Bayonetta is another great game from Hideki Kamiya. Hideki has previously given us the gems Devil May Cry and Okami. Bayonetta was released in North America on January 9th 2010. Bayonetta is an Umbran witch, which is the yin to the yang to the Lumen Sages. Umbran witches oversee the dark arts and the Lumen sages oversee the light arts. The two clans have been the overseers of time, and they were not to intermingle between the two factions. The game starts out with Bayonetta waking up from a 500 year sleep. You spend the next 12-15 hours unraveling the mystery that is her memory.
The story is a little jumbled, and sometimes it can be confusing. The other characters in the game are memorable because everything is so over the top. The bosses are huge, the sex appeal is in your face, and the combat is intense. This game is aptly rated M. It is also interesting to note that in Hideki’s Devil May Cry shares a lot of the same architecture, and also in contrast Bayonetta hunts angels, whereas Dante hunts demons.
Bayonetta has an arsenal of magic powers, torture attacks, wicked weaves, and weapons at her disposal. Her magic actually comes from her hair. When you use a magic attack her hair is depleted from her costume. Throughout the game you will unlock weapons, combos and accessories; in addition you will find pieces of records to gain access to more powerful weapons. This adds to the replay factor of the game. There are so many different combos and weapon pairings its insane. Bayonetta also has many collectibles to find such as crows, angelic hymns, alfheim portal challenges, and Umbran tears. You will receive an Umbran tear each time you get an achievement, when you collect them all you will get a special surprise. Bayonetta has a wide range of costumes that are pretty out there, from p.e. uniforms to the Umbran kimonos, there are a lot of choices for your gaming experience. They also have a small mini game after each chapter called Angel Attack. You have a set amount of bullets, but you can add to the amount of bullets by finding more in each level. With the limited bullets, you are to shoot angels in an arcade like shooting gallery. They offer items in exchange for the amount of points you score in the mini game. This can be really helpful because it offers great items that will come in handy.
The gameplay is spot on and the controls are really responsive. The game switches between straight brawling to having a few little objectives while your fighting, just enough for it not to feel stale. The difficulty of the game can be adjusted from very easy (where you really only need one hand to play) to infinite climax mode (witch time is disabled and doesn’t allow for any mistakes). Witch time is a great concept. When you dodge witch time activates a slo-mo mode which will allow for the unleashing of devastating combos allowing for an edge against the angel horde. The boss battles are something to see. The bosses are all skyscraper size and have an epic feeling to them. The battles do have a few saves in them, so it is not too frustrating if you fail. One downside to the game is when running fast through a few chapters there is some frame rate drops. The difficulty, even though you can toggle it, can be very frustrating. It’s recommended that you start out on easy or very easy, just to get the hang of it. All and all, if you like a little cheese, awesome combat system, and some crazy concepts this game is perfect for you.
The witch hunts are over, because this witch is all you need.
This game is everything a man can want, Action, Sex appeal and lots of shiny objects. Not to mention the diolog is very funny. Now i can see why you are always playing this game.
Bayonetta has been on my list of games to get for a good while now. I played the DEMO, and enjoyed it greatly. I’ll definitely have to get it when I have the time I can properly devote to it. Right now I’m working on Borderlands, and Super Street Fighter IV. Soon I’ll be engulfed in CoD: Black-Ops, and I imagine that’ll take up a lot of my gaming time … I have too many games! I never thought I’d say that in my life O_o
Weird as it is I read somewhere Bayonetta’s sales were a bit low Pam. I personally got it brand new but I also have to remember some gamers are biased with the whole anime/manga/Japanese culture angle.
This tied with DMC 4 as one of my favorite action platformers for awhile. The game-play is great and about my only qualm with it was the incoherent story line.
There’s also confusing symbolism what with all angels being evil and Bayonetta’s soul ties to demons whom are not really much better than the feathered freaks she’s whipping around and devouring with her sentient mane of hair. lol.
I know they were trying the whole “evils of religious fanaticism repressing beneficial knowledge” slant but that didn’t come off as clearly as other aspects of the game.
This is of course why Platinum should make a sequel! I’m up for that!