Sega games once were more popular than they are now. Occasionally, a new Sonic the Hedgehog game would step into the spotlight and be popular for a while. In contrast, other nonrelated Sonic games would never get the love and attention they rightfully deserve. While Bayonetta, in this case, is far from a forgotten gem, it sadly gets pushed aside many times to make room for any Sonic-related game. It truly is a shame cause Bayonetta is a game that is one of a kind, full of violence and sexual appeal. Most of all, it's just fun to play. It embraces its weirdness and mature nature to create a game that is primarily hard to forget. While the religious stuff is too complex for me, this game makes up for it by just how many and engaging everything else is.
A witch named Bayonetta (Hellena Taylor) awakens from her grave after years of living in a coffin at the bottom of the lake. Bayonetta has no recollection of her past life. With help from Enzo (Chick Vennera), Bayonetta realizes that the right eye jewel (Bayonetta carries the other half on her outfit) is somewhere in the world and may hold mysteries about her past. Along the way, she is stopped by an Umbra witch named Jeanne (Grey DeLisle), who has ties to Bayonetta’s past; Luka (Yuri Lowenthal), who is after Bayonetta on account that she is the cause of his father’s death and a little girl named Cereza (Joy Jillian), who Bayonetta reluctantly looks after and may hold more answers to Bayonetta’s past than she realized. Can Bayonetta uncover the mystery of the past before her enemies get the upper hand on her?
The Story may feature some complicated religious aspects, but at the same time, it is pretty weird and completely unpredictable as many new conflicts are introduced and help to further the plot in the most absurd way possible, making the narrative so much fun. Of course, almost every place the story goes will help her remember a specific aspect of her past while also coming across different challenges she will face. An interesting aspect is that there are surprisingly a lot of evident and not-so-obvious easter eggs to Sega’s past video games, which is a lovely touch for long-time Sega fans. One plot line that was just so out there that it is almost incredible is Bayonetta coming across a little girl named Cereza who thinks that Bayonetta is her mom. Bayonetta goes along with being a caretaker to Cereza despite initially feeling resentment toward her. The other thing this story does well is that it completely embraces its naughty, mature nature, which can lead to many hilarious moments, most of which come from Bayonetta’s quippy sexual references. Even if you can’t get into the deeper storytelling, there is enough fun and over-the-top naughtiness to keep the narrative exciting and quite a show-stopper.
The Characters are primarily narcissistic but in a way that is both hilarious and, in some cases, somewhat likable. Bayonetta is the main star of the whole thing for a reason, she gives off a lot of sex appeal and is quick with her quips, making her such a badass. How she handles taking down enemies by using her words and the guns attached to her arms and legs is so memorizing. Luka is the everyman who has connections with Bayonttea as she believes she is responsible for the death of his father. What I like about him is that he has some of the funniest reactions to seeing Bayonetta in action and making snarky remarks, as he is both amazed and horrified at the same time. Cereza is a little kid character that initially didn’t seem to be needed in a game for mature audiences. Still, seeing a little kid traveling with Bayonetta as she tears apart angels and spills their blood is hilarious. Cereza, for the most part, is calm about that, making her entirely unexpected in her own right. Other Characters, such as Jeanne Rodin and Enzo, also bring down-to-earth yet over-the-top performances to their characters, respectively. They, as well as the ones mentioned before, help make the game even more enjoyable thanks to their well-defined personalities.
The Gameplay is complex yet simple to understand. There are many difficulty levels to test players' skills in how much of a challenge they want to endure. Each level's primary goal is to defeat as many angels and boss angels as possible while traversing many different platforming stages. Many moves can be made in different button combinations to take down enemies. Sometimes, certain button combinations allow Bayonetta to use torcher devices such as chainsaws or nail coffins to brutally take down foes in the most gory way possible. Each section of defeating enemies will earn you a trophy, with pure platinum being the highest and stone being the lowest. Getting a high ranking will earn you bonus content such as music records and more if you want to fully complete the game. Bayonetta can also use different platforming skills, such as double jumping, slowing down time, and even walking on walls to traverse the levels further and defeat certain enemies. Every chapter ends with an angel attack mini-game. Depending on how many points you rack up, you can use the earned points to buy lollipops, giving Bayonetta extra advantages such as restoring health or increasing attack power for more deadly hits. There is also a Gate of Hell shop run by Rodin, who will sell lollipops, as well as special moves and upgraded guns that you can’t get anywhere else; purchasing these items will require halo rings, which can be earned in different ways, such as defeating enemies. Beating the crap out of enemies never gets stale. Still, something that I admit does get stale is the lengthy cutscenes and enemy battles. It's not bad. It just sometimes slows the game's pace down at specific points. One thing that makes up for the game's often slow pace is how almost accelerating the build-up toward the ending is. Every time you think the game is ending, it keeps getting bigger and bigger until the story and the gameplay reach their maximum limit of awesomeness. Despite some pacing issues, the gameplay is excellent. It keeps the player on its feet and excites them to see what will happen next.
The Graphics are surprisingly stylized, even though the human designs are primarily realistic. A more artistically stylized game will hold up much better than a game that tries to be 100% realistic. Bayonetta understands that very well. Everything from the evil angel designs to how Bayonetta takes down her enemies using gory and violent tactics embraces the out-there stylization while not making it too cartoony to the point that it feels like a Sonic game. Almost every location has a dark and grim vibe but leaves room for wild colors to be inserted when the game calls for it. As mentioned, human designs are primarily realistic but leave room for over-the-top-like actions to happen with them and not be bound to real-life physics. Bayonetta’s character design, in particular, is outstanding and sexy. Her outfit makes her look much more badass, and her visual agility is mesmerizing to watch. Baynettas's attack moves are pretty elaborate. Sometimes, she’ll strike a pose during an attack to illustrate her self-centered, sexy persona. Make no mistake, this game is as gory as you can get. At the same time, the game’s graphics leave enough room for well-designed characters and backgrounds to take up as much attention as the violence does in its own way.
The Music was composed by many Japanese artists. It’s hard to pinpoint the composer of the entire game, but regardless, the soundtrack is quite a showstopper. The compositional score is epic and even a little melodramatic at the same time. The songs that appear, such as Bayonetta’s theme, and much like Bayonetta herself, they are spicy and so much fun to listen to when beating up angels. Suppose the primary goal is to beat up as many angels as possible. In that case, I am glad the music motivates me to ultimately destroy Bayonetta’s greatest enemies.
Bayonetta really shines, thanks to its memorable graphics and storytelling tone. The gameplay is excellent, the music is quite epic, and the characters carry narcissistic personality traits, making the game even more unpredictable. Would I call it one of my favorite video games of all time? Probably not. However, I still had a lot of fun with this game, as it was nice to take a break from family-friendly offerings and try something more mature yet over-the-top and naughty. I am interested in playing the sequels to see if any problems I had with this game are anywhat improved. Bayonetta has caught my attention, and Sega has created a gem that should be noticed. It's admittedly fun to rip apart angels and cause gory destruction after gory destruction every now and again. I look forward to doing more damage with Bayonetta in the future.
(Final Grade: A-)