Man, what a crazy game. Imagine a game director who just wanted to throw every little idea into a game and you might get something as crazy and over the top as this game. At it's heart, this game has one of the best 3rd person combat mechanics yet. While the camera angles can be a bit funky, the action as been smooth and the combos seem to flow naturally. It seems like this system has a bit of button mashing involved but has depth to it for those who want to master the system (not that I ever mastered it though). One of the things that I really appreciated about this game is the checkpoint system. Now that I'm a bit older and really don't have that much time for games, I'd like a chance to finish a game or two nowadays. In games like Devil May Cry when you die, you use a continue that you had to buy (and the continues got more and more expensive) or you restarted at the beginning of the level. Bayonetta has a really forgiving check point system where if you died, you not only have unlimited continues (it does take away from your end of the chapter score if you use it though), but you start at the beginning of each sub-chapter (or "verse" as it's known in-game). Not only that, you start the continue with full health. Makes finishing the game much more tangible for those that do not have the time or skill to play a really hard section of a game over and over again just to pass it. I really appreciated that. The game even had mid-boss checkpoints as well so you didn't have to fight the entire battle over again if you died in the middle of the battle.
When I first hear about this game, the director mentioned that he wanted to make the game "climax" based. What i've taken that to mean is that every level is really over the top and crazy. First level in the game is a level where you are fighting on top of a church tower that is falling down. Almost every action setting in the game is over the top and really fun to play. I really appreciated how varied the levels, environments, and even the game types where.
You can tell there a lot of attention was paid in making this game. I really liked some of the little touches like the mid-level map where it showed your progress. It's a map that has an "old film" feel where you are represented by this little toy Bayonetta and gets moved from one place to another. What the hell does this represent in game? I idea but I liked the way it looked. Also, in between levels there is this shooting mini-game where you shoot enemies for extra bonuses. Does this make sense for the game fiction? Not at all, but who cares?
I also enjoyed the music in the game. The overall game music is a combo of a jazzy, ominous, techo theme and every once in awhile, a techno-dance version of "The Way You Look Tonight" comes around. While totally odd, I found the soundtrack to be endearing and memorable. Unique at worst.
Not everything it the game is all peaches though. The story--totally crazy and a bit hard to understand. I did like the story enough to enjoy the craziness, but really hated the "film-based" cutscenes. These scenes were more like those new motion comics when a film border. I never really like the way they were presented. Also I really couldn't stand Luca, the male non-playable, character in the game. I found him just kind of annoying and kept wondering what the hell was he doing in this game? The kiddo in the game was kind of obnoxious as well.
I loved this game for the over the top scenarios, crazy music, non-stop action, great graphics and fun main character. Not a perfect game, but one that really hit the spot for me. Hopefully more games like this will come out. While people are moving more to "reality" I think that games are better when they are "hyper real".
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