first playthrough reviews are hard to be written. especially when the guy who made the game you're reviewing says that your first run is a tutorial. if that’s so, i just beat TW101 and honestly that tutorial alone was one of my best gaming experiences.
firstly, what the fuck. what the actual fuck. remember what i said about auteurism and shit in my Viewtiful Joe review? Taking notes from that, TW101 is the Most “Kamiya” Kamiya Game Of All Time. at least, from what i played. it’s also the Most “Platinum Games” Platinum Games Game Of All Time. i swear, the developers went INSANE in this shit right here and now i can say Bayonetta 3 is no longer my favorite PG title. (but i’m still an apologist)
it multiplies the best and the worst of Kamiya by 101. it’s Kamiya in his 101% potential. it’s Kamiya making 101 games in one. it’s 101- ok sorry
but seriously, when Kamiya said “your first playthrough is the tutorial”, he meant it. the mechanics are fantastic, it’s probably the most creative combat system in any action game, and as curious and interested as i am, i explored most of the options offered to me, and when it works – it’s such an unique feeling. but when it doesn’t, it’s somehow because of its slow progression and tough learning curve, the game throws A LOT OF STUFF in your face but at the same time it doesn’t give you room enough to play around the “stuff”. “First playthrough” it’s definitely not one of Kamiya’s strengths and that’s one of the reasons why one-and-done players don’t vibe too much with his design philosophy (which is ironic since he tends to focus a lot on the spectacle part. kind of hit or miss), with Bayonetta being the worst offender and Viewtiful Joe the most polished one in that sense.
The Wonderful 101 though? it’s an unstoppable rollercoaster with some of the worst tutorials and most unintuitive progression of all time, environmental hazard all the fucking time (bayo1 ptsd), a lot of puzzles, a lot of setpieces, a lot of QTEs, color-coded enemies, a lot of exploration and secrets, and I can’t even count on my fingers how many minigames there are. i guess it’s 101
some environmental hazards are intuitive to make through, some puzzles are good, most of setpieces are impeccable, the QTEs are honestly my favorites from any game, some enemies with weapon-coded gimmicks are great, the exploration is genius, and the minigames… i wouldn’t say i prefer them over the moment-to-moment overall gameplay but it definitely has some of the best PG has ever made. (i think it’s the same case as Bayonetta 3 but for some reason the latter is much more criticized)
the game has A LOT of stuff and i’d say it’s the most "messy" Kamiya game with the highs being the best thing ever made in humanity and the lows super rage-inducing. in Viewtiful Joe i said i was happy all the time, but in TW101 i felt many other things besides happiness. i had a similar experience as i had playing Bayonetta for the first time but the difference is that TW101 captivated me much more. i was never bored or indifferent, i never thought of “stopping playing” because the game is ALWAYS reinventing itself in the most creative ways you can imagine
it also has probably the best storytelling of the genre. there are some really good ones like DMC3 and Sifu but TW101 it’s from another world. it’s not “really good”, it’s WONDERFUL. the ludonarrative is, honestly, perfect – capitalizing 101% of its mechanics and structure to convey a message and tell a story is something that only The Wonderful 101 can do. (there are some games that do this pretty well, but only up to the 100% limit)
the mindblowing and over-the-top conclusion pretty much synthesize everything i said here, going down in history as one of the best ending in gaming (now it’s probably in my top 5 since i can’t even write about it without getting static for every word, it’s really THAT good, it’s one of the only endings i can think about that pretty much 101% of it only works because it’s in a videogame)
i’m still jawdropped because of the ending but how would i end this review? in my Viewtiful Joe text i said i had high hopes for this game and now i can say that it met 101% of my expectations, that unfortunately backloggd has a 5-star limit but this game def deserves a 101 stars rating, that i'll definitely replay this game 101 times, that Kamiya and PG have 101% of my respect and i'm 101% sure that Project G.G. will be another masterpiece, that- ok it's not even funny at this point.
The Wonderful 101 was one of the most unique experiences I had in gaming and despite its frustrating pieces, bad tutorialization and the remastered problems, I'd say this is easily the best Platinum Games title (yes, recency bias) and it's one of the games I have that feeling "they made the game especially for me" but that would go against the meaning of the game.
While Viewtiful Joe emphasizes a specific style with its metalinguistic narrative and aesthetic appeal, The Wonderful 101 emphasizes a specific theme using 101% of its game design and I'm not even joking; Devil May Cry with its aesthetics, Viewtiful Joe with its story, Bayonetta with the cutscenes style and… these games are always stylizing their own motto inside and outside the game design; but they are also always showing some love for the audiovisual in some sense. On the other hand, The Wonderful 101 tries to be the most pure gaming experience Kamiya ever made; in the stylistic sense of the word working together with the game design. Of course the mechanics play a big part of his other games even outside of the main appeal (combat), but I feel that PG and Kamiya went 101% crazy into how mechanical TW101 is as a whole. It’s also probably the one with the lowest frequency of “cinematic cutscenes”, most of them are either dialogues or… quick time events (and that speaks for itself).
Lastly, if Viewtiful Joe was about "everyone loves a hero", The Wonderful 101 is about "everyone can be a hero", and to end the review without this obvious interpretation (still true and genius tho), I'd like to add two actually relevant things:
1. i really need to watch some tokusatsu
2. they REALLY DID THAT FUCKING spoilers ahead
firstly, what the fuck. what the actual fuck. remember what i said about auteurism and shit in my Viewtiful Joe review? Taking notes from that, TW101 is the Most “Kamiya” Kamiya Game Of All Time. at least, from what i played. it’s also the Most “Platinum Games” Platinum Games Game Of All Time. i swear, the developers went INSANE in this shit right here and now i can say Bayonetta 3 is no longer my favorite PG title. (but i’m still an apologist)
it multiplies the best and the worst of Kamiya by 101. it’s Kamiya in his 101% potential. it’s Kamiya making 101 games in one. it’s 101- ok sorry
but seriously, when Kamiya said “your first playthrough is the tutorial”, he meant it. the mechanics are fantastic, it’s probably the most creative combat system in any action game, and as curious and interested as i am, i explored most of the options offered to me, and when it works – it’s such an unique feeling. but when it doesn’t, it’s somehow because of its slow progression and tough learning curve, the game throws A LOT OF STUFF in your face but at the same time it doesn’t give you room enough to play around the “stuff”. “First playthrough” it’s definitely not one of Kamiya’s strengths and that’s one of the reasons why one-and-done players don’t vibe too much with his design philosophy (which is ironic since he tends to focus a lot on the spectacle part. kind of hit or miss), with Bayonetta being the worst offender and Viewtiful Joe the most polished one in that sense.
The Wonderful 101 though? it’s an unstoppable rollercoaster with some of the worst tutorials and most unintuitive progression of all time, environmental hazard all the fucking time (bayo1 ptsd), a lot of puzzles, a lot of setpieces, a lot of QTEs, color-coded enemies, a lot of exploration and secrets, and I can’t even count on my fingers how many minigames there are. i guess it’s 101
some environmental hazards are intuitive to make through, some puzzles are good, most of setpieces are impeccable, the QTEs are honestly my favorites from any game, some enemies with weapon-coded gimmicks are great, the exploration is genius, and the minigames… i wouldn’t say i prefer them over the moment-to-moment overall gameplay but it definitely has some of the best PG has ever made. (i think it’s the same case as Bayonetta 3 but for some reason the latter is much more criticized)
the game has A LOT of stuff and i’d say it’s the most "messy" Kamiya game with the highs being the best thing ever made in humanity and the lows super rage-inducing. in Viewtiful Joe i said i was happy all the time, but in TW101 i felt many other things besides happiness. i had a similar experience as i had playing Bayonetta for the first time but the difference is that TW101 captivated me much more. i was never bored or indifferent, i never thought of “stopping playing” because the game is ALWAYS reinventing itself in the most creative ways you can imagine
it also has probably the best storytelling of the genre. there are some really good ones like DMC3 and Sifu but TW101 it’s from another world. it’s not “really good”, it’s WONDERFUL. the ludonarrative is, honestly, perfect – capitalizing 101% of its mechanics and structure to convey a message and tell a story is something that only The Wonderful 101 can do. (there are some games that do this pretty well, but only up to the 100% limit)
the mindblowing and over-the-top conclusion pretty much synthesize everything i said here, going down in history as one of the best ending in gaming (now it’s probably in my top 5 since i can’t even write about it without getting static for every word, it’s really THAT good, it’s one of the only endings i can think about that pretty much 101% of it only works because it’s in a videogame)
i’m still jawdropped because of the ending but how would i end this review? in my Viewtiful Joe text i said i had high hopes for this game and now i can say that it met 101% of my expectations, that unfortunately backloggd has a 5-star limit but this game def deserves a 101 stars rating, that i'll definitely replay this game 101 times, that Kamiya and PG have 101% of my respect and i'm 101% sure that Project G.G. will be another masterpiece, that- ok it's not even funny at this point.
The Wonderful 101 was one of the most unique experiences I had in gaming and despite its frustrating pieces, bad tutorialization and the remastered problems, I'd say this is easily the best Platinum Games title (yes, recency bias) and it's one of the games I have that feeling "they made the game especially for me" but that would go against the meaning of the game.
While Viewtiful Joe emphasizes a specific style with its metalinguistic narrative and aesthetic appeal, The Wonderful 101 emphasizes a specific theme using 101% of its game design and I'm not even joking; Devil May Cry with its aesthetics, Viewtiful Joe with its story, Bayonetta with the cutscenes style and… these games are always stylizing their own motto inside and outside the game design; but they are also always showing some love for the audiovisual in some sense. On the other hand, The Wonderful 101 tries to be the most pure gaming experience Kamiya ever made; in the stylistic sense of the word working together with the game design. Of course the mechanics play a big part of his other games even outside of the main appeal (combat), but I feel that PG and Kamiya went 101% crazy into how mechanical TW101 is as a whole. It’s also probably the one with the lowest frequency of “cinematic cutscenes”, most of them are either dialogues or… quick time events (and that speaks for itself).
Lastly, if Viewtiful Joe was about "everyone loves a hero", The Wonderful 101 is about "everyone can be a hero", and to end the review without this obvious interpretation (still true and genius tho), I'd like to add two actually relevant things:
1. i really need to watch some tokusatsu
2. they REALLY DID THAT FUCKING spoilers ahead
3 Comments
@LukeGirard LMAO the final stretch alone (8-C onwards) have more peak moments than any other action game but that one in specific caught me off guard, of course the game would have such a thing...
Great review of one of the greatest games ever made
LukeGirard
10 months ago