Archive for December, 2009

Bayonetta is a new intellectual property that rises from the creator of the Devil May Cry series, and as a result Bayonetta is even more insane and epic with its gameplay set-pieces to the genre its in, but sadly the game also suffers from the same problems that are known in the genre.

Presentation:

Interesting cut-scenes in form of a rolling  film, comic book  esque types and also traditional style of cut-scenes have different effect but also shows different side of the story, the rolling film parts gives you the flashbacks and the amnesia state that Bayonetta is in, the comic books type gives you the more current story and the regular style is to keep everything at flow with the gameplay and it gives something unique to the entire game, sadly the characters, script and story is not interesting by any means, terrible accents and stereotypical characters with over-the-top moments  but its  just not good of a story, and when the main character don’t have any real character, its hard to get attached to the narrative.

Visuals:

A highly sexual protagonist with almost nothing interesting visually to sell.

Special moves and attacks that are being created from Bayonetta’s hair can be a nice change and add something to the concept of the main character and perhaps even the narrative, but its just visually cool not more than that. Environments looks pretty varied and detailed, weapons looks fantastic, enemies looks good and fitting and the gore is just in the right amount.

Sound:

Horrible and stereotypical voice overs, terrible and repetitive music but the weapons sounds great, especially the ones you unlock later on in the game.

Gameplay:

As a 3rd person action hack’n'slash game, the game works good, the known open world linear structure from the Devil May Cry series is back, and its great, the known factor of being stuck in one area until you kill the number of enemies the game is throwing at you work, the game also have small parts for exploration to find extra halo’s (the currency in the game) or to find extra LP’s to unlock extra weapons at the store that is available in the game, which adds something to the narrative, unlike DMC, the game have small yet noticeable transition to the narrative in the shop, that adds alot, even if the narrative is not that appealing or interesting.

Using the Evade button will give you the opportunity  to use slow-motion in the game called “Witch Time”, which allows you to tackle enemies faster and cause big damage to bigger enemies that you will encounter, the problem with the ability is that the game after a certain chapter, forces you to evade and counter to attack the enemy at all, and it breaks the crazy and generally flowing game, the second problem with the ability, is that the mechanics and the detection to use the slow-motion is not perfect, the games takes perfect timing to counter, in a normal game it wouldn’t be a problem to just adapt to it, but in the genre of hack’n'slash, where the camera can be an issue, its unbearable, especially with some of the weird environments design to some of the levels.

On top of the evade mechanics, holding B or Y will result shooting with pistols on your legs or special position with your hands(B for legs Y for hands), there are some camera issues with rotating the left analog and shooting with the B button mechanics, but it works ok with the Y.

One of the problems with the game is the boring regular enemies, while the bosses are  pretty good and epic, also having enemies dropping their  weapons and picking them up adds another layer of depth and fun to experiment and try different types.

Torture rack attacks can be activated once filling a special meter, with killing a set number or enemies or doing long combos and you’ll have a small sequence of pressing usually one button to get more points and have something crazy to see visually with the kill.

 Air and “hair” combos all work pretty decent, but  some of the animations cutting\transition have some  problems (exp, pressing Y Y Y and  B as one stretch can be an upset).

Walking on walls work decent,  but it feels contrived with specific  missions, areas or challenges, also the small puzzles when you’re needed to use slow-motion to pass a certain part in timed place.

*The  game is easy if you get the mechanics but if you are new to the genre it wont be as easy as you think, part of the challenge appear  when the game have at least 5 enemies or more, and its  not working that well especially as mentioned where you have to counter each enemy and use the Witch Time. Big bosses encounters can be tough but only if you are not recognizing the patterns.

Pros and Cons:

Pros:

Crazy and epic boss battles that really get you in the game.

Great weapons and combos, even if its not the smoothest transition sometimes.

Great variety with the different unlock-able weapons (each weapon that you unlock\discover in the story will have a different vibe to the fighting, whether its the gameplay or visually).

Cons:

Unappealing and just horrible characters with a really dull story.

Loading times take you out of the immediate immersion. 

Locked difficulties is a bad choice, especially for the fans of the series\genre that would like to start on harder difficulties.

Some of the mechanics don’t work perfectly, but if the fast adaption is there, it will be less of a problem.

Some of the mission design is really bad, they are not fun or interesting, frustrating is the best way to describe them.

Camera issues are known to this genre, and it is still there as a problem, but knocking the entire game on that problem is not a fair thing to do, but mentioning them is fair.

Conclusion:

Bayonetta is a great game for the genre, it adds a lot of depth that was needed, and it also ups the ante with the craziness of the enemies and bosses, sadly it also doesn’t change the core problems with the genre, and specifically the Devil May Cry series, this is really a game for the lovers of the genre, if you have any interest in the characters or the premise, you might like it because visually everything is blowing up, dying or your just having alot to see, but the problems are the known problems in the genre, if you never played a game like Devil May Cry but you are interested in Bayonettas character, be aware that the game is not easy to adapt, especially in the later levels.

Scoring:

Presentation:

7 Its high just because the actual design and style works and looks great, sadly everything else is terrible.

Visuals:

8.0 The game looks good overall, there is alot going on screen with no frame problems (played on the xbox 360 version, it seems that  the PS3 version suffers from technical issues and frame drops), weapons and enemies looks great.

Sound:

5  Terrible accents and voice overs, and even though  the weapons sounds great, its just not enough.

Gameplay:

7.2  The core gameplay and new mechanics can work but not always, the crazy combo system is easy and works well overall, the game is fun when you have a flow, but the game have flaws that stop the flow every once in a while, that takes you out of the immersion of the game, also some of the mission design can be frustrating.

Replay Value:

6  The game can take you around 10 hours or more, depending on skill and adaption level, any sense or need for exploration and if there is any interest to get the best scoring for performance, online  leader boards are an interesting choice to have.

Final Score:

7.2  Bayonetta is a good effort to give something new and unique to the genre, especially when its coming from the maker of DMC, but sadly its not all there, some of the mechanics are a big problem, and even though the camera issues are notorious for the genre, some moments will really frustrate you because of it.