Feature Review: Bayonetta

As is that weren’t enough, the game is littered with all kinds of cool mini-games and extras. For example, if Bayonetta finds a number of special bullets while fighting through any given stage, she can use them when the stage is complete to play a funny shooting-gallery mini-game where her performance earns her points which she can trade for items, like health or magic potions, or exchange for Halos, the currency she uses to buy weapons and abilities. She can also concoct her own potions at any time in the game by combining various ratios of three ingredients — baked gecko, unicorn horn and Mandragora root — which are dropped by enemies or found in destructible scenery. From time to time, players will have to use some of Bayonetta’s witch abilities to traverse hazardous areas instead of fighting. There are also a few quick-time events littered through the game, particularly in those big boss fights, but unlike other action games, players are usually given more than enough time to go, “Oh!” and look down at their controller to find the right button.

As impressive as it is, this incredibly in-depth gameplay is only one part of what makes Bayonetta so good. Like Devil May Cry, all of this crazy action is presented with such panache and excess that it’s impossible not to grin the first time you witness it. The story is told through a combination of partially-animated stills and in-game cinematics, and they’re somehow incredibly tacky, stylish, and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time. When you see Bayonetta massacring a horde of angels to a dance remix of Sinatra’s Fly Me to the Moon, all the while pulling provocative poses and lavishing her attention on a lollipop in the most sultry way, you’ll know what I mean. The cast of characters are entertaining to watch and very funny, especially her little henchman, Enzo, who supplies a lot of comic relief by somehow always managing to get caught up in Bayonetta’s fights. Then there’s her mentor, Rodin, a guy who looks not altogether unlike Raven from Tekken, but with a high-collared trenchcoat, Robin Hood tights and unlaced Doc Martens. Some of his lines are excellent, and he also fills the role of the mandatory shopkeeper who sells Bayonetta new weapons, attacks, accessories and items.

Having given the game decent run-through, I can finally see what all the hype is about, and I must say, I concur. Bayonetta really is that good. The game is an open bar of fun, as entertaining to watch as it is to play, and it has mountains of fresh ideas and depth of play that other action title wish they had. Try it and see for yourself.

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