C+P Review: Bayonetta reaches climax (Tap Y+B)

Written by: Santiago Azpurua-Borras

Ryu Hayabusa. Dante. Kratos. All men who are well known for their third-person brutality as they literally rip apart their enemies into pieces.

With Bayonetta, a new challenger appears to enter the hack-n-slash fray.

But is this femme fatale all looks and no substance?

Read the full review after the jump.

DISCLAIMER: This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of Bayonetta.

Bayonetta is a third person action game published by our good friends over at SEGA.

Bayonetta tells the story of Bayonetta, a sassy British witch who is the last of the Umbra class. She is trying to find a jewel called the “Eye of the World” which she already has one of.

Along the way she meets a whole cast of characters such as the smooth-talking journalist Luka, who has a vendetta against Bayonetta, Cereza, a young happy little girl who looks suspiciously like Bayonetta and Rodin, a devil who runs a bar/arms smuggling operation which doubles as a store for Bayonetta.

The story of Bayonetta doesn’t exactly make sense, as I had no idea where I was or why I was there most of the time.

However there is definitely a level of development in her character. She starts as a sassy women saying things like “Does it look like I have an in interest in children? Making them however, is a different matter.” But becomes a warm and motherly like character.

But it doesn’t really matter because what one is here for is the gameplay. But first I want to talk about the graphics.

While the graphics aren’t mind-blowing, they sure are pretty. Bayonetta herself is silky smooth and I don’t mean her skin-tight hair suit either. Her combat animations are smooth, brutal and are completely void of any hiccups or awkward transitions. The environments of the game range from bland to beautiful. My personal favorites are the earlier Paradiso levels. (Paradiso is the game equivalent to heaven.)

But the enemies and bosses, the Angels, steal the show. The angels are both monstrous and holy at the same time. Some of them look like women, baby-faced giants, flying stingrays, heads with wings and even cars.

The little religious-referencing details such as armor made from Cathedral-esque stained glass, saints halos floating behind their heads and feathers flying everywhere when their wings are ripped off.

These guys will make your life hell.

But you know what looks better than the angels? The many ways one can kill them.

Bayonetta’s combat can be described in one word: clusterfuck. Its so fast, so furious that there are times where I literally didn’t know which attacks were mine and which were the enemies’.

Bayonetta always has two weapons equipped, one on her hands and one on her feet. She can then have two different sets, which can be transitioned at anytime.

These combos can lead to wicked weave attacks, which her hair turns into a giant fist or foot to smash the enemy.

Bayonetta’s herself isn’t very durable so you will be relying on dodging to avoid damage. If one dodges at the last moment, one enters Witch Time, which slows everything down. It’s almost not fair. Almost.

There are also torture attacks in which Bayonetta summons a torture device and uses them against the angel. These are amazing moves that are a combination of brutal and hilarious. Every enemy type has one or two different torture attacks, so it’s worth trying them out whenever one gets the chance.

My personal favorite, Bayonetta jumps on top of the enemy, summons a chainsaw from hell and divides the enemy in two from under her.

Even more extreme than the torture attacks are the climax moves. The option to climax only appears after long hard battles with the games bosses. This involves Bayonetta’s hair turning into an infernal demon that devours the helpless boss as Bayonetta poses semi-nude for the camera.

It’s even better than it sounds.

Bayonetta has some issues with story and character development, specifically Jeanette, your crimson-red clad counterpart. The boss fights with Jeanette are some of the best fights I’ve experienced in a really long time. Anything you can do, she can do as well. So it creates a lot of really epic anime-esque moments.

However Bayonetta is not without its flaws. First off, some of the cut scenes are just stills with voice-overs. Luckily this isn’t the case with all the cut scenes.

Second, is the store within the game. Everything in it is ridiculously expensive. The accessories, which add new elements to the already great combat system, are all worth 100,000 halos. It took me four entire game chapters (without buying anything else, health items included) to save up for one of these. It’s a forced manner to increase replayability.

Overall Bayonetta is an amazing experience and should be experienced.

Its gonna be a good year.

C+P Score: 4/5