Gamespot Score:8.0 (Great)
My score:8.0
(+)Pros: - Fun and accessible combat system, - Utterly ridiculous (it's a good thing), - Great boss fights, - Good mix of puzzle elements within the fun combat bits, - Impressive visual flair, - Non combat sections give the game a good change of pace.
(-)Cons: - Long and frequent load times, - The camera is kinda quirky.
Gameplay time:Under 10 hours
The story of "Bayonetta" isn't a really great or memorable one, to me anyway. You play as Bayonetta, a witch who just woke up from a long slumber at the bottom of the lake. She remembers nothing, and has no choice to but take jobs from her lead, a dealer from hell, to find about more about herself. Through these jobs from killing angels, she slightly remembers a little of her past, and how she is related to the eyes of the world. On her latest job she is sent to a deserted town, where she meets another of her kind, and through her words she starts to unravel the truth of her missing past, while receiving tons of other unknown and unwanted information from individuals she would never have suspected.
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| Fight big baby heads as bosses. |
Since "Bayonetta" is just another 3rd person action game like "Devil may cry", expect something similar (in fact I think the creator DMC had something to do with Bayonetta..). "Bayonetta" has a very solid combat system, and like DMC, you can perform combos and air juggles of different variations until you are green in the face. Combat feels fluid and you can execute a ton of different combos easily. Bayonetta fights like an empress! She has guns on her feet which let her shoot from afar or, most of the time, go up straight and brawl with enemies in their face! Using her hair to form gigantic hands or feet to crush them! She also has a ton of different weapons, including a katana, a pair of elemental gauntlets and more!
Because of this, the possibilities open to you are pretty darn insane. You can do crazy combos with each weapon, and of course, you can execute them in ridiculous ways. You can dodge enemy attacks in the nick of time to enter witch time, a mechanic that slows down time for you to sever the enemies' heads, or witch walk to cling to walls. A torture attack is an execution, and they are, as I said, ridiculous. Bayonetta will kick an enemy into an iron maiden, spiking them in. She will spank a demon's ass before beheading them, or perform sexy bondage with a sexy angel woman until she dies of an insane orgasm. JUST RIDICULOUS! Also, big bosses, you can't have an epic action game without those guys. Huge and totally evil looking, they also have take a ton of strategy and planning to take down.
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| Take down angels in all shapes and sizes. |
Of course, even though it is an action game, a game like "Bayonetta" cannot be just full on action all the way, it'll get old and repetitive quickly. Other than the action segments, the game has a good deal of puzzle parts that help mix things up a little bit. Though, these are pretty minor, they do help out in getting secret chests for reports or stones to increase your stats. These are mostly manipulating witch time and witch walk to get around to places you normally cannot. Well these little hints and secrets and net you some extra play time.
The visual flair in this game is pretty impressive. Like its counterparts DMC and GOW, there are tons of impressive visual effects that'll leave your jaw dropping on the ground. Attacks looks flashy, cut scenes are so full of overpowered destruction that it seems silly. You will be watching in amazement at each action based cut scene. The game also does a good job in changing the pace with multiple other segments, like a motorbike segment or a 3rd person space shooter segment. These aren't exactly too annoying per se, but they help take us players away from the constant action, to take a break and relax a little.
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| A lot of the game is just non stop action. |
Now, on to the flaws....While the game doesn't have a lot of flaws, I somehow didn't enjoy it as much as the likes of the 2 franchises I mentioned, "God of War" and "Devil May Cry". First things first, the one thing that annoyed me the most. The LOAD times. While they allow you to practice combos and attacks during the loading screen, its SO LONG and it happens SO FREQUENTLY. The other thing is the camera. The default camera itself is already pretty half assed, and in a game where high execution and precision are required, its kinda needed for the camera to be fluid, to, you know, FOLLOW THE CONSTANT FLOW OF ACTION?
"Bayonetta" is yet another game in the constantly evolving genre of action games. A second one has been announced, but I'm not exactly hyped for it. "Bayonetta" is a good action game with a ton of ridiculousness in it to make it stand out over the rest. The sheer amount of nonsense in it is just too much to be ignored, and sometimes, being ridiculous is a good, as we can see in this game. If you're a fan of 3rd person action games, it may very well be worth giving "Bayonetta" a spin.
Happy gaming.
