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    Bayonetta

    Game » consists of 27 releases. Released Oct 29, 2009

    Bayonetta is a "non-stop action game" from PlatinumGames. The titular character is a witch who can use hair-based magic, as well as firearms attached to her feet, to battle fallen angels and other foes.

    gamingsurvival's Bayonetta (Xbox 360) review

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    Bayonetta -- Second Opinion Gaming Survival Review

    By - Richard J.

    I first heard about Bayonetta I didn't know anything about it. People had great things to say about this game and that of course made me interested in it. I waited and waited and I have finally played it. And as you'll see in my review, this game is great.

    Bayonetta is the kind of character that you want to win and kick everyone's ass. She's sexy, stylish and walks like a model on a catwalk when nothing is happening; then she's punching, kicking, shooting and pole dancing when she's fighting. She is just awesome and when you first see her kicking ass, she'll leave you in awe. But Bayonetta is not by any means the perfect character. The main problem with the character (and some may not see this as a problem) is her over-the-top and sometimes offensive sex appeal. If you thought that Laura Croft was demeaning to women, wait till you see Bayonetta. The developers have made this so obvious that you'll know exactly what I mean when you watch the first cut scene of the game.

    The cut scenes in Bayonetta are really good, as long as you are interested in the story. Some of them are pretty long, but no where near MGS4 long. Most of the cut scenes in Bayonetta will leave you wanting more as they are filled with so much mindless action and violence. They could be considered the video game cut scene equivalent of comfort food. Now height action cut scenes aside, there are some cut scenes that some could consider boring.

    Some of these "boring" cut scenes are fully animated like the high action ones, but most of these cut-scenes are not. They're these film strips moving on the screen and within those film strips are cut out stills of the characters along with dialogue. They are very similar to the cut scenes found in many SRPGs and JRPGs. These are really well done, but as I said before, you won't like them if you don't like the story.

    But who wouldn't like the story of Bayonetta? Granted it is fairly confusing, it is still pretty good and really well told. I won't go to deep into the story, but the basics of the back story are that there were two clans long ago, the Lumen Sages and the Umbra Witches. The Lumen were with the controller of the power of light; the god of Paradisio, while the Umbra gained power from those who watched over the darkness; the demons of Inferno. These two clans entered a huge war and now only one Umbra witch remained; Bayonetta. Now, Bayonetta is on earth looking for the truth and is kicking the asses of angelic legions to find it.

    Kicking angelic ass is helped by a very good combat system in Bayonetta. The game is built for use of combos using the Yellow(Y), Red(B), and Blue(X) buttons, if you play Normal or Hard, only one button if you play Easy. The combos are very easy to pull off and trying to memorize them feels like playing a fighting game. The only problem with the combat system in Bayonetta is that you'll feel like you are mashing buttons more than completing combos. Most of the time it is more rewarding to mash buttons instead of using combos. But that doesn't mean that there isn't any strategy to combat in Bayonetta.

    If you don't want to die a lot in Bayonetta, you will need to perfect dodging attacks. You dodge attacks by pushing the right trigger. If you dodge an attack just before you are hit, you are rewarded with "Witch Time". Witch Time is a mode where your opponents move extremely slow, while you move at your normal pace. This is perfect for getting a nice combo on an enemy before he can attack back and is an incredibly useful strategy later in the game.

    There are also many weapons within Bayonetta. Picking up a weapon will benefit you as most weapons are much better than just using combos. Weapons will usually slice right through enemies on the first or second hit which leads to very easy kills. Luckily, the developers added a catch to the weapons. Once you use them enough they go away. This will leave you sad at first as you are kicking ass with that mace, but in the end, it gives the game more of a challenge. Plus, there will be many more weapons for you to pick up anyway.

    You can also purchase weapons and upgrades for Bayonetta at the "Gates of Hell". This is a shop owned by Rodin, who you can see in the image below. He is my favourite character in Bayonetta and I even changed my CAG avatar to show my fondness of Rodin, but more on the characters of Bayonetta later. At the gates of hell, you can also buy items that will revive your health and magic. These are in the form of suckers that Bayonetta eats. This of course adds more to the outrageous sexuality of Bayonetta.

    As I mentioned earlier, I do enjoy the characters in Bayonetta. The main characters are of course Bayonetta, then Jeanne, Enzo, Rodin, Balder, and Cereza. These characters are quite entertaining and are a key part of what make the story so interesting. I guarantee that you'll laugh at Enzo at least once.

    Another part of what makes Bayonetta so great is the music. It is very "funky" and fits the game so well. It is no where near the kind of music I would listen to on my iPod, but I can't help turning it up when playing Bayonetta. It seems so unexpected for that genre of music to be playing while slicing these angels in half and gore flying every where, but it was an excellent choice by the developers and you'll know exactly what I mean when you play the game.

    The graphics in Bayonetta are good, but not great. They feel a little dated compared to some other games, but it does have great character models. The major complaint with the graphics is the frame rate slowdown. This is to be expected with lots of action on screen, but it can take away from the experience. The slowdown is not too bad on 360, but I have heard that it's terrible on the PS3.

    There are also lots of puzzles in Bayonetta. They are all quite easy, but are interesting none the less. At the beginning of the game they are small tasks, smashing a chest to find a key, then putting that key in a lock to open a door but later become a bit harder.When playing through Bayonetta, you encounter many walls in your path (not to be confused with invisible walls that plague many games) and they act as doors to your next location. To get passed these doors, you must attack them until they glow completely, then they will break and you can enter. This reminded me a lot of the doors in the Metroid series, where you must shoot them for them to open.

    Finally, one thing I noticed about Bayonetta that has not been addressed in other reviews of the game is the very blatant religious over tone of the whole game. You as a witch much fight the games version of "angels". The games main locations "Paradisio" and "Inferno" are also obviously the games versions of heaven and hell. Also in the first cut scene of the game Bayonetta dresses up "under cover" as a nun, prays over top of a grave and talks to "god" . I'm not going to get into this too much because I am an atheist and would piss off many people, but I just wanted to put it out there that this is a fairly religious game. I'm also disappointed that other reviewers, as far as I know, aren't even mentioning this in their review. Hopefully it's not because it is "controversial" as I would hope most readers of their reviews are mature enough to handle talk of religion.

    Play this game, you will not regret it. It does so many things really well and doesn't have many sacrifices. If you want a game that has lots of story, play it. If you want a game with brutal violence, play it. This game should appeal to many types of gamers. I would like to applaud Platinum Games for making a fantastic game. It's too bad the game was delayed in NA as it could have easily won some Game of the Year awards. I hope that because of it's very early 2010 NA release, it doesn't get forgotten and overshadowed once the end of 2010 comes. I also hope that this game actually sells, many think it won't due to its deep Japanese roots, but I hope they are wrong.

    Pros

    - Great Characters

    - Good Controls

    - Enjoyable Cut Scenes

    - Character models and good looking graphics

    - Music Fits the Gameplay Very Well

    Cons

    - Over-the-top and slightly offensive sexuality- Some mild frame rate issues

    - Some what hard to follow plot

    - Most puzzles don't offer much of a challenge

    RATING: 9.0/10

    Other reviews for Bayonetta (Xbox 360)

      A Greeat Action Game and a Great Way to Start the New Year! 0

        Originally Posted on Pixelated Sausage.  Bayonetta is a Japanese game. It has a unique style that you would never see from a Western-made game and it delivers a wonderful and enjoyable experience. I won’t say that I understood what was going on in any way, but it was ridiculous, funny, and overtly sexual. I never expected to enjoy the character that is Bayonetta, but I ended up finding her quite interesting and I hope we’re lucky enough to see more of her in the future. It may sou...

      43 out of 51 found this review helpful.

      Exciting, over the top, and incredibly satisfying 0

      Being the mastermind behind the original Devil May Cry and hence a pioneer of sorts of the "character action game", Hideki Kamiya had a lot to live up to with Bayonetta, the game that many consider the spiritual successor Devil May Cry. However, Bayonetta exceeds expectations by not only delivering a tight, well executed gameplay experience but also offering delightfully over the top and campy narrative filled with great tongue-in-cheek dialogue.  From the first moment you step foot into the wo...

      15 out of 17 found this review helpful.

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