Astral Chain (Platinum | Switch)

[The Boston Crab]

New Platinum game directed by the lead game designer of Nier: Automata with supervision of Hideki Kamiya, who created Bayonetta, DMC and loads of other stuff.


I really liked Bayonetta and N:A (though not for the gameplay, particularly) and this has got 88% on Metacritic and lots of rave reviews.


It's supposedly a mixture of Bayo combat, with some open world police investigation stuff, and loads of other little quirky ideas. It's out tomorrow (30th August).


I'm still enjoying Fire Emblem as my main long-form game and want to finish that really before I start anything else big on Switch. Might get it physical though for a change and trade it in for DxM in a few weeks. Not that keen on either so will save me a hundred quid on digital detritus.


Anyone else getting it?

[madhair60]

Waiting for reviews because I don't get on with Platinum games as a rule.

[Kelvin]

I'll be getting it now the reviews are looking so good. Still a bit worried about the investigatory sections being shit, but it does look like the combat can be a lot of fun.

Looking less good for Daemon X, sadly. Gamexplain were very down on it in their recent preview, though it also looked  from their gameplay footage that they were absolutely awful at the game and constantly trying to avoid direct combat, so maybe just a bad reviewer?

Anyway, never played any modern Platinum action games, but with their reputation for excellence in this genre, im eager to try this.

[Jerzy Bondov]

The Horny Gamer has logged on. I will be playing as the girl with short shorts.

[The Boston Crab]

Kelv, if you never played Bayo, I'd get that on the cheap rather than this. Just my opinion. Few P* games are ever gonna touch Bayo.

[Pdine]

I'm excited as the only thing that Phoenix Wright lacked was the ability to kick shit out of cunts.

[Twed]

It's out tomorrow (30th August).

YOU'RE out tomorrow (gay pride)

[Thursday]

I'm not into platinum to be a contrarian because they're liked by people who are like" these are real games mate, not your shitty Assassn's Creed or Horizon: Zero Dawn" even though I'm also one of those people.

[The Boston Crab]

I totally respect that. I mean it. It's part of why I'm starting to hate them and hate this game.

[Kelvin]

Kelv, if you never played Bayo, I'd get that on the cheap rather than this. Just my opinion. Few P* games are ever gonna touch Bayo.

I've been tempted by the low price, but a) I feel like i'd have to play bayo 1 first, and I don't know if I can be arsed with that one, and b) Bayonetta, the charachter, gets on my wick a bit, with all the arch snarkiness and knowing stuff about big bulging pistols.

I just feel astral chain might be a better jumping on point - especially as the combat sounds slightly more forgiving. I might go back and try Bayo if I enjoy the combat in this, though.

[The Boston Crab]

OK, sound. Bayo 1 is better in many ways. Bayo 2 is different enough to play after 1. Just FYI, that's all.

[The Boston Crab]

Trying to get hype for this but I don't feel it yet. Just looks like Bayonetta with cops and no humour or gooch crash zooms. Hmm.

[madhair60]

Kelvin if it helps I hated Bayonetta the first time I tried to play it, then after a few levels the knowingness and the sheer ridiculousness clicked and I found it impossible not to enjoy.

I don't think it's a 10/10 masterpiece - far too mechanically exclusionary for that - but it is fucking great and I'm going to get the Switch version next time it's a decent price.

[Kelvin]

Yeah, the fact it sounds so hard to play Bayo well (as opposed to just button bashing and doing the same basic moves over and over) is probably the biggest turn off to me. Dialogue aside, I do like the sheer lunacy of the bosses and cutscenes from what I've seen.

Downloaded Astral Chain last night, and will try it this evening. It's apparently much easier to play stylishly than Bayo, so I'm hoping complex combos won't be a huge issue.

[The Boston Crab]

Yeah me too, I got no willpower or shame. Meant to be absolutely banging so I couldn't resist.

[bgmnts]

Platinum games are fun though.

[The Boston Crab]

Only played ten minutes because I'm in a Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu high score competition but the ten minutes made me grin. Brilliant opening, one of the best I can remember from recent memory. I picked the girl, her ass looks like two gobstoppers in them shorts. Awesome.

[Kelvin]

Played it for 30 minutes. Hated it.
Ugly charachter models, awful animations, feels like you're running on ice. The camera's shit.

Played it for 2 more hours. Love it. Combat feels like cumming through your fingertips. Just a sequence of "Holy shit''s as I fight monsters on collapsing, spinning neon rocks while my Legion ties them in knots, flips them into the sky and yanks me in to crack their skulls with a baton.

Any issues I have are irrelevant next to the feeling I got from that last big action sequence. Game deserves a 10 just for the music in the police station.

[The Boston Crab]

The game seems to have a tremendous fixation on the girl's ass. I actually dreamed last night about some girl with an ass like that, very erotic dream but I didn't do anything because I'm married, good guy, huh? Just remembered now why I probably had that dream.

[Thursday]

If ever I start to have an erotic dream I wake up as soon as it's about to get to the shagging. My brain realises it's not real and decides "no more of this please!" It's a curse.

[The Boston Crab]

This is clicking. As with most Platinum games, you do actually have to get the used to some esoteric controls but it's starting to feel second nature. Greater presentation and fundamentally feels great to play. It does seem quite story heavy at the this point and I'm not sure how much I'll enjoy the investigation stuff in a few hours time but for now, I'm pleased with it. Largely what I was expecting but it's a very good Platinum game at the this early stage.

[The Boston Crab]

Hoho! Just finished File 02 and now we're really talking. Immense.

[Kelvin]

If ever I start to have an erotic dream I wake up as soon as it's about to get to the shagging. My brain realises it's not real and decides "no more of this please!" It's a curse.

Every time you have a pervy dream you get Woke.

[Kelvin]

Hoho! Just finished File 02 and now we're really talking. Immense.

Yep, that's the one I was talking about upthread. Feels like playing the dumbest, coolest anime ever. I'm not a nerd, so I can't cite an example.   

[Thursday]

Every time you have a pervy dream you get Woke.

Bravo

[Kelvin]

Hoho! Just finished File 02 and now we're really talking. Immense.

Actually, it was chapter 3 I loved. The game does chapters in a really weird way.

[The Boston Crab]

Great joke up there. If Chapter 3 is better than Chapter 2 then damn, I can't wait for Chapter 4 or something.

By the way, it might not catch on but I'm calling this ASS Chain from now on.

[The Boston Crab]

Been out but can't wait to get home and calibrate that camera right up dat crack.

[Kelvin]

Did File 3 today*, and although it didn't hit the heights of chapter 2, it was still really good. The combat is just so much fun now, especially as they keep adding more and more elements to incorporate - moves, upgrades, weapons, special abilities, additional legions -  but at a pace that it isn't getting too overwhelming. I did get quite annoyed with the mechanic that lets you jump to your legion at will, as it comes up a lot for platforming, and I keep getting caught on edges and taking fall damage, but it's not a game killer by any means.

As for the investigation stuff, I don't mind it, as it's basically very simple and just gives you something to do as you explore a civilian area, but I can imagine it feeling like much more of a slog if I play through the game again sometime. First playthrough, though, it seems fine; builds the world a bit, controls the pacing. Unremarkable, but not unpleasant. 


_{*It was File 2 I meant upthread, after all. I found the chapter selection really confusing.}

[The Boston Crab]

Anus Cop!

Just realised.

Looking forward to opening up more and more and hopefully getting some sexy costumes, if I'm honest.