Bayonetta

Written by Tom Clare in PS3 Game Reviews, Saturday 12 June, 2010

Released: 2010
Developer: Platinum Games, SEGA
Publisher: SEGA
Genre: Action
Platform: PS3
Version: 1.01

Given the praise that Bayonetta was met with and the creative clout behind the project, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed by the end product. The scores it obtained throughout much of the gaming press suggested something groundbreaking, even era-defining for gaming. In the final reckoning though, Bayonetta is merely a superior Devil May Cry derivative with a weird streak. Hype aside, it’s an enjoyable action game with silky smooth combat and flashes of real excellence, but is somewhat weighed down by the less than cohesive distribution of its ideas, making for an adventure that feels less than the sum of its parts.

What halts Bayonetta’s charge to greatness is in small part down to it’s somewhat muddled, “too many cooks” style of approach to level-design, and in large part the linear legacy of its predecessors in this particular niche of the action genre. Posturing comes first, with plenty of juvenile special moves that see Bayonetta’s implied nudity used as a mechanism to titillate the easily impressed, and to say her crotch thrusts, irritating pose-striking, excessive gyrating and innuendo-laden dialogue are unflattering would be a major understatement. For the most part, the game consists of lots of fights, followed by even more fights, followed by the occasional awesome boss battle.

The titular heroine is apparently the last survivor of an ancient witch clan, and specialises in killing beastly demon angels whilst wearing a tight black outfit apparently consisting of her own hair. In essence then, a slightly less extreme version of Sarah Palin. Whilst not being goaded by equally preposterous looking rival witches and mile-long beastly deities, she traverses modern-looking locations in Purgatorio – a suspended version of reality, and is also able to flit with Paradiso and Inferno, counterpoints of the heavenly and the hellish respectively.

Combat is the games strongest suit, which is fortunate as it is leaned upon heavily. Razor-sharp controls and smooth gameplay allow for some enjoyable encounters; the heroine can acquire weapons such as whips, swords and gauntlets, each with a gigantic array of combo possibilities. These are accompanied by her largely pointless guns, and the ace Witch Time ability. This is triggered by timing a dodge manoeuvre (with R2) fractionally before the enemy lands a blow; if successful, the screen goes blue and time slows to a crawl around the lead protagonist, allowing her to get in some free hits – mastering this is essential. You also have some over the top ‘torture’ attacks that are usually an excuse to perform some lurid sadomasochistic manoeuvre on an enemy and tend to revolve around some button-mashing. They’re silly, but satisfying nonetheless.

Bayonetta can shop at The Gates Of Hell and buy new techniques, lollipops for healing (yes, you read that right: lollipops) as well as weapons. The abilities that allow Bayonetta to morph into a panther with great speed and a bird that can glide great distances are particularly cool, though assigning both to R2 alongside the frequently-used dodge manoeuvre was perhaps a bit of an oversight.

The bosses are a true spectacle and show the game at its best. The gigantic foes present a variety of challenges, and often require the player to weaken them in stages before finishing them off. There’s a dragon-like boss who shoots fireballs and also turns the floor into lava, meaning you have to be aware of the scenery as well as your dodge tactics. Elsewhere there’s a huge creature that must be taken on by sea, with Bayonetta using a surf-board to get in close and attack its legs, before steering a projectile at its exposed head.

So the fighting’s good, but the rest of the game doesn’t feel as engaging. The platforming is undernourished, and it’s a shame that a few good ideas (reversing an event with an hour-glass for instance) are used only fleetingly. The Witch Walk, an ability that allows you to stroll up walls when the moon is out, is used infrequently and largely wasted, serving little purpose other than to host the occasional, awkward fight and present a different way of getting from A to B.

The transition between streets, fiery caverns, forests and urban skyscrapers is rapid, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that the developers were making things up as they went along. Bayonetta seems intent on referencing Platinum Games’s employees former projects, be it Okami, Viewtiful Joe or Resident Evil 4, but is unable to recapture the innovative and varied nature of any of them. Sadly, despite the creator’s impressive résumé, Bayonetta offers little else to match its combat and instead buries itself in a bewildering array of homages, pandering excessively to former SEGA classics. Collecting halos as a nod to Sonic’s rings is all well and good, but some of the mini-games are so strange a fit, they seem almost non-sequiturs. There’s an entire motorbike level in the mould of the arcade-classic Hang-On, and some into-the-screen shooting in the style of Space Harrier. The former is at least bearable; the latter a total bore, though neither feel like they belong and a full levels worth in each case is really pushing it.

SEGA (and if reports are true, Sony) should be credited for fixing the infamously ‘difficult’ PS3 port of the game. Following a patch that allows installation, there’s little to complain about from a technical standpoint, save for a little bit of slow-down in the latter stages of the game. Nevertheless, the quality of the visuals is inconsistent. There are moments, such as exploring the gleaming heaven that is Paradiso, or when Bayonetta slows time to walk atop water fountains, when the game looks simply glorious. Most of the time however, it doesn’t seem like its making the most of the PS3 hardware. Character models are fine at a distance though disappointing in cut-scenes, lacking the finer details. Dark buildings similarly appear sludgy and low-rent and there also appears a tendency to recycle street and temple designs.

The voice-acting proves competent and Bayonetta is just oddball enough to be likable despite her annoying posturing. She’s involved in a forgettable story however, which hints at rather more than it ultimately makes good on, offering a plot twist concerning the young girl she meets that is so obvious you could call it before even reaching halfway. It was clearly meant to be taken light-heartedly and doesn’t impact too negatively on the action (most sequences can be skipped), but by all accounts the cut-scenes are a bit of a waste of time.

It’s easy enough to finish the game within a few days play but there are some cool unlockables to find, the pick of which being the LPs that allow you to play the game’s various tunes from the bonus menu. It’s refreshing to play a game of this type that isn’t too punishing difficulty wise, though for those who like a challenge there are plenty of additional difficulty settings to tackle and secret missions to unearth. The largely negative scoring system dissuades attempts to attain Gold and Platinum awards, seeing as you lose virtually all chance of a good grade if you incur a few damaging hits. Certainly, there’s plenty to play for, but the action starts to tire during a second play through.

Fans of Devil May Cry will get a kick out of the glitzy, stylish action, though beyond the smart fight element, Bayonetta doesn’t feel like it has enough in reserve to last as anything more than a passing fancy, as even with the many incentives it presents, you’d be hard pushed to keep returning. If you can overlook the oddness of it and want to let off some steam, then it’s probably worth renting.Given the praise that Bayonetta was met with and the creative clout behind the project, it’s hard not to feel a little disappointed by the end product. The scores it obtained throughout much of the gaming press suggested something groundbreaking, even era-defining for gaming. In the final reckoning though, Bayonetta is merely a superior Devil May Cry derivative with a weird streak. Hype aside, it’s an enjoyable action game with silky smooth combat and flashes of real excellence, but is somewhat weighed down by the less than cohesive distribution of its ideas, making for an adventure that feels less than the sum of its parts.

What halts Bayonetta’s charge to greatness is in small part down to it’s somewhat muddled, “too many cooks” style of approach to level-design, and in large part the linear legacy of its predecessors in this particular niche of the action genre. Posturing comes first, with plenty of juvenile special moves that see Bayonetta’s implied nudity used as a mechanism to titillate the easily impressed, and to say her crotch thrusts, irritating pose-striking, excessive gyrating and innuendo-laden dialogue are unflattering would be a major understatement. For the most part, the game consists of lots of fights, followed by even more fights, followed by the occasional awesome boss battle.

The titular heroine is apparently the last survivor of an ancient witch clan, and specialises in killing beastly demon angels whilst wearing a tight black outfit apparently consisting of her own hair. In essence then, a slightly less extreme version of Sarah Palin. Whilst not being goaded by equally preposterous looking rival witches and mile-long beastly deities, she traverses modern-looking locations in Purgatorio – a suspended version of reality, and is also able to flit with Paradiso and Inferno, counterpoints of the heavenly and the hellish respectively.

Combat is the games strongest suit, which is fortunate as it is leaned upon heavily. Razor-sharp controls and smooth gameplay allow for some enjoyable encounters; the heroine can acquire weapons such as whips, swords and gauntlets, each with a gigantic array of combo possibilities. These are accompanied by her largely pointless guns, and the ace Witch Time ability. This is triggered by timing a dodge manoeuvre (with R2) fractionally before the enemy lands a blow; if successful, the screen goes blue and time slows to a crawl around the lead protagonist, allowing her to get in some free hits – mastering this is essential. You also have some over the top ‘torture’ attacks that are usually an excuse to perform some lurid sadomasochistic manoeuvre on an enemy and tend to revolve around some button-mashing. They’re silly, but satisfying nonetheless.

Bayonetta can shop at The Gates Of Hell and buy new techniques, lollipops for healing (yes, you read that right: lollipops) as well as weapons. The abilities that allow Bayonetta to morph into a panther with great speed and a bird that can glide great distances are particularly cool, though assigning both to R2 alongside the frequently-used dodge manoeuvre was perhaps a bit of an oversight.

The bosses are a true spectacle and show the game at its best. The gigantic foes present a variety of challenges, and often require the player to weaken them in stages before finishing them off. There’s a dragon-like boss who shoots fireballs and also turns the floor into lava, meaning you have to be aware of the scenery as well as your dodge tactics. Elsewhere there’s a huge creature that must be taken on by sea, with Bayonetta using a surf-board to get in close and attack its legs, before steering a projectile at its exposed head.

So the fighting’s good, but the rest of the game doesn’t feel as engaging. The platforming is undernourished, and it’s a shame that a few good ideas (reversing an event with an hour-glass for instance) are used only fleetingly. The Witch Walk, an ability that allows you to stroll up walls when the moon is out, is used infrequently and largely wasted, serving little purpose other than to host the occasional, awkward fight and present a different way of getting from A to B.

The transition between streets, fiery caverns, forests and urban skyscrapers is rapid, and it’s hard to shake the feeling that the developers were making things up as they went along. Bayonetta seems intent on referencing Platinum Games’s employees former projects, be it Okami, Viewtiful Joe or Resident Evil 4, but is unable to recapture the innovative and varied nature of any of them. Sadly, despite the creator’s impressive résumé, Bayonetta offers little else to match its combat and instead buries itself in a bewildering array of homages, pandering excessively to former SEGA classics. Collecting halos as a nod to Sonic’s rings is all well and good, but some of the mini-games are so strange a fit, they seem almost non-sequiturs. There’s an entire motorbike level in the mould of the arcade-classic Hang-On, and some into-the-screen shooting in the style of Space Harrier. The former is at least bearable; the latter a total bore, though neither feel like they belong and a full levels worth in each case is really pushing it.

SEGA (and if reports are true, Sony) should be credited for fixing the infamously ‘difficult’ PS3 port of the game. Following a patch that allows installation, there’s little to complain about from a technical standpoint, save for a little bit of slow-down in the latter stages of the game. Nevertheless, the quality of the visuals is inconsistent. There are moments, such as exploring the gleaming heaven that is Paradiso, or when Bayonetta slows time to walk atop water fountains, when the game looks simply glorious. Most of the time however, it doesn’t seem like its making the most of the PS3 hardware. Character models are fine at a distance though disappointing in cut-scenes, lacking the finer details. Dark buildings similarly appear sludgy and low-rent and there also appears a tendency to recycle street and temple designs.

The voice-acting proves competent and Bayonetta is just oddball enough to be likable despite her annoying posturing. She’s involved in a forgettable story however, which hints at rather more than it ultimately makes good on, offering a plot twist concerning the young girl she meets that is so obvious you could call it before even reaching halfway. It was clearly meant to be taken light-heartedly and doesn’t impact too negatively on the action (most sequences can be skipped), but by all accounts the cut-scenes are a bit of a waste of time.

It’s easy enough to finish the game within a few days play but there are some cool unlockables to find, the pick of which being the LPs that allow you to play the game’s various tunes from the bonus menu. It’s refreshing to play a game of this type that isn’t too punishing difficulty wise, though for those who like a challenge there are plenty of additional difficulty settings to tackle and secret missions to unearth. The largely negative scoring system dissuades attempts to attain Gold and Platinum awards, seeing as you lose virtually all chance of a good grade if you incur a few damaging hits. Certainly, there’s plenty to play for, but the action starts to tire during a second play through.

Fans of Devil May Cry will get a kick out of the glitzy, stylish action, though beyond the smart fight element, Bayonetta doesn’t feel like it has enough in reserve to last as anything more than a passing fancy, as even with the many incentives it presents, you’d be hard pushed to keep returning. If you can overlook the oddness of it and want to let off some steam, then it’s probably worth renting.

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