Bayonetta Review

Bayonetta is the type of game you really do start to question what game developers do while they are creating their master piece of gaming history.  You see the creator behind such great games as Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe is spearheading this new game and you can start of see where everything merges to create Bayonetta.

You see the style of Bayonetta is very much like a Devil May Cry type of game,  there is a strong plot which is constant throughout the game, which allows the fighting and some puzzles to be the main focus of game playing. The best element of this game, therefore, is the fighting.

The combat system is a refined Devil May Cry system. Its smooth fluid and damn right fun just to button mash the hell out of to get awesome combos and brilliant effects that illuminate the screen. The system is nicely laid out using the trigger buttons for dodging as well as having the face buttons laid out perfectly allowing you to switch up combos and create, as I've said, some wonderful death scenes.

Speaking of death sequences you will see that there is a lot of button mashing to be done when you are fighting some of the bosses in order to charge power ups to get the most of a kill or a finishing move. In some cases this meant nothing more than how many points you will get but for certain parts of the game, however, you have to make sure you get the most points out of the sequence otherwise you will fail and have to restart again.

The timing for the keys is perfect as well. There is no lag at all which allows for a better control system than I have seen in any of the third person beat ‘em ups in a long time. There is no cover system, however, the dodge key certainly will get you out of trouble when you need it to the most.

Speaking of the dodge system when you pull of dodges correctly you will rewarded with something called Witch Time. This will slow down the game allowing you solve puzzles within the game as well getting an advantage on some foes as you try to fight them off.

As far as the puzzles, Bayonetta has  very little imagination in the way these simple puzzles are used throughout the game. You can use  Witch Time to solve most of these as well as tracking down keys to open locked doors.

The story itself in Bayonetta is confusing alas, I will have a go at explaining what I know by playing through the game. It seems as if the world is caught between two worlds' heaven and hell.  Heaven is wonderful world which is light and airy place which is home to most of the angels you face throughout the game. The world of hell or Inferno as it is called throughout the game is the world full of demons which sometimes Bayonetta will summon to use with her witch powers.  The world that is stuck on the middle of this is Purgatorio an in between world which exists for humans to be on much like our own earth. The worlds of heaven and hell exist on different dimensions which Bayonetta can shift between to engage enemies and also to speak to people on the planet such as Purgatorio.

The story starts 200 years ago where a great battle starts against the Umbra Witches and the Lumen Sages.  The two sides both have a unique treasure, both have an eye of the world. Unfortunately during admidst the battle they are both lost and the world is thrown into panic, witch hunts are set out and both factions are wiped out. The last of the few go into hiding. Jumping back to the modern day Bayonetta awakes apparently after being found at the bottom of a lake without any memories of who she is or anything about her besides her magical abilities.  Cue the inevitable fights between the so called angels which appear from the sky to try and take Bayonetta back to hell from where she came.  The game then twists and turns adding new characters in the story line. While I don't want to give too much away on the story line or the ending it is solid and will take you roughly around ten hours to get to.

The money system in Bayonetta seems to have been taken right out of a popular Sega game. Once the angels which you will be fighting against a lot have died they drop "halos" which look to be remarkably like rings from Sonic. Anyway, these "halos" can be used to buy new moves to be used in battle or upgrade to newer weapons or just buy items which you can use to boost your health or your magical ability or even to revive you once you have been killed.

The enemies within the game all carry their own strengths and weaknesses. Some are aerial foes which can only be shot while in mid air and can be a bit tricky. Most foes will be on the ground allowing you to mix up combos by throwing them in the air or juggling them as you fight them off. Also most foes seem to come with huge badass guys behind them - these will normally appear three or four times within a chapter popping up allowing you to take some health off them each time. Of course the main combat is split between your long range attacks from you guns to your close combat fighting with your fists. While the guns are really there just to give damage and keep smaller foes at bay the most effective way of finishing off enemies is too get close and really pound them with kicks and punches.

Within your move list as well you will be able to purchase special attacks which use your demonic magic to create a stronger attack. These techniques are quite effective against big groups of enemies and can be used to quite an effect.

As well as having weapons on every limb of her body Bayonetta can also pick up most of the weapons that your foes wield. For example you can be picke up anything from  an enormous axe which deals huge damage to a trombone that fires rockets.

The game is great to look at and this isn't just because of the standard women without much clothes on routine, the landscapes have had detail and time spent on them, which is a shame that most of them you won't be looking at for too long due to enemies suddenly filling every part of them for you to kill and maim with your brilliant moves. Talking about the graphics; there are a number of cut scenes in the game and while most give you clues to the story line others just seem to be there to take up some of your time for playing the game. At least there is a skip option even on your first run through and when are just replaying the levels.

And I think you will be revisiting the levels again. Just like DMC 4 there is a point system which gives you a trophy for how well you have done on each of the levels. This is divided up into your combo score, your time, and if you have taken any damage or not throughout the story. At the end of that chapter you are given an overall trophy, this gives huge appeal for people to get the best possible scores and couple that with the leaderboards [A1] and there will always be the diehard fans that want to get their name at the top of the board for that certain level.

Of course how could I not speak about the new very easy mode which allows you to play the game one handed, while I don't know if this will be any use to anyone out there (no, seriously, no crude jokes) it's a entertaining move on the part of the developers.

The games music is a bit weird instead of the old faithful rock songs blasting out behind you while you are kicking arse and grabbing your "halos" the tracks have been somewhat changed. There is a more J-POP feel to the music which sometimes leave you feeling ‘what the hell is playing while I am trying to mutilate angels' but seriously at some points it just works and is great to have a change of music. Oh and these songs will be stuck in your head and will be singing these even on your way to work, which can be embarrassing.

On a whole Bayonetta doesn't do anything different from previous titles that are already out in the games market. However it is the small details that seem to make the difference in this game, and while most you probably will never notice such as the polish to the control system it's nice to see there have been improvements. These subtle changes are there and make the game so much nicer and easier to play. For diehard fans of this genre I am surprised you haven't already got this but for people who liked the DMC series this is a great extension on the genre and am sure we will see more of Bayonetta in the future.