"One day when juggling an enemy in Bayonetta with a barrage of kicks and punches, I thought what an infuriating game it would be if I were on the receiving end. So when Platinum Games started talking about Anarchy Reigns in somewhat vague terms that suggested it would be a multiplayer Bayonetta, I was immediately sceptical. It didn't help that, leading up to the game's release, we got sporadic character reveals that seemed to imply it was a direction-less, mish-mash of Platinum's previous output. With the roster growing from the initial four, more and more MadWorld guests popping up, and finally Bayonetta as a bonus character, I got the impression that the developer was just throwing everything at it to cash in on their established goodwill. Not since Alan Wake's PR cycle had I felt so in the dark as to what kind of game they were actually making, but I was still interested due to my soft spot for the brawler genre and my affection for Bayonetta." (darkzero)
Gary Green said: If you were one of those lucky gamers who pre-ordered Anarchy Reigns online back in 2012, then you were probably very pleased to see your copy arrive up to two weeks early, allowing you smile smugly at those preferring to pick up the game in-store on launch day, not that many shops were even bothering to stock it. If the early release wasn’t enough to inspire you to pick up Anarchy Reigns, then how about the Limited Edition retailing at under 20GBP? Tempted yet?
It all sounds too good to be true. You might be wondering how the game could ship so early before release. Well, that’s largely down to the fact that Anarchy Reigns was ready months earlier. The Japanese version, titled ‘Max Anarchy’, featured a fully English language option and was released back in autumn 2012. Surely though that’s not a big enough reason to half the price of a new-release game, right? There must be more darkening Anarchy Reigns’ potential to justify such an act.
A recent wave of modern brawlers have exploded onto the scene, and it feels like they owe Anarchy Reigns some gratitude.
Jerry from BagoGames says, "With Astral Chain coming out right around the corner for the Nintendo Switch, I couldn’t help but think about all the amazing games PlatinumGames has pumped out over the years. Some revered greatly, others panned by critics, but to me insane infatuation. These are my five favorite games from my favorite developer"
