Review – Bayonetta

IN my time as a gamer I’ve been a bald space marine, a rogue government agent and an underworld crime figure about a thousand times. But until Bayonetta I’d never played as a witch who looks like a sexy librarian crossed with a stripper, armed with a gun in each hand and two more strapped to each of her ridiculously long legs.

As you’ve no doubt gathered the titular star of Bayonetta is a unique creation that is at first confronting, but soon proves to be a powerful independent female character in a genre usually dominated by bulky guys with hands and arm muscles bigger than their heads. A genuine concern I had for this game was that I wouldn’t like the character of Bayonetta, and that her obvious attempt at being a sex symbol (despite looking slightly deformed) would make her obnoxious and unappealing. Thankfully her dark sense of humour and cocky attitude actually makes her endearing in weird sort of way.

Bayonetta is the last of the Umbra Witches, an ancient order locked in a constant battle with the Lumen Sages as they maintain the balance of the universe by fighting for the powers of the Inferno and Paradiso respectively. Eventually the two clans were destroyed and Bayonetta was imprisoned for 500 years, only to be freed with no memory of what ended the war or what happened to her people. Though this sounds simple enough the poor use of cutscenes to further the story makes the plot hard to follow, so instead the player must rely on text contained in books you collect throughout the game to fill in the blanks. The problem is that stopping to read them seriously breaks the flow of the game, and they are quite boring to read. 

It’s odd that a graphically impressive game such as this makes such poor use of the fact that it is a visual medium and decides to tell the player the story rather than actually show it. Needless to say it’s not the most important part of Bayonetta, but it is one of the bigger flaws in a game that is otherwise an excellent package.

One of the areas where Bayonetta excels however is in its implementation of the eclectic collection of weapons that are on offer. No one weapon is better than any other, and using a combination of all of them is the key to success. At the press of a button you can switch between two user-defined presets, so you can have a combination of pistols and shot-guns on one selection, than switch to your faithful katana for close quarters combat in the blink of an eye. Coming up with the arrangements that work for you according to the situation is the key to survival.

But the weapons are only as effective as the game allows them to be, and fortunately Bayonetta has a robust combo system that has brilliant mix of simple yet effective moves for you to fall back on, as well as complex attacks that require precision timing for maximum damage. Add to this the multitude of combinations you can have of feet and hand equipped weapons and you have a lot of choices when it comes to finding what best suits your play style.

Finding that style isn’t too hard either as the learning curve in Bayonetta isn’t all that steep, which is surprising for such a frantic looking action game. That’s not to say that learning new techniques isn’t rewarded, but mashing the attack buttons is often enough to get you out of most situations.

To counter this simplicity the game rewards the player for learning how to become more effective in combat by awarding them with more halos (the in-game currency) to spend on better weapons, moves and accessories. To increase the rewards you must refrain from using items, not die, and vary your combos and weapons usage. In this way the game will let you progress through hard sections by allowing you to fall back on tried and true attacks, but will reward you for getting better and trying new moves. This is further accentuated by the ability to backtrack through levels you have previously completed and use your new found skills to earn higher scores, and in turn, more halos.

One of the most powerful moves in the game is the humble dodge, which can allow the player to slow down time for a few seconds if done right. To pull this off you must wait until an enemy attacks you and then pull the right trigger button. If you’re too early Bayonetta will simply dodge the attack, but if done at just the right moment the precious few seconds of frozen time allows you to get in a few quick jabs and start a fast combo with a powerful ending.

If Bayonetta was just the action game I’ve described it would still be a good game. But there’s so more to be found when you start to really get into the game. The boss battles for example feel truly epic and involve gigantic angel-like creatures that are that must be taken apart piece by piece. Also, at the end of each battle is a quick button mashing segment as Bayonetta uses her hair, which up until now has doubled as her clothes, to summon powerful demons that devour her enemies. It’s a satisfying end to some of the more difficult battles.

In addition to this there are a number of levels that you just wouldn’t expect to see, but for the sake of not wanting to spoil anything I’ll let you find them on your own.

Aside for the aforementioned storyline issues, it’s hard to fault Bayonetta. The games bizarre presentation, excellent graphics and varying gameplay make it compelling package. But at the end of the day the most important aspect of a game like this is the fighting mechanics, and in Bayonetta it's rock solid.

If you’re worried that games are becoming too casual and that the hardcore audience is being forgotten, grab Bayonetta, because it truly feels like one of those ‘by gamers for gamers’ experiences that comes along only every so often.

GRADE: A

Available on the Xbox 360 (version reviewed) and PlayStation 3. Main campaign beaten with multiple side-quests undertaken. 30 or so hours played when the review was written. Review guidelines