Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Guilty pleasure"

I saw on Giantbomb, the best way to describe this game was 'effing ridiculous' and ignoring the colourful language it is no far wrong all truth be told. By all rights this game shouldn't work. The story you may or may not garner details relevant to the plot, the protagonist, Bayonetta probably worsens the women's lib movement, in one flourish of her sexy, butterfly wings as she sheds clothes with each attack. Add to this she essentially spends the whole game battling various angels. Despite how absurd and over the top it all sounds, it works, and it works really well.

The game has you, playing the titular character, Bayonetta a witch who has little memory of the past and is on a quest of sorts to find her past as well as battle some angels. Lost already? I am. Add to this a reporter who blames his father's death on her, a little girl that determines Bayonetta to be her mother, a demon that is your contact with hell as well as selling upgrades and you have a quirky cast with a mish mash of motivations none of them which seem to align. Although there is disjointedness between the characters and the story they are interesting enough to keep your attention and while the plot doesn't flow all that freely, there are certain elements that make sense on their own.

So the plot isn't that great so the game has to hook you some other way, right? Well, it sure does the combat is outstanding. Anyone who has played God of War or Devil May Cry will know what they are getting themselves into. There is a punch attack, a kick attack and a gun attack. It sounds simple in theory, and it can be, but the possibilities are next to endless. The combo system is relatively deep and allows you many different ways to dispatch your enemies. There are the standard attacks but there are also various other weapon that you can obtain by, of all things collecting Gold LP records, what else?
All of these weapons vary greatly and give you an opportunity to equip yourself for a style that most suits you. It's not a totally unique idea, but is implemented well and it feels like you are getting more than just a slightly more powerful punch.
The biggest strength of the system is the fact there is no block button. Instead you dodge to avoid attacks which seems to be a difference only in semantics, but in reality the way it has been implemented adds a new dimension to the combat, only just dodging an attack grants you 'Witch Time' which slows down time and makes it easier to unleash large combos on the unwary victims. You can dodge all day and never get hit but will never pull of those large combos, or you can take the risk of getting hit, and try to defeat the enemies as quickly and efficiently as possible. Most of the enemies have set 'moves that you must lean to either counter or avoid, it can be a tad repetitive but over all it is an interesting system and works really quite well.

The game looks fantastic on the 360 although it is no powerhouse. The Playstation version suffers from a few visual issues and long load times although it is not quite as bad as some would have you believe. I never found slowdown an issue although it is much murkier and loading screens in menus are really unforgivable. If you don't have a 360 then the playstation version is a perfectly viable option, other wise it is hard recommend.
The design of the angels is spectacular they are some of the most interesting 'villains' in recent times. In fact the artistic design of the game is fantastic over all. The level designs are equally good, with a lot of varied locations and they all feel unique and add something to the experience.

The voice acting is quite good with a good mixture of humour and serious tones. The serious parts are delivered surprisingly well considering how ridiculous the matter they are discussing can be. The sound is relatively standard fare, clashing metal, gunshots and the like, it's done well but it's also not going to win awards in sound design. The sound track at first was quite catchy and upbeat at times, but it gets really repetitive and annoying, the J-Pop style is effective but it would have been good to keep that motive and have a bit more variety.

Bayonetta is in your face, it's not afraid to be overtly sexual, in your face and over the top. It actually has the strength of gameplay to pull it off. Is it sexist? Quite possibly. If it makes it any less of a game, that's in the eye of the beholder. I had an absolute blast with Bayonetta, I really can't recommend it enough. Some people won't be able to ignore its flaws, those that may be able to will have one hell of a ride, I guarantee it.