Think Anime styled story telling, cinematics and characters, exaggerated and beautiful. Think a storm of visuals, music and sounds. Think fantasy, so far from anything realistic. Think over-designed everything with detailing on every last bit of visual. Think big, magical and bold attacks. Then let your imagination run wild and you will understand the direction that creator Hideki Kayima [Devil May Cry] went with the design of Bayonetta. Published by SEGA and developed by Platinum Games, Bayonetta is a colossal, unadulterated action-packed game that is totally Japanese in design.
While western games often offer realistic, true and simulates; the Japanese game more than often goes in the total opposite direction. Bayonetta is unashamedly Japanese arcade-style from the presentation to sounds, the visuals and the characters. A total escape from reality into a dark yet beautiful fantasy world. It is not about getting through the story, it is about playing it over and over to try beating the hi-score, finding new secrets and improving on your skills. It’s an old-style game at heart that explores the next-gen characteristics… and it does so in style.
You [Bayonetta] are a beautiful witch from an ancient clan, with magical powers way beyond that of mere mortals. There is a constant reminder of your past, not only in cinematic flashbacks, but some ancient characters will follow you into the present to either assist or haunt you. You battle constant storms of enemies, using huge combos, mystical weapons and magic to win medals and score.
Gameplay and features
Visually it is stunning with incredible detailing. They used blacks, whites and earthy colours for the backdrop. The backdrop sets a dark mood and then rich, bold and bright reds, yellows and blues jump out at you. It suffers from occasional frame-rate dips and I noticed a bit of screen tearing, but overall not enough to negate the stunning visuals. The music is very typical Japanese arcade-style, like something straight out of Final Fantasy as are the sound-effects all going well with the theme of the game. Dialogue is good but you can expect some of it to be cheesy which is also common with the style of game. Overall a very stylish title.
Since it is a fast and furious hack n slash the control system is make or break. I cannot think of many games with such tight, intuitive and precise controls, they are absolutely spot on. At first I was “mashing” away at the controls and the battles were a bit of a sensory overload, but after learning more than the basics, assigning preferred weapons to each of her limbs, I got used to Bayonetta’s gymnastic combinations that require rhythmic button pressing rather than mashing. To help learn the combos the developers listed them in the loading screen which doubles-up as a practice arena. You can learn her enormous amount of moves and combos gradually and have to buy allot of them. This game really is about the huge sensory-stimulating melee attacks or combos, and it just keeps delivering bigger and better. A battle-system that is second to none.
Being a witch you can expect lots of magic. The magic is incorporated into the battle system. . Channeling Bayonetta’s power will call up various powers, like conjuring a gothic spike-ball, (for lack of better words to describe it) a guillotine and more for spectacular ‘finish-moves.’ For the many times when you are in overwhelming battles you have an excellent way to slow the pace down- ‘Witch time.’ You have to time a “side-step” perfectly to go into this slow-motion and plan your attack more precisely without your enemy speeding back up for a few seconds. She can even turns into a panther so you can run faster.
While action and plenty of it is definitely the order of the day, there are some platforming aspects as well as some puzzle-solving, but nothing that will have you pulling your hair out trying to solve. And like the rest of the game it seems as it could have stemmed from quite the vivid imagination.
Bits I loved
- Best combat system I can think of.
- The huge visually spectacular combos.
- Stylish design and artwork.
- Huge replay value.
- Bayonetta is hot as is her posh English accent!
- Unbridled exhilaration.
Bits I disliked
- Camera struggles to keep up with action pace.
- Bundles of content a bit mind boggling.
- Occasional frame-rate dips and screen tearing.
- Some cheesy dialogue.
Conclusion
Bayonetta is as good as action games get thanks to its flawless controls and rewarding combat-system. You get plenty of variety, collectables and hours on hours of play. I have no doubt that I will be lured into many playthroughs to try crack the leaderboard, find more secrets and get higher medals.
It is unashamedly and distinctly Japanese in style, so it is an abundance of enthusiastic characteristics that is common with their approach to games. That said, just as Italian cars have a distinct and unmistakable style, so to have Japanese games. And just as Italian cars are not for everyone, so to are Japanese games. For those of us to whom the style appeals, and I do think it will charm more gamers than not… I cannot recommend it enough for a stylish explosion to the senses and an absolute joyride of action. An hour flows into four and four into twenty without a blink. It is simply that good.
Bayonetta is also avaible on Playstation 3. For more visit the game official site.
