Preview: Hands On With Bayonetta 2 and The Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds

Just last month, the gaming world had their eyes peeled on E3 2013 to find any new info on games they were anticipating and those fortunate enough to live near a Best Buy in America, you could have dropped by to play test a whole bunch of Nintendo's soon to be released titles. Some of the demo units finally made it across the pond to a closed location in central London, and we got some hands on time with some of the upcoming titles expected to hit shelves within the coming year.

So I managed to attend the event and got a few short samples of a bunch of Wii U games set to be released this year including Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, Bayonetta 2 and Wonderful 101 as well as some set for early next year namely Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World, as well as a handful of 3DS games. They also had Disney Infinity available, but I somehow managed to break the demo unit upon picking up the gamepad, so unfortunately, I'm still at the same place I was before with that, intrigued but still sceptical if it's going to knock Skylanders off its perch or live happily alongside it. Rather than run over the basics with all the titles I figured I'd go into a bit of detail with a couple of the games so, let’s start off with...

Bayonetta 2
Bayonetta is a bit of a cult classic, it never sold a massive amount but all the people that played it can't say a bad word about it. Playing similar to Devil May Cry, Bayonetta has you playing as a witch, not your classic movie witch, but a sexy librarian style, loaded with guns and giant weapons and hair that can turn into huge beasts that eat your enemies. Sounds crazy if you've never played it before, but really, you should have and at this current time, it’s probably really cheap to pick up an original copy for the 360 or PS3. Having Sega not wanting to put out a much requested sequel, Nintendo stepped in to save the game from the bottomless pit of forgotten classics; Bayonetta 2 is seeing the light of day again as a Wii U exclusive.

Like my new hair cut?

If you have played Bayonetta before then fear not my fellow gamer, there's nothing to be worried about. The combat is almost identical to the original and then some, with even more combos available for you to button mash your way through. The demo I got to experience was very reminiscent of the original games opening, with the destruction of a building that gets hurtled through space as you fight angels, then everything kicks up another notch as a huge monster appears and you fight him for a bit while jets fly around in the background, then the jets fly over to you to reveal your partner who comes to help with the fight.

True to Bayonetta style, a lot of the time you have access to ultra powerful moves, where her hair turns into giant demons to kill your enemies, only this time, the demon hair takes on a form of its own and tries to kill you, leaving you with no option than to put it back in its place by kicking several shades of you know what out of it. Overall, this game is just so over the top that you can't help but love it for its craziness.

I had a pretty good time with the short demo I got to sample, which gave me a lot of confidence regarding the quality of the upcoming sequel and I'll finally have another game to obsess over on the Wii U other than Monster Hunter.

The Legends of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
Yet another sequel that people have been clamouring for. Following up on the Super Nintendo classic, Zelda a Link to the Past that gamers fell in love with a few decades ago is now finally getting a sequel in the form of 3DS exclusive, a Link Between Worlds. There were two timed sections of the game available, the over world of Hyrule and a dungeon to explore.

A ton of new puzzle opportunities with 2D Link.

Firstly, the overworld, the 2D pixel art is gone and has been replaced with 3D models, but not all is lost as the camera perspective is exactly the same and the polygon models are very nice to look at, with the top down view matching the original. Also added to the game now is the ability to squash yourself flat to walls and turn into a 2D form of Link in which you then shuffle about left or right. This whole thing can seem a bit gimmicky, and it's mainly to find secret areas but sometimes it's used to sneak past enemies or get around obstacles blocking your path. There's a time limit on how long you can be stuck to walls and I'm sure at some point there will be an item to lengthen the duration you can shuffle about much like most Zelda games do.

As for the dungeon, I got to sample a new weapon in the form of a giant hammer, useful for smacking enemy turtles to flip them over to their vulnerable undersides, so you can jab them with the Master Sword and then there other objects you can hit such as giant springs, where you flatten and then stand on top of them, after which it propels you to higher grounds. The wall sticking ability also comes in very useful in the dungeon as sometimes you have to venture out of windows to get around the outside of the dungeon to get to other areas, but you have to move quick as the timer also comes into play here.

I'm really looking forward to playing a new Zelda game, while a lot of people complain that the Zelda formula never changes, everyone always looks back on Zelda games with nothing but great memories. So overall Nintendo put on a damn good show of Wii U titles which gives me confidence with the consoles future and its potential line up of games this year and going into 2014.

If you'd like any more information on any other demo I had some time with, let me know either here in the comments or over on Twitter @chaosriotzero