Bayo3 is sort of a mess, but it's a mess with lots of greatness and an unfortunate amount of mixed-ness. When this game is letting you play as Bayonetta herself and fighting silly monsters- this is the best she's ever been. It's so unbelievably fun to play and the amount of variety added here by the weapon system and everything new is fantastic. I couldn't get enough. In fact, I wish there was more. My biggest problem with this game is that it tries to be ambitious to both a great strength but also its biggest fault. It feels like it needs to try out as many ideas as it can and provide insane set pieces at the cost of taking away from the heart and soul of the standard combat. The big kaiju battles and chases, on-rails shooting sections, sidescrolling levels, etc. all have some novelty but I can't help but feel the game would be more fun overall if I was Bayonetta fighting a big monster, not a big monster fighting a big monster, etc. There is some fun variety as there is in every Bayonetta game- I think that viola has a sharp learning curve but is quite fun in moderation, as an example, but it just doesn't feel like they took moderation into account. To me, there are two things I love from the Bayonetta games- great combat and silly nonsense. Bayonetta 2 was so tightly crafted with combat but its setting and character moments felt very bland. This time around, there's so much silly spectacle, but just not enough of that combat. Outside of the combat, this game is undeniably of high quality with a great soundtrack, art direction, location variety, replay value, bonus content, skill system, and charm. I have some gripes with the storytelling and the aforementioned gameplay unfocus, but theres a great time to be had here despite its very prevalent faults.