Bayonetta – Review

1. In 2001, Devil May Cry graced the gaming world with its return to old school game design. Devil May Cry was difficult, and to succeed you had to learn and master the mechanics of the game. These mechanics were not only fun, but deep enough to allow a natural progression of the player's skill to increase over the course of the game, and reward the player for doing so. As games slowly started to cater towards a casual crowd, Devil May Cry represented a return to form for dedicated gamers who wanted a challenge, not just instant gratification. Devil May Cry 2 was botched by big wigs, Devil May Cry 3 may have gotten too deep in mechanics for it's own good, and Devil May Cry 4 was at the core, Devil May Cry 3 in a sabotaged package, and now comes Bayonetta, Hideki Kamiya's attempt at evolving his own work (FYI DMC2-4 was not directed by Kamiya.) I will be comparing the game to DMC quite often, as will I go in-depth with the gameplay and mechanics.
   
   Gameplay (or the only thing that matters)
   The core of the game is a great engine that is precise and tight, and houses great mechanics. With Kamiya, the name of the game is dodging; here, blocking is deemed to be boring and slows the pace of the action, and so watching enemy movements is critical. To streamline the original Devil May Cry mechanic, instead of having to lock-on to an enemy, choose a direction and then press a button to dodge (although the game still lets you do it the old school way; a nod to the fans), Bayonetta only requires you press one button to dodge, thus allowing the entire game to flow faster than the original Devil May Cry. The original Devil May Cry dodge roll had to be precise in timing and also position, but due to the large amount of invincibility frames given in Bayonetta, you only have to act reflexively on cue of an enemy telegraphing their attack, again to allow the speed of the game to act at a lightning pace.
   
   Because of the much more reflexive nature of the dodge, the new mechanic, the dodge offset (which allows a combo to be continued after a dodge) will be a skill that needs to be mastered. You may find it easy to pull of in the training mode, but executing it in the heat of battle will take some playthroughs to master. Luckily, enemies start of with slower attacks on lower difficulties, giving ample time to practice.
   
   One decision that was slightly polarizing to me, was the decision to more than one "attack" button, thus giving rise to the dreaded long list of combo strings. However, you only need to remember a few useful ones for various situations (PKP for quick damage, PPPKKK to subdue a crowd, etc.), and it could be possible that you are expected to improvise rather than remember your combos, although this would be difficult on harder modes, as the speed of the game is upped yet again. Although, it should be known that some weapons share common combo strings and even attacks, but vary in properties and "secondary attacks" which I am going on to.
   
   To add more improvisational tools to the arsenal, you have almost a secondary attack if you hold down the attack button before hitting the next in the combo string. The default guns shoot out a short string of bullets, allowing say for you to wail on a close enemy while keeping another one away with the bullets, or with the claws, you could use the secondary attack to blow away a group of enemies closing in on you. The possibilities aren't endless, but give you a rush when you just dispatched a wave of enemies with style!
   
   In continuing to add tweaks to the original DMC formula, if you are able to dodge with correct timing, you are given a burst of "witch time", which slows down the world and enemies around you, and you can wail on your enemies without worrying about being attacked. A very satisfying mechanic that varies the pace of a battle between your watchful and conservative playstyle, to a flat out beat down.
   
   Another little refinement, is being able to practice combos during loading. You can really tell by now, that Kamiya aims to perfect the formula for the stylish action game to every possible outlet.
   
   Enemy variety is well done to accompany the pace of the player learning and building a skill set, whilst providing incremental challenge. With the power of current-gen consoles, Kamiya has taken the chance to make bigger, badder boss battles. Although sometimes it leaves a little to be desired, as many of the bosses are physically large, there aren't enough smaller, more agile bosses, save for a recurring "Bayonetta equal". However, the bigger bosses allow for a battle with various phases, as opposed to the usual pool of moves which the boss alternates with. For example, one boss has you perched on a platform, as you slowly rip off both of it's arms. After that, you move onto it's body, taking out nodes that protect it's face, and after that you face-off with it's head. Exciting to the new player, although the appeal may wear off on subsequent playthroughs (and you will be playing more than once).
   
   As it can be inferred, the core combat mechanics and gameplay are top notch, however the game as a whole package suffers from a good intention of giving the player breaks between the combat. Every chapter ends with Angel Attack, a shooting mini-game where you remain stationary and shoot at moving targets. At first I disliked it, but I came to accept it on later playthroughs, as the bullets have a slight delay in travel, leading people to believe the crosshair is inaccurate. The spoils are minor, and almost always I went for the cash reward rather than the consumable items, to which you are given free base materials throughout the game in which to concoct the same items for healing, temporary power boosts, temporary invulnerability, etc.
   
   A few other improvements have been brought upon the formula. You are scored on your performance each chapter a la DMC, however you are also shown your scores on each encounter or "Verse" of each chapter, showing you which parts of the chapter you need to improve on to attain the elusive "Pure Platinum" award. Also rather than artificially adding difficulty by kicking the player back to the start of the chapter after death, you are returned to a checkpoint like many modern games. However, it may be this design that a player might not hone their skills enough, and find a difficulty spike when the more frantic, tougher enemies are introduced. I also found myself dying quite a bit just to recover my health for the next Verse, with the only consequence being a poor score. Consequently it may mean that the player won't get the skills that the game expects of the player, until a wall is hit, and frustration ensues.
   
   The overtly sexualised Bayonetta also shows as she summons monsters sexily, poses after certain moves sexily, taunts sexily, activates switches sexily, all within the campy style which is sure to elicit some laughs.
   
   Angel Attack is only a minor complaint as it only takes place for about a minute per session, however the larger problem lies with two chapters deviating from the combat entirely to introduce minigames that drag on for far too long. One involves a ride down a highway on a motorcycle, the controls are not too bad, however you are not racing opponents or trying to beat a time limit, you are only cruising down a highway, occasionally shooting enemies ONLY to improve your score, not because they are obstacles. The real obstacles are also no real obstacle, as health lost is no real obstacle, and the huge invincibility frames on the dodge give no challenge. I believe the lack of effort required was to avoid frustrating players who are thrust into a mini-game with little similarity to the core gameplay, and yet without a proper challenge, it feels like a wasted and quite boring 10-15 minutes. Also, because the mini-game is not originally part of the original scope, very frustrating hit detection came about for me, when the highway starts breaking apart, and I found myself falling down the cracks many a time. Another glaring flaw is the camera positioning, Bayonetta and the bike take the center, blocking all that is in front of you, and this section is about riding on a highway at high speed, with enemies and other vehicles on the road, and an eventual destruction of the highway, again the developers decided to make concessions on the difficulty, rather than fix the issue.
   
   The next mini-game is even worse, a terrible, terrible Starfox clone that is even more monotonous than the aforementioned driving mini-game. It is also of little challenge to just get through, but to get the high score, you must put up with the lack of reticule, mash on the shoot button to get the firing rate to be able to actually kill the enemies before they fly away, and put up with a dodge that twirls the whole camera around in a circle. Tunnel shooter conventions dictate that the dodge is superfluous and that moving Bayonetta around should be enough to avoid enemy fire, but there are certain enemies you should dodge fire from to get Witch Time, and other situations where you are simply too overwhelmed and must put up with the headache inducing dodge. This 10-20 minutes is even less tolerable, with a static background, repeated enemies, and simply being a chore to play. I wish I could say the following proper boss battle makes up for it, but the mini-game is pretty damn bad. It feels as though since the team worked so hard to make these mini-games somewhat solid, that they had to pad it out to justify their work on reconfiguring the engine to work differently, however I wish they had just scrapped these sections.
   
   It is how the game forms as a complete package that is somewhat of a letdown. Because of a directionless plot, the progression through the levels feels just as directionless, initially you are exploring the City of Vigrid, but then you are taken through the mountains, end up in the Angel world of Paradiso for no inexplicable reason, and then finally we get back to actually getting somewhere by heading to the heart of Vigrid, "Isla del Sol". Motivation to play through the game (aside from gameplay) waned over time. Because of this I feel I have to award two different scores for the core combat gameplay, and for how the gameplay is packaged into a whole game.
   
   9/10 for the combat, 7.5/10 for the "package".
   
   Story
   The story itself is subpar, Bayonetta is a Witch with amnesia, will only get her memory back at the "big reveal" near the end, has lived her life killing angels, and now wants to pursue a jewel known as the "Eye of the World", which will supposedly answer all the questions Bayonetta has. Oh, and witches were supposed to have been wiped out 500 years ago. That's the introductory blurb, the plot during the game is almost non-existent, Bayonetta has run-ins with a strange man, a strange girl that has a likeness to Bayonetta, and a strange woman with the same powers of Bayonetta, none of which "strangeness" are even attempted to be progressively explained and to lead the plot in any kind of direction, but are just saved for the "big reveal" at the end. Even then, you will still probably be confused.
   
   Bayonetta is essentially a female Dante with an extra dose of sex, but when Dante strut coolly onto the scene, taunting evil deities before dispatching them with style, Bayonetta really feels like a camp copy of him.
   
   However, props must be given for a lore that is somewhat interesting to read into; there are notes scattered throughout the game which gives a little backstory to the proceedings, which are welcome as the actual story is packed into the end. The lore also extends into the game world, in which nothing exists without reason. Treasure chests are coffins of the extinct witches, who's souls have condensed into items Bayonetta can use, Bayonetta's deal with the demon Madame Butterfly is the reason why butterfly wings sprout to allow her to double jump, Angels drop "halos" which is the currency of the game, you collect LP records that Rodin uses to lure demons to craft weapons, rather than collecting weapons outright, etc. The lore gives context to all the little gameplay elements, which is very welcome.
   
   Again I feel I must split the score:
   3/10 for story, 7/10 for lore
   
   Graphics/Sound
   Graphics are good, not average but not groundbreaking either, somewhere in between. The effects are nice, such as the demons Bayonetta summons which are constructed entirely of hair. The art direction is nice, with enemy design drawing inspiration from pre-existing art and mythology of heaven. The graphics are able bring into fruition, environments that are epic in scale, such as Paradiso, which is populated with many low level angels that fly around the the background. Set piece moments are also mostly rendered quite well. Enemies show plenty of detail as you attack them, showing a gory interior that was covered by the clean white exterior.
   
   The soundtrack can get quite repetitive, as on most common enemy battles you will hear the same two songs over and over again. Big orchestral scores are appropriately reserved for the big boss battles, and cool jazz greets you every time you visit the shop. Sound effects are nice and snappy. Just as with the graphics, the sound teeters between average and amazing.
   
   8.5 for graphics, 8 for sound
   
   Play Time/Replayability
   The game is a standard 8-12 hours for an action game, but because of the great combat mechanics, the game is sure to keep on giving after the first playthrough. There are five difficulties, Very Easy, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Non-Stop Climax, to cater to the beginner gamer, to the seasoned vet. The regular gamer would go through three playthroughs, Normal > Hard > Non-Stop Climax. Hard mode steps up enemy AI by making them more agressive and giving them faster attacks, and Non-Stop Climax is essentially Hard Mode without Witch Time. I am torn over this mode, I feel Hard mode may not provide enough challenge to the most hardcore gamer, yet Witch Time is such a big feature of the game, that removing it feels a little icky, especially when some enemies are just too frantic to take on without it, and some enemies are given properties of invincibility, which was mainly intended to be dealt with by going into Witch Time.
   
   Difficulty modes aside, there are the arbitrary collectibles scattered and hidden around the environment, in the form of the generic arbitrary collectible that has no use until all of them are collected, chests that hide health and magic upgrades, health and magic upgrades that are just hidden, hidden weapons, and other numerous unlockables such as a secret boss and chapter, secret weapons, and secret characters.
   
   Even after shelving the game, the gameplay alone is worth another playthrough, and the extras are little added incentives. If bold enough, you may even attempt to place yourself on the leaderboards, which have scores for both completion times and combo scores. Skipping cutscenes is a minor nusciance, as you must pause the game, select the skip option, and confirm your choice. And although you can select any beaten chapter, you can't "officially" restart a verse, which is a minor set back to those aiming for the Pure Platinum Award.
   
   9/10 for replayability
   
   Final Recommendation
   THE spiritual successor of Devil May Cry, with enough improvements, tweaks and refinements to differentiate it from it's predecessor, a real gamer's game where the mechanics are deep and require skill, with a great sense of accomplishment and reward after stylishly taking out a troop of angels, and where story only exists to give context to your over-the-top stylish combat antics, this game is truly for those who dislike the new direction of gaming, becoming interactive movies with constant hand holding, and the culture of "disposable games". Those who lament the day of old should not fear, for Bayonetta will be a treasured part of anyone's collection, and can be played again and again after the initial playthrough.
   
   Even to those who aren't hardcore gamers looking for such depth, casual gamers can still have fun with the "Auto" difficulties, where the game chooses the ideal combos for the situation, great for those just looking to have a bit of fun.
   
   Buy it, although even to the most cynical I'd still say buy it, simply because of how cheap the title has become.
   
   9/10 for outstanding, rewarding, deep and outright fun gameplay, but one point away from 10/10, for small issues that prevent it from achieving perfection, otherwise you'd think this game would have been thrown down from the heights of heaven.
2. Rating: 
   9
3. Product Release: Bayonetta (EU, 01/08/2010)

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