The Wonderful 101!

This game still kind of sucks after 3 operations.

The basic combat is mostly super fun when I can see what’s going on.

What I can’t stand:

  • The levels are too long. Interminably long. Suicidally long.
  • So many unite morph and jump QTEs, with so many instant failures.
  • Too many puzzles looking for a specific unite morph applied in a certain way. I’ve been going to walkthroughs.
  • Awful gamepad-specific segments with awkward cameras and frustrating mechanics
  • Terrible cutscenes and characters. I don’t know why I’m not just skipping everything at this point. I always feel obligated to watch everything in my first playthrough.
  • The zoomed out camera is too far, and the zoomed in camera is too close.
  • It’s very hard to get a read on when I’m about to get attacked sometimes.
  • Gathering your Wonderful Ones kills the flow of combat, which is weird because Kamiya said in a Bayonetta interview that he made sure Dante and Bayonetta never get knocked to the ground because it ruins the flow.

I kind of dread playing this. It takes so much investment to make myself turn on the Wii U and work through a 30 minute sub-operation (one of three!) I can’t imagine a second playthrough, which is usually where Platinum games shine after you’re comfortable with the mechanics.