The Digest: Somewhere in some secret lab, someone decided to combine the DNA of Dante from Devil May Cry, Ryu Hayabusa of Ninja Gaiden and Kratos from God of War.  The result had to be the creation of one bad ass… Witch.   I wouldn’t normally picture a witch carrying guns, but carrying guns on her boots?  Yeah, only a witch could pull something like that off.

THE FACT SHEET

RELEASE DATE: January 5, 2010
PUBLISHER:  Sega
DEVELOPER:  Platinum Games
ESRB RATING: “M” for Mature
GENRE:  Action

PRODUCT OVERVIEW:
Bayonetta™ is a cinematic, stylized action game from the creative mind of renowned game developer Hideki Kamiya (creator of the Devil May Cry series), featuring a stylish and sexy heroine poised to become the next video game icon. In this epic battle, Bayonetta faces off against countless angelic enemies ranging in size from small minions to gigantic behemoths bringing to life a game of one hundred percent pure action.

PRODUCT FEATURES:

• Wicked weave, torture and climax attacks
• In addition to her four enchanted guns called Scarborough Fair, Bayonetta can unlock an array of weapons from shotguns, bazookas and fiery claws, and can also battle with a variety of other weapons retrieved from fallen enemies.
• Bayonetta calls upon primal forces, transforming into various beasts
• Unique, sexy female lead character Bayonetta is a graceful, stylish, all-action heroine
• Fight against uniquely crafted angelic enemies casting a new light on good and evil
• Groundbreaking acrobatic gameplay

The story of Bayonetta revolves around two sects of witches: The Lumen and Umbran Witches.  The two sects lived in harmony with the Lumen controlling the forces of light, while the Umbran controlled the forces of darkness.  Everything was fine and dandy until a falling out gave way to a war between the two, which lead to the destruction of the entire Umbran Witches, except for Bayonetta.  Bayonetta awakens after a five century nap, with quite the hangover which I’m assuming one would have from sleeping for so long.  She’s a bit hazy in the memory department, but knows she’s an Umbran Witch that will have to put the puzzle pieces of her memory together.   The game’s 16 chapter story is told through a combination of both in-game cut scenes and digital stills.  I’m not quite sure why the stills were used when the in-game cut scenes were excellent.   I wouldn’t necessarily say that the storyline here is the strongest aspect of this game.  However, I doubt you’ll notice that since the action and gameplay are so satisfying.  Bottom line: If you want a deep story line, pick up Mass Effect 2.  If you want an old school type action game, look no further than Bayonetta.

The minute this game begins, you know you’re in for a wild ride.  Everything is just so over-the-top that you might have a difficult time figuring out the game just started and that you can actually control the character.  Once you get your bearings, you’ll have a deep experience to absorb.  This isn’t the hack ‘n’ slash experience you might have originally thought.   There were times when playing Bayonetta that I couldn’t help feeling like I was playing Devil May Cry (DMC) in an actual arcade.  I guess that’s only natural, since it was created by a group of the same people that worked on DMC.  However, it’s not as if they just copy and pasted everything over to a new franchise.  They took the basic formula of the former and beat the crap out if it.  The combat system is one that’s easy to understand, but because of its depth, difficult to master.

Right from the beginning, you’ll have access to an insane number of combo moves, given the correct combination of button presses.  As you progress, you’ll be able to purchase more combo moves and you’ll even be able to practice them during the level loading screens.  The great thing is that you won’t have to necessarily master the more difficult combos, as the basic move set is adequate enough to get the job done.  The basics are mapped to the face buttons: Punch, kick, jump and firing guns.  You’ll use the right trigger to dodge attacks and timing it right will give you Witch Time, which slows everything down allowing Bayonetta to unleash some harsher attacks.  Defeating enemies will earn you halos, which are used as the game’s currency to upgrade attacks, weapons and new moves.

The real genius to this game, is that in order to truly unlock everything, you’ll have to sit through several play through sessions.  Unlocking additional difficulty levels, weapons, combo moves and other hidden items is just part of the charm and you won’t even mind having to play Bayonetta several times to do so.   Seriously, this is the type of game I remember playing in the arcades that would have me thirsty for quarters.  Let me put it like this, if you can remember playing Street Fighter or Marvel vs. Capcom in the arcades and seeing some of the special moves being pulled off, then playing Bayonetta is like pulling off special move after special move and if you really want to gain access to all those moves, you’ll have to play the game several times.  It’s just a vicious cycle!!  The soundtrack and fighting engine combine to give you an arcade vibe you probably haven’t experience in quite some time while the voice acting is the kind of top notch acting you wouldn’t normally find in a game like this.

What makes this game shine is its graphical fluidity.  With all the action going on at once, I rarely noticed any slow down and framerate was consistent.  When you consider how huge some of the bosses are, that’s saying something.  You can tell that a lot of care was taken in creating every character in the game.  Everything was animated beautifully.  Whether it was a main character or not, I never felt that the quality of work was ever sacrificed.  There were the occasional camera issues that come along with this type of game, but I wouldn’t exactly call them show stoppers.

Conclusion: Action, action, action.  If that’s what you’re seeking, look no further.  Bayonetta gave me a nice glimpse into my childhood, in which games like this were the norm.  Sometimes, you just want a game where you can just beat stuff up and do it in style.  The Devil may be crying, but that’s only because Bayonetta put a beating on him.

Single Player: 9/10 | Multi-Player: N/A