Developed by Platinum Games, in many ways does Bayonetta qualify as a spiritual successor towards Viewtiful Joe, also drawing bits and pieces from MadWorld, all done by the same group. It's an action packed beat/slash em'up in 3D.
The combat has many kinds of moves to perform, as you will be able to punch and kick, shoot, slash, dodge, counter and even morph into temporal creatures granting boosts in the air or on the ground. As you proceed, weapons will be unlocked giving you the option to switch between them at battles.
Bayonetta is an adventure full of flashy and stylized presentation found back in the finishing moves known as Torture Attacks, the cut-scenes, the interesting enemy design and more. It plays fast when fighting your way through, but can wear off during the cut scenes as character development was minimal.
Special abilities such as Witch Time and Witch Walk give you advantages towards enemies and terrain grounds. With the former, if you dodge an attack at the last moment, you will counter it and temporarily slow down the movement of time in order to deal more damage.
With the latter, you are able to walk up walls and ceilings, not always, but more than enough. Along the chapters or levels, there are hidden chests and items to obtain using your double jump and other techniques, which by the way more of them can be obtained inside the shop.
Speaking of which, it also sells standard items such as HP, attack power and protection. There are also special spells to buy aside from the techniques, weapons and items, but these were all very expensive, so I basically only experienced one during my playthrough.
With the Concotion Compound system, you can "cook" up the standard items I mentioned, and there is sufficient enough of lore to be read as well. The focus is mainly on finding out what the purpose of the Eyes of the World seems to be.
The hierarchy of angels to fight ranges from simple troops with halo's(which are also the game's currency by the way) to adept units towards large bosses that usually look creepy because of the faces. I wouldn't say that I have a favorite boss because they generally look the same.
But keep up with this enemy design with their pretentious names Platinum Games, because they surely stand out from the endless waves of demons, zombies, terrorists and such. The story depicts Paradiso, Inferno and Purgatorio as the setting, as taken from Dante's Divine Comedy.
The game can be gory, but it's usually censored by the quick scenes happening. These are activated by the Torture Attack moments, in which you usually will have to mash a button in order to obtain the most damage.
There's also special chase mechanics inside such as driving on a motorcycle or riding on a rocket. QTE's were sometimes unfair, but Bayonneta is forgiving with continues and having many checkpoints.
Miscellaneous stuff such as Angel Attack is a bonus game that felt too simplistic. And the game can wear off after I found out about the most effective combo to use. The balance design wasn't effective, and I was irritated by the character's mouths not moving in most scenes.
Bayonetta remains a glorified beat'em up that can give entertainment value not only because of the combat system, but the tongue in cheek humor as well. It's an over the top adventure with girl pop music and enough diversity, but personally my preference goes to Viewtiful Joe 1 & 2 instead.
Too bad that Capcom owns the rights towards that and more of the former Clover Studios though. Oh well, I guess that Bayonetta 2 will surely be worthwhile to watch out for in the future of the Nintendo Wii U.
Rating: 8.0
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