPG for the Nintendo DS that offered a crazy amount of customization and multiple storylines. Some critics felt the controls were cumbersome, while others said the story was “easily on par with anything you’ll find in Xenosaga or Mass Effect”.

Bayonetta: A fantastic game that set the new bar of quality for spectacle fighters. Following in the footsteps of Devil May Cry, Bayonetta featured tight combat, fantastic characters, stylish action, and tongue-in-cheek comedy. If you haven’t played Bayonetta, you are doing yourself a disservice.

Vanquish: A third-person cover-based shooter set in the future, where you fight space Russians. The gameplay is basically Gears of War with a rocket pack strapped to it. Between the lightning-fast pacing and the fantastic areas and bosses, Vanquish’s gameplay is top notch.

Anarchy Reigns: The unofficial sequel to Madworld, Anarchy Reigns offers a robust competitive online multiplayer. Massive arenas allow for multiple gametypes in 16 player battles, with combat similar to God Hand or Custom Robo.

Every game on that list brings something unique to the table, and the future looks even brighter. Metal Gear Rising has a demo available, and looks and feels amazing. In addition to pushing what the current generation of consoles are capable of to the limit, the gameplay is fluid and the story just oozes Metal Gear. Also in development is Bayonetta 2, and The Wonderful 101, which seems to be some kind of superhero game using the Viewtiful Joe art style where you control 100 superheroes like Pikmin?

Yeah, I don't know either, but it looks awesome.

Add to the pile of praise that Platinum games has stated that they are interested in buying the rights to the Darksiders franchise, which could be amazing. Platinum Games has been doing a fantastic job so far, and it looks like the hype train is slowing down anytime soon, so go buy some of Platinum’s games, I promise you won’t be disappointed.