With top-level games being released every week, and the recent explosion in the number of successful third-person games, most gamers have come to know what to expect. Put the player in the action with a gun in their hand, and a camera over their shoulder, and most take to it like a duck to water.

But last year's Vanquish changed all that, by introducing some Japanese flair and adrenaline-fueled intensity to intelligently-designed combat. Luckily for 2011, Platinum Games is bringing the same attitude and spirit to their multiplayer brawler Anarchy Reigns, and these latest trailers introduce us to a few members of the game's memorable cast.

Game design is anything but easy, and the list of last year's successes and failures show that it's anyone's guess who will end up on top of the heap. With that in mind, it takes a special kind of crazy to try to bring something new to a third-person brawler.

Yet Platinum showed that there were still areas to perfect, and the delivered with Bayonetta, our choice for the best gameplay of 2010.

But with Anarchy Reigns, Platinum is coming at the problem from a whole new direction.

The characters of Anarchy look to be just as exaggerated and unique as the action, combining a western look with the sensibilities that could only come from across the Pacific. Have a look at the latest combatants that the developers are introducing.

Meet Sasha a.k.a. 'The Ice Queen;' a woman whose physique and blonde locks are merely a distraction from her savage and precise ice attacks:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCqPdJZGWl0

In case you think that Sasha is more of a standard character than you would expect from the minds behind Bayonetta's deadly hairstyle and Vanquish's rocket-powered-kneepads, allow us to introduce you to Big Bull.

He's a complex man to say the least. An armor-clad, war hammer-wielding, tai chi-practicing man, in fact. Big Bull's just as deadly with his hands as he is with his horns, and is hopefully a look at what other forms of insanity Anarchy holds:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiczjK7Lqb4

These two characters join the previously revealed Zero, a dual-katana-wielding ninja that could turn a single leaf into confetti. There's no denying that Platinum Games has a unique style, and maybe this game will give those players who shy away from intense shooters a chance to get to know them a bit better.

Here's a few screens of the two in action, just in case you doubt their combat prowess:

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Anarchy Reigns is the first game we've seen since the studio voiced their desires to forge an enduring relationship with SEGA, and there's never a bad time to encourage inspired and creative game design. While some Japanese publishers may feel that the country's development and design are weak, it's clear that SEGA knows talent when they see it.

Whether Anarchy Reigns looks like your kind of game or not, we have to be happy to see some original and risky games not only appearing, but being supported by the publishers.

Anarchy Reigns slides, slices, and slams into action this fall for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.