Good things first. This game is awesome. At first i thought this was going to be some exploitative titty party, but instead B turns out to be a pretty good character. She's certainly oversexed, but the vulgarity of it all somehow removes it from titillation and into the realm of.. Empowerment? She's the first female action game hero (for a game of this sort) that i think actually works. My girlfriend said, after watching me play it for a couple hours, that this is the "gayest game she has ever seen", and she means that in the best way. It's just a total gay-parade of a game. Just nothing but flamboyance and skin and celebration of being something else. I heart it.
 
I'm really enjoying the witch-time dynamic. Like Ninja Gaiden (my favorite action game series by far), it trains you to look for patterns on a screen-wide scale instead of concentrating on one enemy alone, and getting pure platinum medals feels well earned and very satisfying. It's funny how the defining factor of games like this tend to be how you avoid damage, rather than dish it out. The combat is mashy enough to be effective under stress (there's a lot of that), but deep enough with its timing windows that you can really lay on the murder on individual enemies if you wish (you typically wish). The boss fights are truly epic. The result is, for the most part, a game where you'll happily replay levels for better ratings, simply because it feels fair, and a clean victory is up to YOU, not the odds the game throws you. For all the talk about how western development is "taking over", i haven't seen a western title that nails this aspect of an action game ever, and i hope Japanese devs are proud of this.
 
It does, however, have a bunch of flaws. It's a game after all, games have flaws. Typically the camera will treat you pretty good, but i have had enough camera freakouts to mess up my flow. It's not as thoroughly borked as the Ninja Gaiden 2 camera was, but it's certainly in the way more than you'd like. It made me think of how much flak NG2 got for its camera, and how little I've heard about Bayonetta's. Worse is the absolutely ridiculous story. I don't mind a ridiculous story, but in Bayonetta, there's a lot of it. Lengthy cutscenes offer nothing of interest, with reams and reams of dialogue that for the most part don't even make sense. It just won't shut up! It doesn't help that the landscape is strewn with tomes of lore. For a game that's so absolutely retarded (i mean that in a good way), this abundance of self-important lore is baffling.
 
The worst bit by FAR has been a level I'll characterize as straight up "broken". Ostensibly a bike racing.. thing.. It instead suffers dramatically from absolutely abysmal physics, repetitive design, and a section where i would fall through the ground on every single pass until i started slamming the jump button randomly until i somehow made it across. This whole level seems absolutely amateurish compared to the sheen of the rest of the game, and i wish Platinum had straight up cut it from the game. I don't ever want to play it again.
 
But my god. I'll recommend this game to anyone up for a crazy Japanese variety cabaret show filled with ridiculous characters and over the top madness. I haven't had this kind of base joy playing a game in a very long time. I hope it sells well and Platinum get to make more of this.

Good things first. This game is awesome. At first i thought this was going to be some exploitative titty party, but instead B turns out to be a pretty good character. She's certainly oversexed, but the vulgarity of it all somehow removes it from titillation and into the realm of.. Empowerment? She's the first female action game hero (for a game of this sort) that i think actually works. My girlfriend said, after watching me play it for a couple hours, that this is the "gayest game she has ever seen", and she means that in the best way. It's just a total gay-parade of a game. Just nothing but flamboyance and skin and celebration of being something else. I heart it.
 
I'm really enjoying the witch-time dynamic. Like Ninja Gaiden (my favorite action game series by far), it trains you to look for patterns on a screen-wide scale instead of concentrating on one enemy alone, and getting pure platinum medals feels well earned and very satisfying. It's funny how the defining factor of games like this tend to be how you avoid damage, rather than dish it out. The combat is mashy enough to be effective under stress (there's a lot of that), but deep enough with its timing windows that you can really lay on the murder on individual enemies if you wish (you typically wish). The boss fights are truly epic. The result is, for the most part, a game where you'll happily replay levels for better ratings, simply because it feels fair, and a clean victory is up to YOU, not the odds the game throws you. For all the talk about how western development is "taking over", i haven't seen a western title that nails this aspect of an action game ever, and i hope Japanese devs are proud of this.
 
It does, however, have a bunch of flaws. It's a game after all, games have flaws. Typically the camera will treat you pretty good, but i have had enough camera freakouts to mess up my flow. It's not as thoroughly borked as the Ninja Gaiden 2 camera was, but it's certainly in the way more than you'd like. It made me think of how much flak NG2 got for its camera, and how little I've heard about Bayonetta's. Worse is the absolutely ridiculous story. I don't mind a ridiculous story, but in Bayonetta, there's a lot of it. Lengthy cutscenes offer nothing of interest, with reams and reams of dialogue that for the most part don't even make sense. It just won't shut up! It doesn't help that the landscape is strewn with tomes of lore. For a game that's so absolutely retarded (i mean that in a good way), this abundance of self-important lore is baffling.
 
The worst bit by FAR has been a level I'll characterize as straight up "broken". Ostensibly a bike racing.. thing.. It instead suffers dramatically from absolutely abysmal physics, repetitive design, and a section where i would fall through the ground on every single pass until i started slamming the jump button randomly until i somehow made it across. This whole level seems absolutely amateurish compared to the sheen of the rest of the game, and i wish Platinum had straight up cut it from the game. I don't ever want to play it again.
 
But my god. I'll recommend this game to anyone up for a crazy Japanese variety cabaret show filled with ridiculous characters and over the top madness. I haven't had this kind of base joy playing a game in a very long time. I hope it sells well and Platinum get to make more of this.

The worst bit by FAR has been a level I'll characterize as straight up "broken". Ostensibly a bike racing.. thing.. It instead suffers dramatically from absolutely abysmal physics, repetitive design, and a section where i would fall through the ground on every single pass until i started slamming the jump button randomly until i somehow made it across    

   absolutely abysmal physics, repetitive design 

Of course I'm aware of Hang On. This game is wall to wall references. No amount of referencing pardons poor gameplay. In a game filled with sweetness, the biking bit stands in sharp relief.  Super Hang On was better.

Holy christ. It's the section right after the first required jump. Landing the first jump puts you on another tilted bridge segment. If you don't jump after that segment, you'll clip through the next, flip 90 degrees to the right and fall to your death. If you DO jump that segment, the camera will make a momentary freakout before BAM, suddenly you're driving straight ahead someplace else. I can reproduce this shit every single time. Abysmal. Out of everyone I've discussed this with today, you're the first to have no issue with it. We must be playing different games.

The bike riding level was exhilarating and great fun!  I only missed one jump, and it was my fault.  I was surprised how easy it was compared to the difficulty of the rest of the game.  Falling through the ground?  That sounds serious.  I wonder why Ryan Davis never mentioned anything about this in his review.  I guess it never happened to him either.  If you're falling through the ground, then maybe your Xbox is broken.

" The bike riding level was exhilarating and great fun!  I only missed one jump, and it was my fault.  I was surprised how easy it was compared to the difficulty of the rest of the game.  Falling through the ground?  That sounds serious.  I wonder why Ryan Davis never mentioned anything about this in his review.  I guess it never happened to him either.  If you're falling through the ground, then maybe your Xbox is broken. "

" Of course I'm aware of Hang On. This game is wall to wall references. No amount of referencing pardons poor gameplay. In a game filled with sweetness, the biking bit stands in sharp relief.  Super Hang On was better. Holy christ. It's the section right after the first required jump. Landing the first jump puts you on another tilted bridge segment. If you don't jump after that segment, you'll clip through the next, flip 90 degrees to the right and fall to your death. If you DO jump that segment, the camera will make a momentary freakout before BAM, suddenly you're driving straight ahead someplace else. I can reproduce this shit every single time. Abysmal. Out of everyone I've discussed this with today, you're the first to have no issue with it. We must be playing different games. "