Sega’s Bayonetta is the first major release of 2010 and it lands only a few days into the year. Does she play as good as she looks or does she disappoint?
Bayonetta is a fast paced action game in the style of Devil May Cry, God of War, and Ninja Gaiden. In fact, fans of the Devil May Cry series will find it very familiar as it shares the same creator, Hideki Kamiya. Bayonetta however manages to surpass the Devil May Cry franchise in every possible way and many gamers will have a hard time going back.
I can feel my eyes rolling as I type this but everything about Bayonetta is sexy. From the character design, to the animations, to the cutscenes, and the personality; it’s overflowing with style in a way that most other games would be afraid to attempt. Sure it’s over the top, and at times even celebrates that fact, but it suits this game perfectly. There are few moments in which a million things aren’t going on at once.
Gameplay
How easily can I explain the character of Bayonetta? She’s a sexy angel-slaying witch that uses her hair as her costume and wears guns on her shoes. That’s about as succinct as I can be.
Underneath the sexualized character design of Bayonetta though lies a combat system that is as refined as it gets. Once everything “clicks” the combat becomes fluid and trance-like with dodges and combos becoming second nature. It’s accessible enough for newcomers but complex enough so that veterans have something to sink their teeth into. It took me around an hour or so to feel like I was totally in control but when I did pulling off combos and torture kills felt immensely satisfying. To prevent things from getting stale you’ll find new weapons like a rocket launcher, whip, claws, etc. throughout the game to give you new elements to master. Using these weapons changes the style of combat considerably.
The most important gameplay innovation Bayonetta brings to the table is Witch Time, which is essentially the game’s own version of bullet time. It works like this: If you dodge an enemy attack at the last possible second then you trigger Witch Time which temporarily slows down time allowing for massive combos. You’ll find this comes in handy during the game’s many epic boss battles and you’ll soon wonder how you ever lived without it. It’s a simple but powerful addition to the action genre.
One important note: If you’re a casual gamer who’s afraid of getting a Ninja Gaiden-like beatdown by the game’s difficulty then feel free to relax. The Normal difficulty is challenging but not frustrating and there are Easy and Very Easy modes that are virtual cakewalks for the gamer that doesn’t want to work up a sweat. Completing the game unlocks two higher degrees of difficulty, Hard and Non-Stop Infinite Climax, and needless to say those modes will punish you like you deserve it. Only the brave or stupid need apply.
There’s plenty of variety among the chapters and a few genuinely cool surprises that I didn’t expect to see in a game like this. I won’t spoil anything other than to so say that if you’re a longtime fan of Sega then you definitely will appreciate this game.
Story
Some might say that the story in Bayonetta is indecipherable or unimportant, but that’s not really accurate. The plot does develop slowly during the early part of the game and then peaks sharply during the last hour or so. You spend 75% of the game wondering what’s going on and the final 25% finding everything out. Personally I enjoyed the story but did feel frustrated by the lack of clarity at times. In the end everything made sense and frankly I was surprised by how much I liked it. I’m used to the story in most action games being an afterthought but I found some moments genuinely touching. It’s cliche to say but the story isn’t the primary selling point in these types of games so you may not even care either way.
Music
Bayonetta’s soundtrack is phenomenal. I’m not the kind of guy that typically goes crazy about video game music but I do know what I like, and what I like is this. You may have seen the excellent Bayonetta TV commercial (posted above) that features a remix of “In For The Kill”
Final Thoughts
As you can tell I liked Bayonetta a lot. It’s the best action game I have played this console generation. It has the accessibility, complexity, and personality that I look for in games but sadly rarely find. The hours I spent completing the game flew by and I immediately began a second playthrough to collect Halos and buy everything in the shop. For completists like me there’s a ton of replay value if you want to unlock everything there is to see.
It’s been awhile since Sega has released a game as great as Bayonetta. I like to think of it as Shinobi for a new generation. Kudos go out to PlatinumGames for creating a masterpiece. Clearly it’s the work of people who know and love what they’re doing. Hopefully it’s the beginning of a new franchise as it would be criminal to deny the world a sequel. If you’re even slightly interested then I recommend giving Bayonetta a shot. It deserves to be played.
Review Score: 9.5 out of 10
In preparation for this review I played Bayonetta to completion twice and then replayed some levels in order to unlock extra items. At the time of this review my total playtime is around 18 hours.
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