I know I've been slacking lately on my reviews. I was gonna do an Uncharted 2 Review but I got busy. We all know it's a great game, winning the best game of 2009 at the Spike Video Game Awards and it receiving a perfect score by all the main reviewers. So my review probably wouldn't reflect on it any differently, but maybe I will review it as a request from a friend.
But back to the topic. Bayonetta is an action game that is very reminiscent of traditional 2D fighters. Your attacks are based on button pressing patterns, with the more complicated button combinations you do, the stronger your moves are. Of course there is so many combinations that this game becomes a button masher fast. It is nice that while the game loads, which it does a lot, it shows you all the button sequences to do these special moves and allows you to preform them while you wait for the game to load. Because of many complaints of the long loading times, there is a patch that allows you to do a hard drive install.
There are also many cutscenes with great battle scenes that make you wish that the actual battle went more like that. But when you get control back sometimes monsters are too far away and you just end up shooting them instead of using a special move, making the battles seem less epic. During some of the cutscenes enemies will talk in their native tongue, which you are provided with subtitles whether the characters are speaking English or not. But I found with at least one boss the subtitles moved to quickly and I couldn't keep up with what he was saying.
As for the story itself the story is quite cheesy with corny lines. You play as Bayonetta, one of the last Umbra Witches, who is fighting off heaven's army while regaining your memory back after a very long sleep at the bottom of a lake.
There are 16 chapters including a prologue and an epilogue. The chapters are a combination of linear level exploring, boss battles, and a couple vehicle shooters; the latter being overly long and quite boring. During boss battles I find I use the guns too much instead of one of the many melee combinations just for the fact the the boss is too far away for most of the fight. You will get a chance at the end of each boss fight to do a finishing move that involves Bayonetta's hair, which previously covered her bare body as some kind of catsuit, to turn into a creature that signals you to bash one button to power it up.
Game Play: 5/10
Nothing really new or innovating here. It's just a 2D button mashing fighter in a 3D world setting. The Linear levels also make it quite boring for a 3D game.
Controls: 7/10
Again nothing too innovating, but they aren't difficult to use. They also give you a lot of options for those willing to learn the combos and with all the combos listed in the loading screen with time to practice them you can because quite good at a few.
Graphics 7/10
The graphics aren't bad, but nothing groundbreaking or beautiful.
Sound 6/10
Soundtrack was nothing memorable. Voice acting wasn't horrible, but lots of cheesy lines.
Story 7/10
As I've stated you play as Bayonetta who has lost her memory of everything before she has awaken. It is slowly revealed which adds a little interest as you learn of the history when she does. However the characters are not memorable and you don't really feel a relation to them. This isn't a game where you will get lost in the story.
This is not a game that I would pick up for the full $60 asking price. wait for it to go down in price
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