I was kind of torn between what to blow my hard earned Christmas gift card money on. With Mass Effect 2 already reserved and no desire to play with androgynous tweenagers named "Lightning Blitz" from Square I only had two real choices, Darksiders or Bayonetta. Seeing as how I have already played as War in the Greek sense I decided to opt for something a little different and play a hack 'n slash about the Strippers of Salem. The first thing which may come to mind when looking at Bayonetta is that it is a Devil May Cry clone, which doesn't make much sense to me seeing that the game director is Hideki Kamiya, the creator of DMC, so this is akin to a woman walking in on his husband masturbating and calling him a cheating whore. Coincidentally this is probably how the game concept was first created.
I often grade video games on a very loose set of criteria, however one of the most important things for a game to possess is an identity. If a game is being designed without a strong concept of what it is supposed to be then you are likely going to see a sub-par video game muddled in confusion. That is one positive point that Bayonetta has, it knows exactly what it is supposed to be, bat shit insane. The best way to describe this game would be "Over the top by design". All the cut scenes, the dialogue, the levels, and story progression all move along the path of escalation, each encounter being more flamboyant and excessive than the last. The game play, enemies, and levels are varied enough to keep a player interested while not straying far from the overall atmosphere of the game. From fighting on the crumbling remains of a skyscraper to surfing on an ICBM in a 3d aerial shooter (complete with Raiden styled "An intruder is approaching" boss warnings) everything maintains this bizarre campy feeling like you are in a modernized 1960's Batman episode.
Bayonetta's story revolves around the a witch who struck a deal with the devil to kill God's messengers in exchange for life, your primary contact and supplier, Rodin, runs a bar called The Gates of Hell (Har Har I see what you did there). After receiving information on a gem you are interested in you fly to Europe and the fun begins. You should be warned that the game is a little cut scene heavy, and while most of them are laughably entertaining it can become tedious watching them when the story is rather shallow. Most of them are just set ups for the next level or extravagant boss killings. While they can be skipped, some of the cinematics just feel like unnecessary padding and in some instances it creates an "OH SHIT!" situation where you will exit the cut scene with less than a second to dodge an incoming attack. There aren't too many occurrences of this, and you will eventually learn to stay on your toes, but this is still a penalty in my opinion.
The controls are rather simplistic; X shoots your pistols, Y uses your fists, B kicks, A jumps, and the right trigger slows down time and dances provocatively. Much of the depth in combat comes from equipping different weapons to your hands and legs while properly controlling the tempo of different strikes to string them into combos. Dodging at the last possible second triggers "witch time" (which is almost identical to Bullet time and Tea time) giving you a slight increase to your magic gauge and allowing your attacks to bypass enemy defenses. With sufficient magic you can execute a torture attack, summoning various torture and execution devices to inflict massive damage and earn extra halos (which serve as currency), the damage and monetary bonus is determined by a "beat the shit out of your controller" quick time event. Several sub bosses and main bosses also require you to "climax" in order to defeat them, stripping down Bayonetta to her non existent unmentionables while her hair forms a giant demon to beat the living shit out of them.
Graphically, the game is on par with the current generation. It doesn't have too many jaw dropping visual effects, everything just feels "on par". The one area the game does apply itself is with its Bosses, which are often gigantic monstrosities spouting gibberish about their creator. In terms of boss size scale, Bayonetta would come in just under Painkiller in terms of being excessive. There is more than one occasion where you will be running up some bosses appendage like an anime battle. Everything else seems to focus around Bayonetta's anatomy (and her ass does shake with remarkable realism). Every shot, pose, and still screams of "I have a vagina, hear it roar". Taken out of context you might end up annoyed, but keep in mind the games overall atmosphere, and few things are as funny as hypocritical feminism. However, having experienced both the 360 and PS3 versions, I would advise anyone to avoid the PS3 version. They may both possess the same detail, but the PS3 version suffers from a bad case of graphical tearing, choppiness, and excessive loading times even when installed. This is probably due to the game being developed for the 360 and hastily ported to the PS3 by Sega, but it still hurts the overall flow of game play and can be frustrating in fights that become cluttered. Sorry Sony fans, you have to sit down and suck it raw on this one.
The audio and soundtrack? Bart Howard, its made of fucking win. That's all you should really care about.
Overall I would have to say that my experience with Bayonetta as a whole has been remarkably positive. There are a few flaws and gripes I have about it, such as some of the side challenges being frustratingly difficult due to standards they will hold you to (such as the wicked weave only time trials. Also, while initially the main character is designed to have this feminine sexual attraction to her and appease the player with gratuitous fan service it kind of faded out on me when I realized that her entire outfit is made of her hair. Yes this means that "technically" she is naked at all times, but its a lot of hair and with her European accent I cant help but think that its not all from her head and that she desperately needs to shave.
The game is short, falling around the current standard for play through time. You can likely finish the game between 9 and 11 hours, but for elitists you can still unlock and play through Hard and Non-Stop Climax modes. Even after beating the game it is still has replay value and the boss battles are fun to do more than once. If you play it once you will likely play it again, just because the game has the most important thing going for it. Bayonetta is fucking fun.
If you can get over the fact that the main character is a woman and that the majority of the game is filled with mindless fan service and Batman shark repellent, you shouldn't have any reason not to enjoy this game.
01-08-2010 08:29 PM
Zippers
You have a way with words my friend.
01-09-2010 02:49 AM
Geisha Buoy
I was going to overlook this game completely, and I'm unsure if this has really swayed me. Does it have, like, a sex theme? O_o
01-09-2010 03:06 AM
The Panty Raider
Like I said, its gratuitous fan service. You never get too see any nipples or vag, but the game tries to portray her sexually as much as possibly can at any given opportunity in some comedic fashion.
This clip should give you a small idea of what I am talking about, just beware of spoilers.
01-09-2010 03:12 AM
Geisha Buoy
How about the overall quality of the story? You've given me a good idea of the way it's presented, but how would you personally grade the characters, plot, themes, et cetera? I hadn't read anything about this game so I'm sort of trying to make a judgment just from this thread.
01-09-2010 03:35 AM
The Panty Raider
The story is cliche, hokey, and in terms of depth its at best shallow as hell. If I were to grade the story on its own merits as if it were the only game of its kind it would be a colossal failure. Its another one of those "in context" kind of things, this game is poking fun at a lot of genres and comes off as a Final Fantasy fanfic written on LSD and that is what makes the story and plot enjoyable. If you are looking for a serious storyline then this game is not what you want. It jumps around a lot (throwing God, Hell, amnesia, time travel, and brainwashing into the mix) but it at least ties itself up in the end.
The characters, while they are each unique in their own respects, are still overly cliche. Most of them come off in a sort of Spaceballs kind of motif. They all do their jobs as cogs to move the plot train forward, but their primary fuel source is shtick. Once again its one of those "view in context" kind of things. Whenever a character tries to get serious, there is always something to balance it out and bring it back to a comical atmosphere, even if it is a bit cheesy.
This isn't a game with a story or cast to be taken seriously. Its all mindless comedic fun and just moves to set up for the next portion of gameplay. I guess this makes it a difficult concept to put into words, especially with the current trend in video games. It is a game that is meant to be played for the game play, the story just builds bridges for moving from one chapter to the next. If it could have thrown the entire story out on its ear, it would have.
The characters and story fill their roles, even if those roles read like a mix between penthouse forum and super fudge.
01-09-2010 12:08 PM
Skotch
It looks like a lot of fun (more so than DMC) and I look forward to getting my hands on it.
01-09-2010 02:27 PM
Flaming-Siren
I rather enjoyed all the references to other videogames (Resident Evil 4, Soul Calibur and Devil May Cry all get quoted) but feeling like a gynocologist within 5 minutes of playtime, not so much.
