Bayonetta

Voices of:Hellena Taylor, Grey Griffin, Chick Vennera, Yuri Lowenthal, J. Grant Albrecht, Dave Fennoy, Jenny O'Hara
Developer: Platinum Games
Directed by: Hideki Kamiya
Rating: M
Genre: Action-Adventure, Hack and Slash
System: Playstation 3
2009

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: A witch with no memory of her past uncovers a global conspiracy as she searches for something called "The Eyes of the World".

Review:
Tim: I've never quite played a game like Bayonetta. Sega's unique spin on the hack and slash genre built this fascinating mythology around the central character. That's really what I loved about this game- learning about the world and the players they inhabit. The world building in this game is one of the best I've seen in a long time. The game itself was definitely challenging. I have to admit, I wasn't invested to the point of replaying levels over and over again to get good scores. I had a blast playing this game, but it was really story-driven for me.

Let's start by examining that story. The game immediately starts off, showing you it intends to earn it "M" rating. The game features a surprising amount of curse words, including several "f" words. The game features blood and gore, as various creatures get tore to pieces in various ways. The main character is hypersexualized and has a playful, naughty demeanor. This isn't unheard of in the video game world, but the game definitely works to push the envelope. It's fun watch Bayonetta's antics, with her winks and blowing kisses as you finish different verses.

As the game progresses, you realize the impressive extent of the mythology the game creates. You have the eternal conflict between the Lumen Sages and the Umbra Witches, between light and dark. You have the mysterious Eyes of the World, and the borrowed-from-Dante idea of three realms- Paradiso, Purgatorio, and Inferno. There's documents you can obtain that give you a lot background information on these realms and their inhabitants. I actually loved learning more about this world. The game certainly works to be somewhat blasphemous in its approach, but it all felt in good fun. That was really the main driver for me- I wanted to explore this world more, learn the secret of Bayonetta's past, and discover the end of her story. The movie definitely has a number of cinematic sequences, although the use of still photos to tell much of the story felt like a bit of a cheap approach. It was interesting and added a unique tone to the story, but it certainly saved money over rendering all those sequences.

The gameplay itself was a ton of fun, but really challenging. I'm decent at video games (not great) and at times, I struggled with some of the levels here. I routinely died 5+ times on most levels and sometimes far more than that. The main attraction of the battles is when you trigger "Witch Time", which vastly increases Bayonetta's speed, so your enemies look like they are moving in slow motion. This is incredibly satisfying, as you can just wail on enemies. I played the game on Normal and I struggled at times with the difficulty. As I said, though, I played through each level once. I really had no interest in replaying chapters over and over again. I had fun, but not enough to sink countless hours into the game. It took me 16 hours to beat the game and I didn't do that well with the end-of-chapter trophies. I got 13 stone, 2 Bronze, 3 Silver, and 1 Gold. The game would have required significantly more time for me to replay and improve my scores and I just didn't feel invested enough to do that.

While the battling itself is repetitive, the game throws a series of incredible boss battles at you. You fight angelic monsters, giant beasts, these creatures with giant heads- I've never quite seen anything like the bosses you battle here. And, it's supremely satisfying to take them down, before the final "Fatality"-like conclusion. The game keeps it interesting by really throwing a lot at you. I really struggled against Jeanne- her abilities are basically a carbon copy to Bayonetta's and I always dreading going against her. The boss battle design as a whole was excellent. The game also throws a bunch of random different vehicle levels at you, too. One of the most memorable takes place on top of a rocket, but there's one with a motorcycle, one on top of trucks on a highway, etc. They don't always have the best level design, but they are hard to forget. They can be unforgiving at times and more than a bit frustrating.

Overall, I have to say, I loved the experience of playing Bayonetta. It sucked me into this vastly original, controversial, memorable world. I had a blast following the story. While the challenges of the game and the repetitive battles had me ready to wrap the game up, it was still great fun to play. It felt sufficiently different from many games I play. Sega had a bit hit with this game, introducing one of the most cheeky, memorable characters to ever grace video games. This game is absolutely a success.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Portal, The Last of Us, God of War