Game Review: Bayonetta

Playing Bayonetta is one hell of a ride. It's a truly challenging game, even completing the game on Normal mode had me dying too many times.

Story

The main character, Bayonetta is a witch with a very hot figure supermodels can only dream of. The story starts with her waking up after a 500 slumber, losing all her memories, conveniently. The goal is to understand what has happened in the past.

As she sashays through Vigrid, a fictional city in Europe, slaying countless of endless Angels (enemies), interacting with various quirky characters, flashbacks start coming back to her.

The dialogue for the most part might be cheesy but Bayonetta seems to be perfect at delivering them. The game doesn't take itself too seriously which isn't a problem since it's still pretty entertaining.

This game is obviously targeted at guys. There aren't any nudity but there are plenty of suggestive scenes and connotations to go around. Bayonetta's costume is actually made up of her hair. When she performs special moves, she uses up her hair and less is available to cover her intimate parts. Ok, no nudity but very close. It's all flirtatious fun, from a video game though. I wonder how female gamers will feel about this overtly sexed up game.

Gameplay

The gameplay is all about the fighting system, which I really like.

Bayonetta possibly has more combos than any other video game characters before. I counted 38 different attack combos just for her default weapon, the two pairs of guns. She has a total arsenal of eleven weapons including unlocked ones.

This game is all about dishing out combos, combos of combos.

Luckily, the combo moves are not that difficult to pull off. It's basically just a mixture of pressing combination of punch and kick buttons. When you perform a long string of combo, you'll be rewarded with good combo scores and the resulting bonus halos (purchase points), not to mention the satisfaction seeing enemies get hit at dizzying speeds.

But this game isn't about button smashing although you can play it like that. Performing the same combos repetitively gives you diminishing returns. The trick is to remember a few good combos that you can reuse. There are combos for all sorts of situations. If you don't want to get surrounded by a gang, you can even go into an air combo where those who can't fly can't touch you.

The key to winning battles is evading enemy attacks at the last minute to trigger "Witch Time". When Witch Time activates, time in the game slows to a crawl and everything moves in slow motion except Bayonetta. That's the time when you can perform heavy hitting combos in safety. Dodging enemy attacks 100% of the time ensures that no one can touch you. But it's tricky to dodge, especially at higher difficulty levels.

Some of the enemies are really tough, especially the mid level bosses which are everywhere. They are quick and deal a lot of damage when you get hit. Boss fights are more tricky. It might take a while to figure out their attack pattern, which by the time you might already be dead. As with great fights, victory is always sweeter.

There are plenty of accessories with great powers available. Equipping each will slightly alter your battle strategy. This immensely increases the replay value of the game.

The weapons in the game are great. The attack damages for each weapon is roughly similar. Characteristics for each are different, for example with the guns you can go for long range attacks, using a whip can grab an enemy towards you, etc. My favourite weapon is the samurai sword Shuraba which slices clean and has a nice "shink" sound effect.

The numerous weapons also increases replay value as the combos you can perform with them varies. There are no upgrades for the weapons, which means they are already the best when you get them.

Graphics and audio

I though the design for the game is great. The background designs are really beautiful, especially the city of Vigrid which is very alluring.

The enemy designs are unlike anything I've see. They all wear shiny armour and just look menacing. It's a very typical Japanese style of design, a bit over the top.

It will take a while to get used to visuals during fights as there might be a lot of things going on. Bayonetta can sometimes get blocked by enemies in front of the camera making fights really dangerous.

The soundtrack is a mixture of jazz, pop and arcade type of music. It suits the gameplay and atmosphere well. However, it's certainly not the type of music you'll listen when you're not playing.

Favourite parts

There's a cool dance sequence unlocked when the game is completed. It features Bayonetta dancing with the different characters not unlike those flashy MTVs you see. It looks really fun.

When you're going back for a second round of game in a different difficulty, you get to keep all your accessories and weapons. You can keep replaying different chapters until you collect all the items and trophies.

Technical issues

I've heard some gamers complain about the loading time in PS3 but didn't face any problems myself. The loading time isn't too different from other games. Just make sure you download the patch available prior to playing.

Conclusion

Bayonetta is a challenging game. The fights are tough but when you know want Bayonetta is capable of, you'll feel confident to take on any enemy.

This game has more replay value than God of War III simply because the battle styles changes whenever you change your weapons and accessories. It's fun to go back into the battles once in a while just to entertain yourself.

It's not a very long game but that really depends on how many times you are going to die or if you're up to finding and completing the hidden battles in the game.

For the really hardcore gamers, you'll can challenge yourself to getting a Platinum trophy for the game under the most difficult Non-Stop Climax game mode, a mode that makes me shudder even when thinking about it.

I would highly recommend getting Bayonetta: The Official Guide Limited Collector's Edition if you want to master Bayonetta. It has strategies for all the grueling battles.

I'll give this game 4 out of 5 bullets.

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The game is available for XBox 360 and PS3. Here are the country-specific Amazon links for the game:
Amazon.com | Amazon.ca | Amazon.co.uk | Amazon.fr | Amazon.de | Amazon.co.jp