Every game and series approaches combat a little differently. Sometimes, stealthy takedowns are the only recourse available. In other cases, out-and-out blasting through waves of enemies, it is. Still other games might let you choose between the two approaches, with titles like the gripping Ghost of Yotei giving you the tools for either.
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In games where you're dealing with levels packed with enemies and perhaps a combo counter you want to push ever higher, the message is clear: pure aggression is key. Games like these are excellent when you just want to relieve some stress and cause some chaos, and this rundown will introduce some perfect examples.
Bloodborne
The Rally Mechanic Can Be A Lifesaver
Now, it's important to note that pure aggression and mindless button-mashing are not the same thing at all. If players charge into the average enemy-laden Bloodborne area or even boss battle with nary a thought for their own safety, they'll probably be flattened in seconds. To survive the horrors of Yharnam, liberal use of dodges and reading of enemy actions is vital. Often, though, Hunters find themselves dodging through or around enemy attacks to get to a vulnerable spot and continue their onslaught. This is especially the case with Skill weapons like the Blade of Mercy.
Similarly, the Rally mechanic allows for a certain portion of the player's health bar to be restored if they hit back quickly enough after taking damage. Hiding behind a shield is not an option in Bloodborne, and you'll often want to be in close to score that Visceral Attack when you hit a well-timed Firearm parry. This horror game demands a lot of skill.
MadWorld
Survival Of The Most Imaginatively Violent
Those who have played MadWorld, or seen more than a second or two of gameplay, will know that it's one of the purest forms of aggression in the industry. The premise is that the main character, Jack Cayman, is trapped in a brutal game show called DeathWatch, with the simple objective of essentially just killing everybody else. There's nothing else quite like it on the Wii, and being a PlatinumGames release, the stylish action has more depth to it than players may expect.
Cayman needs to rack up gory kills, but to do so quickly and inventively for high scores. Environmental hazards should be combined with the player's own arsenal of talents for the best effect, and grouping foes together for multipliers is the way to excel. It may take a few rounds of a stage to learn the best way to achieve this (which is encouraged by the game's stage select once the main campaign is completed), but once this is done, there's no stopping that brutal rampage.
Curse Of The Dead Gods
Mastery Of The Game's Combat Means No Worries About Stamina
Roguelikes, typically, are very combat-oriented games. The primary goal is often to make the best builds possible from a (largely randomized) selection offered to the player and then wreak havoc. Between runs, hopefully, there's an option to gradually strengthen the protagonist. Curse of the Dead Gods is an excellent example of these traits, themed around a take on Aztec mythology and starring an Indiana Jones-esque adventurer. As he delves deeper into a series of temples, he's beset by not only a series of ghastly enemies but a lingering curse that affects him in different ways (such as impacting the player's vision).
A stamina system is a critical component of combat. Dodging and attacking costs 'pips' of stamina, but this doesn't mean that a super-aggressive playstyle isn't encouraged. In fact, some stamina is restored through perfect dodges (or other equipment like relics you may have acquired), and so the best players will often want to string these maneuvers together, and so continually be on the offensive while remaining untouched. It's another game in which reckless button-mashing will be your doom, but keeping up a steady flow of blows is incredibly satisfying. Rewarding, too, because the combo system means there's much more reward for chaining kills together.
Doom (2016)
Taking Rip And Tear As Far As It'll Go
When it comes to hyper-aggressive games, the Doom series is kind of the be-all and end-all. The aftermath of a BFG shot is enough to make that crystal clear. When the series was rebooted in 2016, then, it was vital that it kept that spirit alive. Doomguy does adopt defensive strategies rather more in Doom: The Dark Ages, but in this title, it's all about moving as fast as possible from one demon to the next, combining Glory Kills in rapid succession to restore health and ammo.
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The player leaves utter carnage in their wake during the average encounter, which is just as Doom should be. If playing in Arcade mode and shooting for the highest score possible, a lightning-fast, merciless, tactical approach is the order of the day. There's a kind of brutal ballet about effective Doom play.
Streets Of Rage 4
Don't Drop That Combo!
The beat 'em up genre is full of games that are easy to pick up but difficult to master. Players can often simply reduce the difficulty and wail away on enemies coming their way with a single button. More advanced play, of course, requires embracing all the character's capabilities and the game's scoring mechanics in tandem. Dotemu's 2020 reboot of the Streets of Rage series emphasizes the importance of maintaining a combo of defeated enemies, and also introduces a system similar to Rally in Bloodborne, in which HP spent on special moves can be restored by scoring quick hits after using them.
The idea is to encourage players to balance the use of regular attacks and the characters' specials, which lends a lot of variety to a genre that can sometimes lack a little of it. It's a lot of fun to juggle foes, using everything from floors to ceilings and environmental hazards to keep hits flowing and combos rolling.
Anger Foot
A Fast, Furious FPS With A Hilarious Twist
If there's one central concept that unites the FPS genre, it's the presence of a range of guns. While there are a lot of them for the player to unleash on their many foes in Anger Foot, the protagonist, a rogue vigilante, has an even deadlier (and much more ridiculous) weapon to wield as well: Their sneaker.
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As the game's name would suggest, a humble kick is a potent tool in this title, usually employed for smashing through doors or gangsters' skulls. Similar to something like Hotline Miami, enemies are dispatched very quickly and in elaborate, colorful style, and planning the best way to combine your attacks to clear out the stages quickly is the route to success. It's sheer, blood-pumping, relentless chaos, leaving little time for defensive concerns in this over-the-top action title.
Bayonetta 3
What Time Is It? Witch Time
The Bayonetta series is another developed by PlatinumGames, and again, it shows the studio's talents as masters of the action arena. As an Umbra Witch, Bayonetta has access to power and agility that humans could only dream of, and she seems determined to use it against angels, demons, and anybody else who dares to get in her way.
She's armed with punches, kicks, her signature guns (one for each limb), and a selection of unlockable weapons, such as the formidable anchor-on-a-chain Cassiopeia. It's graceful and fluid combat, but a lot of the appeal of the Bayonetta games revolves around pursuing those high rankings for each chapter. Doing so demands that the player engage with the combo system, through which different types of attacks buy more or less precious seconds to hit again before the combo breaks. Dodging in and out of enemy attacks with perfect timing activates Bayonetta's Witch Time, the iconic ability that slows time around her. It is, in that sense, a tool as offensive as it is defensive, and an important part of the flow of the series' combat.
Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
An Intricate And Super-Aggressive Combat System
Raiden, introduced in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty, was immediately controversial with fans because he was not Solid Snake. As such, it was vital to differentiate him through his agility, his arsenal, and his backstory. All of this would come in handy for PlatinumGames when it came to crafting 2013's Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance (though he gets some excellent sub-weapons in this game too).
Raiden is pitted against Desperado Enforcement, which seeks to spread chaos around the world in order to profit from it. Fortunately, the cyborg warrior is uncannily skilled and precise with a blade, and can slice through just about any target with enough precision. In fact, precision is exactly the word, because the game's best known for its innovative Blade Mode, which switches the camera perspective and allows the player to carefully target specific areas. This allows Raiden to tear through a weak spot, mitigate armor, and so on, and also heal himself with particular components taken from foes. In Revengeance, parrying is the center of the player's protection from enemy attacks for the most part, and the end result is a lightning-fast and visually stunning experience in which a moment not spent shredding robots into spare parts is a moment wasted.
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