Bayonetta kicks ass as always but I also want to make it clear that me giving this game anything less than four stars should say a lot about how negatively I feel towards this game. I'll start with the good. The music is absolutely glorious as always, and visually it looks pretty good. Voice acting is excellent, with the exception of Viola, who sounded iffy at points but was otherwise decent.
The gameplay rules, as expected of a game made by PG. It really feels like they wanted to change up the Bayonetta formula, and I think overall they succeeded. Combat is really fun, and having demonic transformations as well as being able to summon demons at any time (even mid-combo!) rules. Viola was also pretty fun (although she felt a little shoehorned in, she was only playable for three levels), she took a little bit to get used to (and god I wish Witch Time wasn't activated by tightly-timed parries, that sucks) but once I got past the growing pains I found to like her too. Jeanne had a few levels of 2D semi-stealth segments, which I enjoyed a lot. The boss fights were also peak, and I think they're best saved as a surprise. I think that like all of PlatinumGames' best, this is a game you can replay over and over again while also learning something new about it each time. Phenomenal.
Unfortunately, this doesn't extend to the story. It was really not good, honestly. Most PG games have simple but effective stories just in that they're so over the top and goofy it's impossible not to have a good time. They're not typically ones to be taken seriously – with the exception of Astral Chain, which was just a retread of Evangelion (I wasn't a fan of the story of Astral Chain either though, tbh) – but for some reason, they decided that Bayonetta 3 would be a story they would sit down and write as seriously as they possibly could, it felt like. Bayonetta herself even seems pissed and angry all the time for no reason, suppressing a lot of the cheekiness she usually has on display. Aside from that, the story was just pretty nonsensically written, with most stuff happening for no reason at all. I don't know if there's something I'm not getting, but the main antagonist sucked hard. Their goal was to combine all worlds in the multiverse into one, for some reason, and there wasn't any explanation why, or what the purpose was. They just kind of existed to be a final boss, I guess. One returning character is also now a werewolf, for some reason. Viola and Jeanne get completely shafted storywise and are only given three levels each, and are just kind of there in the background. Most of the pre-established lore is also disregarded or completely ignored, with nothing tying in from the other two games. There was also a half-assed romance subplot which showed up at the very end, between two characters who had barely any of that chemistry in previous games; just abysmal.
The TL;DR is that thankfully the gameplay carries hard, but honestly you may as well skip every cutscene or story segment in this game.
The gameplay rules, as expected of a game made by PG. It really feels like they wanted to change up the Bayonetta formula, and I think overall they succeeded. Combat is really fun, and having demonic transformations as well as being able to summon demons at any time (even mid-combo!) rules. Viola was also pretty fun (although she felt a little shoehorned in, she was only playable for three levels), she took a little bit to get used to (and god I wish Witch Time wasn't activated by tightly-timed parries, that sucks) but once I got past the growing pains I found to like her too. Jeanne had a few levels of 2D semi-stealth segments, which I enjoyed a lot. The boss fights were also peak, and I think they're best saved as a surprise. I think that like all of PlatinumGames' best, this is a game you can replay over and over again while also learning something new about it each time. Phenomenal.
Unfortunately, this doesn't extend to the story. It was really not good, honestly. Most PG games have simple but effective stories just in that they're so over the top and goofy it's impossible not to have a good time. They're not typically ones to be taken seriously – with the exception of Astral Chain, which was just a retread of Evangelion (I wasn't a fan of the story of Astral Chain either though, tbh) – but for some reason, they decided that Bayonetta 3 would be a story they would sit down and write as seriously as they possibly could, it felt like. Bayonetta herself even seems pissed and angry all the time for no reason, suppressing a lot of the cheekiness she usually has on display. Aside from that, the story was just pretty nonsensically written, with most stuff happening for no reason at all. I don't know if there's something I'm not getting, but the main antagonist sucked hard. Their goal was to combine all worlds in the multiverse into one, for some reason, and there wasn't any explanation why, or what the purpose was. They just kind of existed to be a final boss, I guess. One returning character is also now a werewolf, for some reason. Viola and Jeanne get completely shafted storywise and are only given three levels each, and are just kind of there in the background. Most of the pre-established lore is also disregarded or completely ignored, with nothing tying in from the other two games. There was also a half-assed romance subplot which showed up at the very end, between two characters who had barely any of that chemistry in previous games; just abysmal.
The TL;DR is that thankfully the gameplay carries hard, but honestly you may as well skip every cutscene or story segment in this game.