Nancymeter - 87/100
Bayonetta is both one of the most sexy/stylish games and characters ever. The cutscene near the very start in the graveyard immediately hooked me. An incredible display of joyous insanity and honestly that cutscene alone guaranteed this game would never drop below a 4/5. But because this game is awesome half the cutscenes carry on the same batshit over the top style and I feel like you have to be really uptight to not appreciate the absurdity. Anyways now that I've said every adjective I can think of I'm ready for the real review.
The two most important things about an action game is the combat and the protagonist. As I'm sure everyone knows Bayonetta is great. She exudes confidence both in and out of battles and just has a really fun full of sarcasm attitude. Even after only one game with her I'd put her in my top five gaming protags ever no question. Shes also a really good example of an empowered sexy as hell woman without it feeling demeaning (thanks in part to her character designer being a woman) and I'm super here for it. I am glad they fought to keep her glasses. And then there's the combat. Which is fun and flashy but also fucking hard man. I ain't good at games that arent shooters and this has a difficulty spike within the first 5 or so chapters that just is pretty brutal lol, especially how frail Bayo is it just didnt feel particularly balanced for me. I had no shame eventually switching to easy difficulty at around the halfway point. Unfortunately the automatic setting is a bit much. I'm not complaining that easy difficulty is easy but considering theres even a Very Easy difficulty too I just wish the gap between easy and normal wasnt so huge. That being said, this game is a lot of fun. Im just here to have a good time and being a complete and utter badass destroying everything is perfect for me. There is something to be said about it being a deeper and more rewarding experience playing it on a harder difficulty but I simply don't enjoy getting my ass kicked (In video games anyways) so at least this way I still had my fun. There is multiple unique weapons with their own combos and shit and with the shop system and the rankings you get after each combat encounter encourage multiple playthroughs which for a short game means you will get a lot out of it and thats always a good thing. The animations are really lovely too and its got a fun amount of blood. Enemy and boss designs are all unique and cool while fitting with the setting very well. My only real issue with the combat is that a lot of the bosses suck. They're just not designed well and some of them throw in pretty awful platforming and except for the one on one battles with Jeanne they just kinda suck - but they do make up for it with spectacle.
Aside from your standard combat this is a game from the 7th console generation which of course means there are a few mandatory on the rails sections. These are fun for breaking up the pace but they all go on for just a little bit longer than they're actually fun for. Another side effect of the times is the color pallet. The art style is really good but all the colors are really muted and it just makes the game kinda ugly to look at which is a really widespread and unfortunate issue with this generation that I will always bring up in a review for any game that suffers from it because I hate it. Another thing to nitpick with the visuals is definitely a sign of low budget - some cutscenes are still images with a roll of film filter over them. It fits with the vibe of the game but theres a few instances its used for rather big plot points and idk its not really great but hey what can you do. At least this leads us into our next segment.
very smol spoilers incoming
The story of Bayonetta is... well I don't really know? We've established Bayonetta is an awesome character. The supporting cast is really good. Little Cereza is adorable, Jeanne is a cool rival, Rodan is badass (i love hearing Dave Fennoy's voice) and Luka is a loveable dumbass. But the story itself was really hard to follow. I got the slight jist of it but most of it went way over my head. Fortunately it doesnt matter much but it was kinda hard to get invested when I had no idea what was going on even with all the exposition dumps. I could of course watch a video explaining it but I dont wanna get spoilers for the sequels and that won't really change the initial impression. Despite all of that the game does a great job at showing the scale of your journey through different locations of increasing intrigue and the grand finale being in fucking space is a perfect culmination for such an adventure. I had moments where stupid platforming sections or the confusing narrative made me wonder how much I really liked this game but then it pulls out some beyond my imagination cutscene or throwing in a fucking dance scene (whenever a piece of media throws in one of those it steals my heart) and I remember how much of a treat this game really is. It does fall a bit short of being a true 9/10 for me but I've heard some really great things about the sequel and I'm very excited to see how this series evolves.
I've restarted this review quite a few times over the past few days and i'm still not entirely happy with it but I think I've gotten just about all my thoughts out for this game and I'm ready to move on and see what's ahead of me. Thanks for reading <3
Next up is Escape Academy - and after that maybe Fire Emblem Three Houses. We'll see.
Trophy Completion - 38% (25/51)
Time Played - N/A
Game Completion #139 of 2022
November Completion #5
Bayonetta is both one of the most sexy/stylish games and characters ever. The cutscene near the very start in the graveyard immediately hooked me. An incredible display of joyous insanity and honestly that cutscene alone guaranteed this game would never drop below a 4/5. But because this game is awesome half the cutscenes carry on the same batshit over the top style and I feel like you have to be really uptight to not appreciate the absurdity. Anyways now that I've said every adjective I can think of I'm ready for the real review.
The two most important things about an action game is the combat and the protagonist. As I'm sure everyone knows Bayonetta is great. She exudes confidence both in and out of battles and just has a really fun full of sarcasm attitude. Even after only one game with her I'd put her in my top five gaming protags ever no question. Shes also a really good example of an empowered sexy as hell woman without it feeling demeaning (thanks in part to her character designer being a woman) and I'm super here for it. I am glad they fought to keep her glasses. And then there's the combat. Which is fun and flashy but also fucking hard man. I ain't good at games that arent shooters and this has a difficulty spike within the first 5 or so chapters that just is pretty brutal lol, especially how frail Bayo is it just didnt feel particularly balanced for me. I had no shame eventually switching to easy difficulty at around the halfway point. Unfortunately the automatic setting is a bit much. I'm not complaining that easy difficulty is easy but considering theres even a Very Easy difficulty too I just wish the gap between easy and normal wasnt so huge. That being said, this game is a lot of fun. Im just here to have a good time and being a complete and utter badass destroying everything is perfect for me. There is something to be said about it being a deeper and more rewarding experience playing it on a harder difficulty but I simply don't enjoy getting my ass kicked (In video games anyways) so at least this way I still had my fun. There is multiple unique weapons with their own combos and shit and with the shop system and the rankings you get after each combat encounter encourage multiple playthroughs which for a short game means you will get a lot out of it and thats always a good thing. The animations are really lovely too and its got a fun amount of blood. Enemy and boss designs are all unique and cool while fitting with the setting very well. My only real issue with the combat is that a lot of the bosses suck. They're just not designed well and some of them throw in pretty awful platforming and except for the one on one battles with Jeanne they just kinda suck - but they do make up for it with spectacle.
Aside from your standard combat this is a game from the 7th console generation which of course means there are a few mandatory on the rails sections. These are fun for breaking up the pace but they all go on for just a little bit longer than they're actually fun for. Another side effect of the times is the color pallet. The art style is really good but all the colors are really muted and it just makes the game kinda ugly to look at which is a really widespread and unfortunate issue with this generation that I will always bring up in a review for any game that suffers from it because I hate it. Another thing to nitpick with the visuals is definitely a sign of low budget - some cutscenes are still images with a roll of film filter over them. It fits with the vibe of the game but theres a few instances its used for rather big plot points and idk its not really great but hey what can you do. At least this leads us into our next segment.
very smol spoilers incoming
The story of Bayonetta is... well I don't really know? We've established Bayonetta is an awesome character. The supporting cast is really good. Little Cereza is adorable, Jeanne is a cool rival, Rodan is badass (i love hearing Dave Fennoy's voice) and Luka is a loveable dumbass. But the story itself was really hard to follow. I got the slight jist of it but most of it went way over my head. Fortunately it doesnt matter much but it was kinda hard to get invested when I had no idea what was going on even with all the exposition dumps. I could of course watch a video explaining it but I dont wanna get spoilers for the sequels and that won't really change the initial impression. Despite all of that the game does a great job at showing the scale of your journey through different locations of increasing intrigue and the grand finale being in fucking space is a perfect culmination for such an adventure. I had moments where stupid platforming sections or the confusing narrative made me wonder how much I really liked this game but then it pulls out some beyond my imagination cutscene or throwing in a fucking dance scene (whenever a piece of media throws in one of those it steals my heart) and I remember how much of a treat this game really is. It does fall a bit short of being a true 9/10 for me but I've heard some really great things about the sequel and I'm very excited to see how this series evolves.
I've restarted this review quite a few times over the past few days and i'm still not entirely happy with it but I think I've gotten just about all my thoughts out for this game and I'm ready to move on and see what's ahead of me. Thanks for reading <3
Next up is Escape Academy - and after that maybe Fire Emblem Three Houses. We'll see.
Trophy Completion - 38% (25/51)
Time Played - N/A
Game Completion #139 of 2022
November Completion #5
7 Comments
Agree with everything said here! Glad you loved it, and yes, she takes my #1 spot for characters!
Great review as always, this game was my first foray into more difficult action games and it really prepared me for the rest. I hope you'll like the second, it's a good deal easier (from what I can remember,) and well, it's more Bayo and she's great! Should you stick with the series, you'll have some more dance scenes to get excited for :D I do think some of your criticism's will remain into the next ones though, a lot of what you pointed out are Bayo/Kamiya/Platinum tropes that you see repeated in their games.
PS: Tensely awaiting a FE:TH review... one of my favorites
PS: Tensely awaiting a FE:TH review... one of my favorites
@Assenemy - thanks :p
@EmpoweredEmpress - She's definitely up there for me, can't quite beat Jill Valentine tho
@Weepboop - Even the "easy" action games i've tried have still been pretty hard for me lol. And yeah I'm really excited for 2, especially if its mostly for short hair Bayonetta. More dance scenes sounds fun too, and I definitely plan to stick with them, just bought 3 the other day. Definitely curious if the complaints will still stick out or I grow used to them.
Also yeah, really love what I've played of Three Houses but I've been putting it off for the better part of 2 years lol so I figured I should finally get through with it
@EmpoweredEmpress - She's definitely up there for me, can't quite beat Jill Valentine tho
@Weepboop - Even the "easy" action games i've tried have still been pretty hard for me lol. And yeah I'm really excited for 2, especially if its mostly for short hair Bayonetta. More dance scenes sounds fun too, and I definitely plan to stick with them, just bought 3 the other day. Definitely curious if the complaints will still stick out or I grow used to them.
Also yeah, really love what I've played of Three Houses but I've been putting it off for the better part of 2 years lol so I figured I should finally get through with it
And yet another Bayonetta fan has been born. Looking forward to what you have to say about the rest of the series.
Also 2's difficulty is a lot more balanced, I recommend giving Normal a shot again
Also 2's difficulty is a lot more balanced, I recommend giving Normal a shot again
Yeah makes sense, took me a while to warm up to the curve, but even then its totally up to you whether its worth it or not. Ditdzy is right, difficulty felt waaay more fair in 2, and in 3 even moreso because they don't penalize you for stocking up on recovery items (monetarily, still docks your score I think.) Short hair bayo is :chefskiss: too hah. Looking forward to your reviews of 2 and 3 and everything in between!
thanks you two, normal it will be.
And I hope my reviews continue to not disappoint 🙏
I want to focus more on 2022 games before the year is over, but we'll see how well I can actually stick to that lol
And I hope my reviews continue to not disappoint 🙏
I want to focus more on 2022 games before the year is over, but we'll see how well I can actually stick to that lol
Assenemy
1 year ago