Bayonetta Review PS3

What do you get when you take Devil May Cry game mechanics, switch the protagonist out for a combo crazy semi-nude female and add a story that even an insane asylum patient could not concoct on his own and you get Bayonetta. The story revolves around an Umbran witch named Bayonetta who reawakens after 500 years with no memory of her past and throughout the game becomes involved in a conflict with Angels and the creator Jubileus. The story is so confusing and ridiculous, that players will either play it for the fun factor or completely bypass it.

Graphic and sound:

Bayonetta graphically looks great, from highly detailed character models and enemies, to complex gothic architecture reminiscent of Devil May Cry. Enemy boss characters are very original in design and combat mechanics. The protagonist, Bayonetta, has hair so long that it covers her body and is incorporated into her combos/special moves. When she performs combos, her hair reveals parts of her body up until her special moves, which leave her only covering her breasts and her genitals. I personally enjoy the whole hair incorporated into the special moves concept, but the nudity is over the top and unnecessary. The soundtrack to Bayonetta is actually one of its finer points, although the sound effects sound too artificial.

Gameplay and controls:

Bayonetta is a third-person action game similar in style to Devil May Cry, but with blatant sexism used as a tool to get pubescent males to play the game just to position Bayonetta in as many sexual positions as possible, not to mention that even the cutscenes are sexual. Combat mechanics are based on Devil May Cry stylish combos and stages (called verses) that get rated from bronze all the way up to pure platinum. The more stylish the battles, the higher the ranking. Also, usage of items and deaths negatively affects the ranking as well. The game also has a mini game between stages that allows the player to shoot angels with bullets collected in the stages. Stages vary from straightforward run and gun with a boss sprinkled in, to massive platforming. Some levels allow the player to climb walls, ceilings, with the camera adjusting the view for movement. Only one level close to the end of the game diverted greatly from the natural flow of the game mechanics. There is one level that has Bayonetta riding a missile with Panzer Dragoon rail shooting mechanics. The level is such a departure from the rest of the game that it breaks up the continuity of the game.

Controls are very tight just as they always have been in the Devil May Cry. The only complaint would be the camera may sometimes obscure enemies at times when it zooms in on the heroine, which has always been a problem in 3rd person perspective games.

Overall thoughts:

Bayonetta is a game that could have been the successor to Devil May Cry, which has been milked more than most dairy cows. The problem with Bayonetta is that instead of creating a game that is just fun to play, the developer created a game with a confusing non-existent storyline  and then coupled it with some strange polygonal sexual fantasy that most gamers will feel awkward playing. This game is a rental, as it was fun to string up as many stylish combos as possible, but the sexual innuendo was extreme and a turn off.