Bayonetta 2 Review

Capoeira, mentioned in an episode of Bob’s Burgers as “sexy dance fighting,” is a perfect description of the newly released game Bayonetta 2, developed by Platinum Games and published by Nintendo. It is an immediate sequel to Bayonetta,the action hack and slash game that hit Xbox 360 and PS3 in 2009. Now it’s Nintendo’s turn to show just what’s in store for Cereza as she continues her battle in Chaos. This Wii U exclusive hit stores October 24th, 2014 and thanks to the game’s superb fighting style, and numerous other achievements, this will be a dance that you will never want to end!

Bayonetta’s debut on a next-gen console was absolutely magnificent. The character models shined with immense personality that unfortunately was missing from its predecessor due to previous-gen limitations. The scenery varied from beautiful glistening ponds spread across the heavens to the dark and electrifying fires that can only be found at the depths of hell. This was only matched by the graphics found in amidst the heavy fighting. The combination of enemy fire and your own deadly weapon animations was like watching the grand finale of a fireworks show.

Everything worked so well together visually, that you would have thought you were an artist, in battle, painting a picture of victory and death. The cutscenes were exciting, fast paced, and went right to the point, a rarity in the action fighting genre. The dialogue was cheesy at times but I honestly think that that type of humor fit well with the overall theme that Bayonetta creates. I’m also glad they kept the slideshow cutscenes, it will always give the series a touch of class and a retro film style that I loved so much about the first Bayonetta.

As I waited for the release day of Bayonetta 2, I decided to play the original game on Xbox 360 to prepare myself, and my body, for the fighting struggles that were to come. As I played, I was reminded how much I loved the fighting style in Bayonetta and hoped that the new game would not change all that much about it. I mean if its not broken, don’t fix it… Right? Alas this was far too simple and safe for Nintendo, they instead wanted to create an even more immersive and excited fighting experience for the player, and, to my surprise, they did this with flying colors. The core principles and controls still exist in the new game, but what they added and what they changed made the fighting in Bayonetta 2 purely addictive.

Dodging enemies in the game is a smooth experience. The enemies, sometimes strong, give off visible attack cues, so planning your counter attacks is fun and exciting. Later down the road these fighting mechanics are so damn thought out, and perfectly executed, that you found yourself using these mechanics instinctually. This is a mark of a truly great action fighting game, it’s what the genre strives and hopes to accomplish, and few actually do. Bayonetta 2’s fighting style and action sequences is like a delicious ice cream sundae that I just couldn't stop eating and the cherry on top is the new addition of the Umbran Climax. When filling your Magic Gauge up, in the first Bayonetta, you looked forward to smashing your enemies with an exciting to watch Torture Attack. However thanks to Umbran Climax, you had choices. Whether to use your Torture Attack to take a large percentage of health off a single target, or use your Umbran Climax to inflict a good amount of damage to surrounding targets. The choice was yours to make, and sometimes you made the wrong decision, and died because of that. This created a sense of free will and countless different ways to defeat your foes.

Bayonetta 2 has some of the most uniquely modeled enemies I have ever had the pleasure of fighting against. Each enemy made you think differently about how you were currently fighting, and made you evolve your fighting style to defeat what was in front of you. Even more, the game itself gives you the many different tools to successfully evolve and switch your game play. Each weapon you receive in the game has its own unique type of fighting advantage, and I found myself switching back and forth between weapons sets, finding the perfect combination to vanquish the obstacles that lay before me. All of these things worked and meshed so well in Bayonetta 2. This is a tremendous achievement when you combine so many different fighting elements together it is so easy to create a product that is confusing and far too busy. However the ambitious team that worked on this games combat theories took risks, and those risks paid off in full. The combat style and experience alone should be the reason you must run out and buy a copy for yourself as soon as humanly possible.

Yet another area that the game shines would be in the audio department. From the moment I selected start, all the way till the credits rolled, I found myself bobbing my head to the music that accompanied me as I slashed and destroyed my enemies. The voice acting fit the characters well and Hellena Taylor did an amazing job as expected. The audio syncing was near perfect and many times I forgot I was playing a game but rather watching an animated feature and falling in love with the characters and the story that surrounds them.

Bayonetta 2 is a fantastic game, however it is not perfect. A few flaws that were prevalent in the original game sadly carried over and festered in the corners of Bayonetta 2. When choosing a difficulty for the game, you are given the choice of 1st Climax, 2nd Climax, and finally 3rd Climax (or easy, medium, and hard). Initially I chose 2nd Climax and found myself buzzing right through the enemies like they were butter. I got around halfway through the game before I made the change to 3rd Climax, I instantly regretted not having it at this difficulty throughout the entire game. When starting Bayonetta 2, if you have any experience with fighting action games, do yourself a favor and go with the “Hard” option. The shop, much like in the original Bayonetta, was useless and pricy. I found myself going there for the purchase of weapons and leaving, rarely did I find myself buying items, because the crafting system was much more accessible and relevant to what I was doing in the game at that time.

The sexual theme of the game was in no way a problem to me. I feel like some people have a difficult time differentiating between video games sexually exploiting a female character and a female character being sexually impowered. Bayonetta is a strong female protagonist, she's funny and witty, and uses her sexuality to express herself, whether that be to dominate a man or defeat a villain in the most embarrassing of ways. I found myself adopting this theme fast and took pleasure in spanking an enemy to death, and is this not how we all want to spend our last few moments?

Being that Bayonetta 2’s story picks up exactly where its predecessor left off, if you have never had the pleasure of playing the original Bayonetta, you are in luck my friend. Nintendo decided to include the original Bayonetta, for free I might add, grouped along in the Bayonetta 2 case. Not only can you play the original, but there are many themes that came with the game, that made everything feel brand new. I found myself personally enjoying the Legend of Zelda theme, I walked around in a green tunic and picked up green rupees instead of halos. These themes are included in the game itself and not a DLC, this was a huge plus for me and I would love it if more games did this.

Bayonetta 2 is a game that will give you a feeling of accomplishment at every turn, and a thrilling sense of free will. I would not be the person that would miss this title and cheat yourself from the addictive fighting style and immersive storyline and characters. Bayonetta 2 is everything that we could ever ask for in an action fighting game, It graces us with creative gameplay that will make you want to repeat a level 100 times to grasp that perfect score and gold medal. My problems with Bayonetta 2, the shops invisibility and the flawed difficulty ranking system, almost seem like nitpicking compared to what the game did right. The only question that the game left me asking was, “When will the Hollywood adaptation starring Angelina Jolie be coming out?”