Hey now everyone, hope you're all doing well, and welcome to my review of Bayonetta! Even though this franchise has been around for nearly ten years it's kind of a shame we only have two games to show for it. This hyper stylistic hack and slash series is beloved by many people, and with good reason. Everything about it is over the top, from it's ridiculous characters, to all the amazing set pieces, and of course, the fast paced combat mechanics. It's easy to see why some people enjoy these games so much. If you're a fan of the genre Bayonetta definitely delivers the goods, but I have to admit, I'm not that big into these kinds of games and have very little experience with this series in particular. That's why I decided to replay the original. So join me if you will, and I'll tell you all about it.
Bayonetta is a third person, action-adventure hack and slash game developed by PlatinumGames. You play as the titular character of Bayonetta, a witch who uses melee weapons, firearms, various magical attacks, and can shapeshift into different animals. She awakens at the bottom of a lake after a 500 year sleep in an unfamiliar place, with no recollection of her past. For some reason she can't remember anything about who she is, or how she got here, but eventually, bit by bit, her memories begin to return. While I was playing the game it was difficult to understand exactly what was happening most of the time. The cutscenes that deliver the exposition are usually pretty abstract, and even when they spell it out for you it's still a little confusing, but I'll try my best to describe the story.
There are two opposing factions, the Umbra Witches, who are followers of darkness, and the Lumen Sages, who are followers of light. These two groups have watched over the world for centuries keeping everything in balance. To do this they used ancient artifacts called, The Eyes Of The World, which consist of the Right Eye and the Left Eye. Both factions disappeared without a trace a long time ago, and The Eyes Of The World were lost along with them. As Bayonetta begins to regain her memories she recalls a special red stone that's hidden inside her necklace. She believes this to be the Left Eye Of The World, and she thinks that if she can locate the other Eye than she might be able to finally restore balance to the world.
The game begins in present day in the fictional European city of Vigrid. Bayonetta is there with her sidekick, and informant, named Enzo, a man who looks and sounds just like actor Joe Pesci. Now that you remember your past a bit more you realize that you're an Umbra Witch and that you possesses one half of The Eyes Of The World. Enzo tells you about a lead he might have on the whereabouts of the other stone and this starts you off on a quest that stretches into different realms of existense. Since you're an Umbra Witch, and fight for the dark side, you'll be fighting against the armies of heaven as they try to stop you from finding the stone. You'll encounter a wide range of enemies, from smaller minions, to massive boss battles, all throughout your journey.
The game's story and characters are abstract and strange, but all that takes a backseat to the combat anyway. By far, the best part of Bayonetta, for me, is definitely the fast paced, over the top fighting mechanics. If you're a fan of the gameplay in Devil May Cry than you'll probably feel right at home with Bayonetta. You get to use a combination of melee and long range attacks to take out your foes. By stringing these attacks together in different ways you can pull off complex combo moves that can result in all kinds of visually amazing spectacles. Performing these combos will fill up your magic meter, eventually allowing you to unleash a devastating climax attack which damages all nearby enemies.
You can equip two different sets of weapons that you can easily switch between on the fly. Throughout the game you will acquire all sorts of new weapons to add to your arsenal, each with their own pros and cons. By experimenting with new combinations you can find a play style that works best for you and gives you plenty of options for approaching combat situations. By defeating enemies you will start to collect the in game currency that you can use to unlock new moves and abilities. This means that you can always be adding new moves to your repertoire so things don't get too repetitive. Overall there's a lot of flexibility in the combat mechanics and it's a lot of fun to just play around with all the various combinations. It can really be as simple, or as complex, as you want it to be.
One key feature of the combat is the dodging ability. By pressing a button Bayonetta will flip out the way of incoming attacks. If you can manage to time it just before the attack hits you it will activate Witch Time, slowing down everything around you for a brief moment. This allows you to go wild on enemies without any concern of them hitting you back. Learning an enemy's pattern can be extremely useful, and it can make all the difference in difficult battles. Eventually you will unlock the ability to transform into various animals like a panther, a crow, a bat, and more. Some of these can be used in combat to avoid getting hit, but most of them are for traversing the environment. The panther runs extremely fast, and the crow is great for reaching high places. It doesn't add much to the game, but its a nice touch.
Going into this game I wasn't sure what to expect, especially since my track record with this genre isn't that great. I was pleasantly surprised by how fun and easy the combat was to get into, and it wasn't long before I was pulling off some impressive attack combos. There's some amazing set pieces and boss battles, packed full of style and over the top visuals. The low points for me were definitely the story and characters. There's just something about the tone of everything that didn't resonate with me. The cringey dialog, wacky cutscenes, and some terrible music, made it hard for me to connect with the characters, or get immersed in the world. But that didn't stop me from having a great time. The actual gameplay is fantastic and it's easily the main appeal of the series. I would certainly recommend this one, and I'm going to give Bayonetta a grade of....................................
B
Thank you for reading my review of Bayonetta, I hope you enjoyed it!
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