In Sega's newest release, players take the role of Bayonetta, a witch
who's been awakened after lying at the bottom of a lake for hundreds of
years. She begins her journey not knowing the details of her past, but as
the story unfolds, she begins to find out the answers behind her past and
why she's been awakened. The main character is an appealing one. Bayonetta
is attractive in her own way, she carries the storyline effectively and
there's some humorous lines from her and the supporting cast throughout
that lighten what would otherwise be a tediously gothic title. It's a bit
convoluted and we don't want to give too much away, but this is a fairly
interesting storyline that gives you some motivation to keep you playing.
Bayonetta plays very much as you'd expect a game from the developers of
Devil May Cry to. Most of that series' basic formula is evident in
Bayonetta. The action takes place in a third person viewpoint and is
punctuated with elaborate cut-scenes. You have the massive amount of
gunplay for long-range attacks combined with closer-range kicking and
punching moves that allow you to inflict a lot of damage on opponents. One
key difference between the series is Bayonetta's "Witch Time"
mode. When you get close to receiving an attack, you can quickly dodge out
of the way, which temporarily slows down time and gives you the
opportunity to perform a number of quick attacks. This can be quite
effective, especially with boss enemies who you can damage while putting
very little on the line. Bayonetta can also call on Witch Time mode in
other circumstances, such as when a door is blocked and can only be opened
temporarily, allowing her to pass through. These puzzles add some thought
to the gameplay, and some of them can be quite tricky, but they are short
diversions that offer a brief respites from the otherwise relentless
action.
In addition to the shooting and kicking
moves, which are fairly standard, she has other abilities. One of the more
impressive is a special attack move that allows her to target several
enemies at close range using a lock-on attack. Another cool feat she can
perform is one that allows her to walk on walls and travel vertically when
the moon is full. This is key technique when it comes to certain
impassible areas and blocked-off sections of levels. As Bayonetta slices
through enemies, she can also call up special attacks called climaxes.
These are massively powerful moves where her hair morphs into different
demonic shapes that allow her to perform massive attacks on her opponents.
As in the DMC games, players can perform finishing moves on opponents and
use special attacks that gives each battle a satisfying end. These take
the form of usually humorous actions such as kicking an opponent into a
guillotine or stomping them with a giant foot. As in many other action
titles, when you defeat enemies, you can collect objects, in this case
halos, that build up over time and can be used for other purposes. You'll
also be able to collect books that contain background information and
other special items. These techniques mix the familiar with the new to
create a refreshingly different take on the action genre. Of course, this
only takes into account your encounters with standard enemies, the boss
battles take things to an entirely different sphere.
Showing the influence of more recent
games like God of War, Bayonetta features numerous battles with massive,
screen-filling boss creatures. These intimidating beasts unleash massive
amounts of firepower at the protagonist, and give off a sense of
near-invincibility. However, Bayonetta isn't defenseless against their
onslaughts. She can use her standard attacks and gradually break them down
over time and call on her super-moves to decimate them when their life
bars are near their end. What's interesting about the structure of these
boss battles is the fact that the game offers several tiers of enemies.
There are sub-bosses that are relatively easy and quick to defeat along
with more epic confrontations that are tests of endurance and skill. A
good point of reference is the larger a boss is on-screen, the more effort
is required to defeat them. When you conquer these foes, the rewards can
be quite impressive. Unlike the standard foes who only drop halos, the
bosses drop special objects such as records that can be traded directly
for special items and upgrades at the shop. There are numerous gateways
throughout each level, which are special ports that you can enter which
allow you to purchase items. These are also available between levels as
well. When you arrive here, Bayonetta can use her accumulated points and
halos to purchase a several different types of upgrades. These extra items
include more powerful guns, extra fighting techniques and additional
spells and other items. When you've purchased a spell or an item, you can
go into Bayonetta's inventory screen and assign it to a button on the
directional pad, allowing you to use it at any point in the game.
Another area where the game follows in
the footsteps of God of War comes with its quick-time events. As you
probably know, these are cinematic sequences where players press a single
button to trigger an action. They're somewhat more dramatic than the
standard action sequences, but have the drawback of requiring split-second
timing. Failure to perform these moves at the exact moment usually causes
Bayonetta to plunge into oblivion. This can make for a frustrating
experience, especially when you have to go through the same sequence
multiple times. Fortunately, these are scattered occurrences and you can
usually make it through them. One interesting twist in all of this is that
you can earn multiple rewards in some of these sequences by pressing
button combos. Bayonetta further breaks up its action with several
mini-games, usually arcade-style sequences where you have to zap opponents
using a limited amount of bullets before the timer runs out. These provide
another key element that breaks up the action effectively without losing
the otherwise seamless flow. The action moves at a fairly relentless pace
throughout and Bayonetta's level structure helps things along in several
ways. Enemies typically surround you and attack at the same time. That
section of the level is usually sealed off, making escape impossible until
you've destroyed all of them. Once you're done with that section of a
level, the game gives you a quick sequence of flash-backs, followed by a
quick sequence where she blows a kiss and destroys the seal. It makes for
a logical progression in these areas, though the road ahead isn't always
as clear-cut in the game.
Bayonetta's
camera system and occasionally oblique level design makes other sections
frustrating to play through. You can usually tell where you need to go,
but there are areas where the camera seems to block your viewpoint. Other
sections of the game that require quick time moves also suffer from this
problem, which makes for some sections that seem intent on blocking your
progress no matter what you try. You'll need a lot of persistence and some
trial and error in some levels due to these problems. Some battle
sequences also suffer from this as well, causing you to take a lot of
needless damage. Using the lock-on techniques and special moves alleviates
this to some degree, but it feels like a crutch. Additionally, some of the
puzzle sections where you need to use witch time in order to progress
aren't clear on their objectives, which makes you spend too much time
wandering around wondering what to do next. Despite its superb controls in
its direct action sequences, the clumsy interface in these sections isn't
quite as good as it could be, and makes the overall interface in Bayonetta
feel less polished than it should.
However, these problems aren't enough to
really detract from the overall experience, which offers a fairly
consistent mix of hard-core battles and intense boss sequences. The action
in Bayonetta is relentless in its pacing and intensity. Since most of the
enemies attack together, you're constantly under assault which means you
have to dispatch multiple foes before they drain your life force. The
standard enemies don't put up much of a fight, but some of the boss
battles offer a test of your abilities. Bayonetta moves with a surprising
amount of grace and style, and while the controls take some getting used
to, most players should get the hang of things by the second level or so.
An extensive series of tutorials helps in this department as well. From an
aesthetic standpoint, the game delivers an impressively detailed series of
gothic environments that create an immersive world. It's not
photorealistic, but there's enough grounding in reality to suspend your
disbelief effectively while you're playing. Bayonetta's boss battles are
easily the most impressive part of the game, with their massive size and
menacing movements making them feel like a real threat, especially when
the camera moves back and you can see how small she is in comparison to
them.
While its gameplay is intense and the
level of action can generally be described as chaotic, Bayonetta falls a
little bit flat in its storyline, which feels disconcerting and sometimes
falls into the realm of incoherence. However, the story in games like
these is merely a means to an end, and don't detract substantially from
the solid play mechanics and entertaining boss battles. From an artistic
standpoint, Bayonetta offers a well-produced game and there are a few
laughs along the way, in the form of inside videogame jokes. It's not for
everyone, and its lives up to its M or Adults Only rating with amorous
innuendo and plenty of violence, but none of it seems particularly
gratuitous within the game's context. This is definitely not a perfect
game by any means, it's a bit too derivative of some other well-known
action titles and there are some technical problems with the camera system
and some minor gameplay mechanics that make for a sometimes frustrating
experience. However, these flaws shouldn't be enough to dissuade most
players from experiencing this unique and memorable action title on their
console of choice.
-
Michael Palisano
