The first thing that really caught my attention is the combat. It’s a character action game similar to Devil May Cry so there will be standard mechanics such as combos, range attacks, and buying new weapons etc. However what made Bayonetta stand out was the unique Witch Time mechanic, which slows down time if you do a perfect dodge from enemy attacks. The mechanic is super useful not only to defeat enemies, but to surpass and solve puzzles during the game’s few moments of not engaging in combat.
Bayonetta is a very over-the-top and stylized game and it uses that to its best advantage at times to create glorious set pieces to battle against boss battles. One of the game’s most common complaints is how QTE-heavy it is and some of them can cause instant death if you miss the QTE. While I personally did not have much of an issue with this, deaths in the game can cause the player to lower their ranking at the end of each chapter. Also, I do like the game is forgiving with player death due to its number of checkpoints you can restart every time the player dies. Making completing the game far less frustrating despite the challenging difficulty at times.
However, one of my biggest complaints is the lack of enemy variety. By the time I was ¾ done with the game, I noticed I kept fighting the same mini bosses I fought 4 chapters ago. Between that and the game’s constant boss galores in chapters, playing Bayonetta felt exhausting and repetitive at times despite the short length and the variety in level design. There are some variations in gameplay that call back from past Sega games from motorcycle driving and bullet hell-like shooting segments. The additional gameplay selections don’t add much for Bayonetta overall but it’s a nice change of pace from the usual hack and slash.
The game still has a wealth of cutscenes for its type of game and the cinematics still holds up visually to this day despite Bayonetta being over a decade old at this point. With its well-choreographed and animated scenes to exaggerate action sequences to deliver the point that Bayonetta….can quite do everything basically, it’s eye candy to watch. The OST also has quite some enjoyable songs that fit with Bayonetta’s aesthetics that go along with a playful and sexual vibe and a complete contrast from other character action games that emphasize dramatic orchestration or heavy metal for their OST.
The overall story is quite iffy despite the fact character action games usually don’t have story as their main focus. While Bayonetta herself is very likable and smug and the supporting cast is solid enough, the overall plot is quite confusing at times with barebones explanations. During my playthrough of the game, half of the time I was wondering why Bayonetta was exactly in the situation she was. There is an overall resemblance of plot near the end of the game, but even then it felt puzzling at best. It’s serviceable enough, especially since it gave Bayonetta an excuse to defeat her enemies in the most amplified methods. But at times I also believe it could have taken advantage of its setting and the bits of lore it has.
Overall despite some of its gameplay and story shortcomings, Bayonetta is still a decently challenging game that aged well and is still a fun and vibrant game to experience and not just gameplay-wise. Bayonetta isn’t my favorite character action game but it’s a very solid first game in the series.
Bayonetta is a very over-the-top and stylized game and it uses that to its best advantage at times to create glorious set pieces to battle against boss battles. One of the game’s most common complaints is how QTE-heavy it is and some of them can cause instant death if you miss the QTE. While I personally did not have much of an issue with this, deaths in the game can cause the player to lower their ranking at the end of each chapter. Also, I do like the game is forgiving with player death due to its number of checkpoints you can restart every time the player dies. Making completing the game far less frustrating despite the challenging difficulty at times.
However, one of my biggest complaints is the lack of enemy variety. By the time I was ¾ done with the game, I noticed I kept fighting the same mini bosses I fought 4 chapters ago. Between that and the game’s constant boss galores in chapters, playing Bayonetta felt exhausting and repetitive at times despite the short length and the variety in level design. There are some variations in gameplay that call back from past Sega games from motorcycle driving and bullet hell-like shooting segments. The additional gameplay selections don’t add much for Bayonetta overall but it’s a nice change of pace from the usual hack and slash.
The game still has a wealth of cutscenes for its type of game and the cinematics still holds up visually to this day despite Bayonetta being over a decade old at this point. With its well-choreographed and animated scenes to exaggerate action sequences to deliver the point that Bayonetta….can quite do everything basically, it’s eye candy to watch. The OST also has quite some enjoyable songs that fit with Bayonetta’s aesthetics that go along with a playful and sexual vibe and a complete contrast from other character action games that emphasize dramatic orchestration or heavy metal for their OST.
The overall story is quite iffy despite the fact character action games usually don’t have story as their main focus. While Bayonetta herself is very likable and smug and the supporting cast is solid enough, the overall plot is quite confusing at times with barebones explanations. During my playthrough of the game, half of the time I was wondering why Bayonetta was exactly in the situation she was. There is an overall resemblance of plot near the end of the game, but even then it felt puzzling at best. It’s serviceable enough, especially since it gave Bayonetta an excuse to defeat her enemies in the most amplified methods. But at times I also believe it could have taken advantage of its setting and the bits of lore it has.
Overall despite some of its gameplay and story shortcomings, Bayonetta is still a decently challenging game that aged well and is still a fun and vibrant game to experience and not just gameplay-wise. Bayonetta isn’t my favorite character action game but it’s a very solid first game in the series.