Being a Teenager (About Game Length)

Before the reputation of Platinum Games was firmly cemented by Nier: Automata, I played one of they're games at launch, unware of what was done and what was to come. Vanquish, and unknown to me at the time, designed by Shinji Mikami, lead designer of Resident Evil 4, though unlike many shooters of the time, Vanquish barely follows that game's blueprint.

Vanquish is one of the fastest games you'll ever play both in moment to moment gameplay, and overall duration, with average completion rates being six hours. Compared to the trend of five hour military shooter campaigns, that might seem dense, if not for the mentioned RE4 being sixteen hours long.

I recall being irritated by this at the time I "bought" it. "Man, I could've picked up Fallout New Vegas instead and played that for hours and hours."

However, having completed Bayonetta just recently, I'm curious to replay it again, because Bayonetta goes on for the extra four hours I wanted Vanquish to have back in the day.

And I couldn't wait for it to end.

The game which captivated me so much in its presentation, character, music, and sheer style, had me screeching at the monitor, throwing my controller, and begging for this goddamn thing to shut the hell up. It just keeps going, and going, and going, and going, with one gameplay sequence being more obnoxious than the next.

I understand the value prospect of games, especially when most people aren't buying three games every two weeks. You want something that you'll be able to return to for more than a few days.

But not only do I contest the notion of 10 hours of mediocrity being preferable to 5 hours of greatness, I also contest that not every game is suitable to that duration.

Bayonetta's ten hours aren't impossibly long, the game is constantly doing things that compel the hell out of me, so much so, despite my frustration with the game's pacing and mechanics, I'd still recommend it (albeit with an asterisk.) The issue is Bayonetta isn't a sprawling RPG like the Witcher 3 with huge environments, and gameplay jumping between serine strides through the woods and tense sword fights in the swamps.

Bayonetta is loud, visually and sonically, and there comes a point where an action game fails to maintain its peak interest from start to finish. When my wrist is cramping from the amount of button mashing, slamming a Quick Time Event with the final boss is effectively, a middle finger.

Perhaps I'll continue this piece after revisiting Vanquish, but for now, I've been reminded yet again, it's better for a game to leave you wanting more, than begging to be stopped.