So I've put about twenty five hours into Bayonetta now, so it's safe to say I like this game. I loved the DMC games and this plays pretty similar. However, during my first playthrough of the game I was pretty close to writing the game off as "Ok, but not even close to as good as Devil May Cry 3," because of a few things.
First of all, this game cheap shots you. Frequently, cutscenes will end with enemies shooting or lunging at you, and when you take control, you have to dodge that attack. This wouldn't be so bad, except when you skip the cutscene and forget to mash Dodge. Sorry Platinum Games, but that's just cheap. There are also QTEs that will kill you when you fail them, which you almost certainly will the first time when you don't see them coming. All it does is add frustration to the game.
Why am I even in this game? The next subject of my wrath is Luka. I have no idea why this Kato Kalin looking motherfucker is even in the game. His connection to the story is tenuous at best; he thinks Bayonetta killed his father, then of course it turns out she didn't. That's it. Of course, on the way to that incredibly predictable revelation, he gets used for (rarely successful) comic relief and babysitting Cereza.
Not to mention the fake out at the end of the game. I cheered when they appeared to kill him off, then groaned when he got Deus Ex Machinaed back into existence. Just why?
I'd advise anyone playing the game for the first time to just hit 'Skip Cutscene' whenever Luka appears. Don't worry, you won't miss anything cool or important.
First I thought, "Hey, this is pretty cool." Then I thought, "This is taking a while." Then I thought, "Damn, I need to write a blog post about this." Finally, this game has a sequence where you ride a motorcycle and a rail shooter section (think Starfox). These parts aren't badly done, but they are most certainly way too damn long. About twice as long as they should be. Seriously, I looked at my times for the revelant Verses in the score screen after beating the game, and the motorcycle section clocks in at about eight minutes. The shooter section was almost twelve. Note that this is without dying either. I probably could have done the motorcycle section a little faster but the speed on the shooter level is locked, so beating the bosses fast is the only way to hurry that one. Again, these sections aren't bad, but they are not nearly interesting enough to last as long as they do.
Oh, and there's a challenge mode like the Bloody Palace in DMC4, but the only way to unlock it is to beat all the Alfheims (secret missions), some of which are kind of a bitch to do. Lame.
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