Bayonetta – Review

1. To fans of Capcom, the Platinum Games studio is a studio to pay attention to. The place is comprised of ex-Capcom employees, and most of their former top dogs. The masterminds behind Devil May Cry and Resident Evil, including the gaming legend Shinji Mikami, left Capcom after Clover Studios was dissolved and formed Platinum Games. So far they have released an obscure science-fiction game for the Nintendo DS and the relatively entertaining ultra-violent brawler MadWorld for the Wii as an exclusive title. For their third game to be published by Sega, Platinum Games has put together what can only be described as a Devil May Cry clone, but does Bayonetta have the firepower to out-do Dante, action games' OG?
   
   Almost. Bayonetta is highly entertaining as well as overwhelmingly challenging on any mode above Easy. You play as the titular Bayonetta, a witch that is quite skilled in combat. Bayonetta's adventure is separated out into chapters, and most of them require you to go through a level, maybe solve a puzzle or two, and the kill the hell out of angels. And in a game like this, the combat engine has to be nothing less than perfect.
   
   Well, Bayonetta's combat is actually pretty fantastic. You are equipped with pistols that you can shoot nearly like machineguns, and you can also equip other weapons that you purchase with halos. The X button controls your pistols, and the Y button controls your other weapon. The B button, depending on what combos you are pulling off, controls both of them, and only by combining the three buttons as well as directional movement and by holding triggers and bumpers can you hope to stand a chance in this game. There are a ton of combos, and while you will most likely resort to button mashing in order to pull them off, there will be a few combos that you will memorize and use to your advantage in sticky situations without a doubt.
   
   To mix things up, Bayonetta's most original feature is its dodging system. In order to defeat enemies easier and avoid hazardous obstacles, you must master the right trigger. You have to pull the trigger just before you are about to take damage, and you will go into Witch Time. This is a slow-motion segment that allows you to attack your enemies with little to no chance of them hitting you. It's highly useful, and also comes into play in puzzle situations, so it doesn't feel just like a gimmicky gameplay mechanic and actually feels like a fleshed out feature in the game.
   
   Bayonetta has a magic gauge, but it's truly not that useful until you have it filled to capacity. At these points, you can execute torture attacks on your enemies in order to deal massive damage and sometimes kill them with one shot. You pull these moves off by pressing Y and B simultaneously, and there are quite imaginative; I just wish there were more of them. The buttons pop up on the screen like a QTE when you can pull off a Torture Attack, and they require follow-up button mashing in order to earn more halos from your kill. QTEs come into play at other moments during the game, but they aren't frequent enough to become too irritating or obtrusive.
   
   What does become obtrusive and breaks up the action-packed gameplay is the fact that the game's encounters with enemies are separated into Verses. This sucks out any surprise and breaks up the gameplay horribly. It all feels disconnected and disjointed. It can really be described as a third-person action game on rails, as you just move from one area, kill everything, move to another area, kill everything, and then maybe solve a puzzle or two here and there. If the combat system wasn't so badass, this would break the game.
   
   Enemy variety also becomes an issue. The game tends to repeat bosses way too much, and without the added thrill of seeing them and defeating them like you get when you face them originally, it just feels like you are treading old ground. The people behind this game have created some of the most iconic video game monsters in history; there is no reason they couldn't have been more original with their enemy design.
   
   On the bright side, the sometimes repetitive gameplay is broken up with vehicular segments that are high-octane and thrilling. These require a ton of skill to beat on the more difficult gameplay modes and yield pretty awesome moments. However, they go on for too long and lose a bit of their impact. It would have made more sense to separate out these gameplay segments over the game instead of just having a few long segments.
   
   Bayonetta's plot is nonsensical and absolutely, ridiculously stupid. The game follows Bayonetta, a witch, with amnesia, that kills angels. She is looking for something, or something, really, I don't know. Characters are introduced and then dumped with no explanation, and the whole affair is ultimately confusing and impossible to get invested in. That being said, you won't care. The meat and potatoes of Bayonetta is the combat system, which is excellent, and does make up for a lot of the game's flaws. The cut-scenes occasionally have epic battles that play out and are a lot of fun to watch, but the game would definitely benefit from having a plot and characters that gamers can actually care about.
   
   Despite the lack of variety, the character and enemy models are gorgeous. The fight scenes in the cut-scenes, like I've said, are beautifully animated. The huge move set and combo system looks great, and while the environments are bit boring and generic, the level of destructibility and the pure gorgeousness present in this title is definitely eye candy if I've ever seen it. There are no technical issues or glitches that I found, and while the game doesn't suffer from lag or anything, the framerate certainly isn't consistent. It's not as bad as Darksiders, but it's noticeable. And inexcusable in this day and age.
   
   Voice acting isn't bad. It's what you'd expect from Platinum Games, and you'll recognize the voice actors present in the title from other games and anime and stuff. The sound effects are good, and while the dialogue is corny and generally stupid as a rule, it's fun to listen to. The music, on the other hand, is annoying as hell. The same tunes repeat all the time, and while the music is catchy and cool at first, the lack of variety wears away the audio experience.
   
   Bayonetta takes roughly ten hours to complete during your initial playthrough. There is a lot more to do after this, though. Achievements are there to unlock, there are more difficulty modes, and a lot of stuff to purchase from the shop that will take a lot of replaying the levels in order to buy everything. It's just as replayable as any other game in the genre, and fans of these kind of games will probably invest a decent amount of time in this title.
   
   Lack of variety. This phrase has been used repeatedly throughout this review. And I'm bringing it up now to make a point. Bayonetta has flaws. The lack of variety in music and enemies is one; the broken-up feel of the levels is another; the inconsistent framerate; and the story that makes no sense at all. However, Bayonetta is gorgeous, and it does better than most games in a lot of other departments. The combat system is second-to-none, and you will get your bang for your buck here. There is a lot of room for improvement in a sequel, but unless you're a fan of extreme action games in the vein of Devil May Cry and God of War, Bayonetta might not be for you.
2. Rating: 
   8
3. Product Release: Bayonetta (US, 01/05/2010)

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