Been playing quite of a lot of, what I've been taught are called character action games. I think they're more commonly called Hack & Slash. Although, there is some debate as to if these two types are different types of games or just refer to the quality of them. Bayonetta is a character action game, where as the new DMC (Devil May Cry) is a hack and slash. I digress, these types of games have been taking up quite a bit of my free time recently. I've had Metal Gear: Revengeance for quite some time now (best title going) and I've had DMC: Devil May Cry (Terrible fucking title, it's named the same thing twice. I mean wut.) on 360 for about the same amount of time, but I've recently bought it again on PC because it came with all the DLC (again, I'm a mug) and I'm trying to move away from consoles unless it's something I really, really want. Finally, a game I haven't played before! I bought Killer is Dead Nightmare Edition.
My God, I wanted to use the post to talk about character action in general but I feel like I'm just going to gush about how much I love Killer is dead so I'll try to talk about the genre for a tiny bit before I start talking about that game.
Character action, or hack and slash games basically have little to no story and focus almost entirely the rule of cool. The character design is usually pretty awesome, albeit improbable and the personality of this particular person(s) tend to be completely off the wall- some of them even know they're in a video game. The games focus on combat and high combo counters VS large groups of enemies. Usually with upgrades extra health, damage, more moves etc. Often the character will have a main weapon, Kratos' Blades of Chaos, Dante's sword, Rebellion or Bayonetta's guns Scarborough Fair. In general, you'll have Sub weapons too. Weapons you can switch to mid combo that have limited move sets and aren't as complex or upgrade-able as your main weapon but tend to do more damage or have interesting effects. Ranged weapons are often included too to keep combos flowing when you're too distant to hack and or slash at something.
These games focus on you being an impossible bad ass taking on absurdly large groups of baddies. I was first introduced to this style of game by playing God of War. It's an okay game, I wouldn't recommend it if you want to get into this genre. It plays well, but it chugs a little and it's only on PS2- as far as I'm aware. Personally, if you've never played this style before pick up Metal Gear: Revengeance. There's a lot of Metal Gear Solid references for story if you're interested, but it's a good solid game at it's core and the setting isn't as jarring also the story isn't as absurd as some of the other entries in this genre- it's not the best, in my view but it's the best place to start.
I was going to write about Killer is Dead here- but I think this post is long enough. Again, I'm writing this as work so I expect I'll type up some more about Killer is Dead when I've got a bit more free time.
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