Wesley J
CAGiversary!
Bayonetta is a high quality, fast paced action game in the same category of the Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden series. Over the top non stop action games that demand timing, patience, and skill to master. I'm a huge Gaiden and DMC fan, so I was excited to get into this game. In Bayonetta you play as a witch woken up 20 years or so ago with no complete memory of her past. You set off to find the "Right Eye" which is one half of the "Eyes of the World." Basically there are two factions of witches, light and dark respectively. Bayonetta learns she has the "Left Eye" in a red gem she possess, and is trying to piece back her memories while searching for the "Left Eye."
The game is set in a European style fictional city call Vigrid. The art style of level design is well crafted, I really was sucked into the games setting right off the hit. She come to find that the "Left Eye" is another witch names Jeanne and that she has sided with the Angels. The story is very out there and over the top and frankly not the best story ever told in an action game. But majority of these games don't have amazing stories, it's more about the gameplay aspects. The main enemies in this game are these futuristic looking angels that have all different types of attacks and counters. There design is very well done, with halos above their heads and high detailed armor. Feathers fly off them as your kicking the crap out of them. They attack quick, and in packs that vary in size. They're some Angels shaped as flying snakes to huge enemies with mythological faces. The game really has really has a consistent design across all enemy designs.
Byonetta herself is armed from head to toe. She can wield up to four weapons at a time, one on each arm and each leg. You can assign what you want for her to use from assortment of guns and swords. Pistols and katanas are always my weapons of choice. She can perform tons of moves, and learn new ones too. She can evade attacks, slow down time with Witch Time and also perform attacks called torture attacks. A torture attack is triggered by a quick time button sequence to pull off a great finishing move on an Angel. Bayonetta can also use her hair. Yes her hair, like no other woman protagonist in gaming. By transforming her hair it into huge monsters that can devour bosses whole! This might sound bit over the top, because this game is flat out insane. Its like an arena battle style game taken straight out of the DMC series where you enter a area and its blocked off by a force. After she defeats all the enemies in that arena and she blows a kiss to shatter the barrier to move on.
She collects halos from the enemies you have defeated, they are the currency that you to use to shop called The Gates of Hell. The store is ran by a bartender/arms dealer named Rodin, who made a excellent comical reference to the merchant in Resident Evil 4. Raised a laugh out of me. Rodin sells you all types of moves, techniques, weapons, costumes, and power ups that you need along the way. Also helps replay value. There is a whole list of various moves/techniques to master and outfits for purchasing which gives you reasoning for multiple playthroughs. The combat is amazing. Bayonetta is very fast paced and keeps you on your toes, it is a treat to watch this game in motion. The battles are fierce and have a lot of animations running on screen at once, for the most part it can handle that. I noticed a bit of choppiness when running around environments, but nothing that hurts the overall experience.
The audio is very solid too. The japanese pop music blares out in battle segments, and does get a bit repetative in the long run. It is like classic Sega rocking out music or J-Pop if you will, that suits the game very well. The voice acting is done well, but nothing really to brag about or the even caliber of story driven game such as Mass Effect. There are sequences in certain levels where Bayonetta is on a bike and something like a hover board that i felt didn't fit in well. It is on rail almost where you battle oncoming enemies at very high rates of speed. It got annoying and frustrating at the same time, and the controls weren't as tight as the ground combat. I didn't feel right in this kind of game to me, and could have done with out in my opinion.
Overall Bayonetta is a very sexy stylish game that delivers great sword and gun play action to any fan of this genre. The games single player took almost 15 hours to complete which is well worth the price of admission. The hard mode unlock offers an extreme challenge to those that dare to attempt it. The enemies are harder and stronger and are in the mix earlier then the normal mode to offer the ultimate challenge to hardcores. I read once that the game ran better on the Xbox 360 then Playstation 3, I can't confirm that they patched this up yet for the PS3. When all said and done, Bayonetta deserves the respect of being one of the best action game on the 360 of last year. If your a fan of this genre, its not one to missed.
8/10
Buy
The game is set in a European style fictional city call Vigrid. The art style of level design is well crafted, I really was sucked into the games setting right off the hit. She come to find that the "Left Eye" is another witch names Jeanne and that she has sided with the Angels. The story is very out there and over the top and frankly not the best story ever told in an action game. But majority of these games don't have amazing stories, it's more about the gameplay aspects. The main enemies in this game are these futuristic looking angels that have all different types of attacks and counters. There design is very well done, with halos above their heads and high detailed armor. Feathers fly off them as your kicking the crap out of them. They attack quick, and in packs that vary in size. They're some Angels shaped as flying snakes to huge enemies with mythological faces. The game really has really has a consistent design across all enemy designs.
Byonetta herself is armed from head to toe. She can wield up to four weapons at a time, one on each arm and each leg. You can assign what you want for her to use from assortment of guns and swords. Pistols and katanas are always my weapons of choice. She can perform tons of moves, and learn new ones too. She can evade attacks, slow down time with Witch Time and also perform attacks called torture attacks. A torture attack is triggered by a quick time button sequence to pull off a great finishing move on an Angel. Bayonetta can also use her hair. Yes her hair, like no other woman protagonist in gaming. By transforming her hair it into huge monsters that can devour bosses whole! This might sound bit over the top, because this game is flat out insane. Its like an arena battle style game taken straight out of the DMC series where you enter a area and its blocked off by a force. After she defeats all the enemies in that arena and she blows a kiss to shatter the barrier to move on.
She collects halos from the enemies you have defeated, they are the currency that you to use to shop called The Gates of Hell. The store is ran by a bartender/arms dealer named Rodin, who made a excellent comical reference to the merchant in Resident Evil 4. Raised a laugh out of me. Rodin sells you all types of moves, techniques, weapons, costumes, and power ups that you need along the way. Also helps replay value. There is a whole list of various moves/techniques to master and outfits for purchasing which gives you reasoning for multiple playthroughs. The combat is amazing. Bayonetta is very fast paced and keeps you on your toes, it is a treat to watch this game in motion. The battles are fierce and have a lot of animations running on screen at once, for the most part it can handle that. I noticed a bit of choppiness when running around environments, but nothing that hurts the overall experience.
The audio is very solid too. The japanese pop music blares out in battle segments, and does get a bit repetative in the long run. It is like classic Sega rocking out music or J-Pop if you will, that suits the game very well. The voice acting is done well, but nothing really to brag about or the even caliber of story driven game such as Mass Effect. There are sequences in certain levels where Bayonetta is on a bike and something like a hover board that i felt didn't fit in well. It is on rail almost where you battle oncoming enemies at very high rates of speed. It got annoying and frustrating at the same time, and the controls weren't as tight as the ground combat. I didn't feel right in this kind of game to me, and could have done with out in my opinion.
Overall Bayonetta is a very sexy stylish game that delivers great sword and gun play action to any fan of this genre. The games single player took almost 15 hours to complete which is well worth the price of admission. The hard mode unlock offers an extreme challenge to those that dare to attempt it. The enemies are harder and stronger and are in the mix earlier then the normal mode to offer the ultimate challenge to hardcores. I read once that the game ran better on the Xbox 360 then Playstation 3, I can't confirm that they patched this up yet for the PS3. When all said and done, Bayonetta deserves the respect of being one of the best action game on the 360 of last year. If your a fan of this genre, its not one to missed.
8/10
Buy