Bayonetta – MMOMFG Review

Posted by Justin On January - 8 - 2010

Bayonetta

A sexy witch who summons the power of demons, talks with an accent, has a great ass, and kills angels. If I had to summarize Bayonetta as quickly as possible that’s probably how I’d do it. Though there’s much more than meets the eye, as Bayonetta features fast paced, hack and slash action that fans of of the genre should be excited for.

What’s Good

Ninja-May-Cry – Bayonetta takes parts of Ninja Gaiden and Devil May Cry (two of my favorite action games), adds its own unique brand of tongue-in-cheek humor and story, creating something special. Of course Hideki Kamiya, creator of the original DMC, would no doubt infuse dramatic hack and slash action as he’s done before. Before you even open up the box you have a good idea of what to expect and won’t be disappointed.

God gave you two arms and legs, use them – Bayonetta uses every limb as a weapon. If you can attach a gun, strap on some claws, or hold a katana, then it’s being put to good use. Not only are there a good amount of weapons at your disposal, you also get to strategically place them either on your feet or hands. While some weapons (katana) can only be slotted in your hand, guns, whips, and claws can be mixed and matched. How you configure your weaponry opens up a whole new set of moves. Having a katana in your hands and using flaming claws is very different than having claws equipped on your hands and having guns on your feet. It sounds incredibly odd and at first I didn’t pay too much attention to what I was using, but after some time experimenting (and the ability to switch via quick slots) all other systems seem inferior. Sure Ninja Gaiden and DMC had some terrific weapons to use, but Bayonetta’s system allows for a lot more variety.

Here’s a little something extra – Hack and slash games generally focus on the hacking and slashing, so it was nice to have a solid story, dialogue, and interesting characters thrown in there as well. Platinum Games did a great job with blending their brand of humor and spreading documents around explaining the various history that surrounds the game. It still gets a little bonkers at time, but I was interested from the beginning until the end.

When you’re not dismembering people – Bayonetta has plenty to do. It’s one of those games that challenges you, so if you fancy going back on the harder difficulty, collecting all of the “Blood Tears”, buying all of the upgrades, or completing all of the Alfheim (challenge) levels, then you’ll be playing for quite a bit longer than you’d expect.

Changing it up a bit – It’s not all hack and slash all the time. At certain points during the game you’ll ride a motorcycle and surf a missile. Yep, strange, no doubt, but make no mistake about it. The change of pace is a welcomed one and the throw back to old-school games like Galaga did not go unnoticed. The end level mini-game that allows you to collect points for items is also something to look forward to. Little additions like this don’t steal the show, but they definitely make it better.

Using your ASSets well – A witch with an English accent, at times puts Lara Croft to shame. I’m not going to pontificate too much here as I could come off as slightly weird. But the game oozes sex appeal and she’s a character that can definitely pull it off.

What’s Bad

Topsy Turvy World – Bayonetta uses an assortment of strange powers. One allows her to walk on walls, and sometimes the environments she’s in tends to move around her. It works pretty well for the most part, but sometimes it can be a bit disorienting and takes a few tries to proceed past these points. Camera issues with gigantic bosses also popped up from time to time.

Oh a nice cutscene or not? – Bayonetta has plenty of cutscenes; some long, some short, but they’re generally entertaining. So it surprised me during some instances that a quick time event would pop up. I don’t have an issue with quick time events, but having them pop up out of the blue can be somewhat nerve-racking.

Zero to sixty in never – Bayonetta is a gorgeous, fast paced title. But on multiple occasions, can fall pray to frame rate issues. Normally during heated boss fights or crazy weather effects, the frame rates will dip considerably. If you’re going to have a high intensity game, you gotta make sure it’s smooth throughout its entirety.

Fly Me to the Moon, on second thought… – It’s a Sinatra classic and feature primarily throughout Bayonetta. I have no problem with the techno mix they made here but it’s about the only song that’s used. After the demo I was looking forward to some more mixes that featured the jazzy-piano-techno style. Unfortunately other than maybe two or three tunes, there isn’t a whole lot of diversity.

Worth Remember
The combat system is undeniably fun and satisfying. Mixing weapons in several different combination might seem ludicrous at first, but ends up being the staple feature.

Worth Forgetting
Having such a great combat system hindered by some poor frame rates during some great all out fights.

It doesn’t have the long standing relationship Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden have with gamers, but Platinum Games does an admirable job in creating a new IP. Bayonetta features plenty to do and a campaign that will take around 10 hours to complete on your first go through. Bayonetta manages to be the perfect challenge, not being too easy or hard. Fans of the hack and slash shouldn’t think twice about giving this romp of a title a spin. It’s a little silly at times, because it’s supposed to be, and the gratuitous sex appeal isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Sure she’s sexy as hell, but then again, is that such a bad thing?

**MMOMFG reviewed Bayonetta on the Xbox 360 console