At first glimpse (and wholly to my dismay), this game looked like the usual excuse for gamers to oogle and fantasize about another female heroine. The sexual innuendo tied to the marketing campaign left me pretty disinterested in the idea behind the game. When my review copy arrived I had nothing but the faith in the Devil May Cry creator to motivate me to open this title. And much to my surprise this game has loads of depth, that drive way past the sexual ocean the main character pours out.

Bayonetta opens with the usual combat tutorial twisted into the story. You are summoning angels for an an undisclosed purpose, which is soon revealed as their dismemberment. A few minutes into the tutorial I was already in love with the slick combat system. Simply using the the Y button for punches, the B button for kicks, the x for guns, and your right trigger for dodges/counters. During all load screens you are handed lists of your possible combos and an opportunity to practice them. I can’t stress how much I enjoy practicing up on the load screens for the next fight. The combo system also exhibits something that I haven’t seen in many games of this genre. You are allowed to basically change your mind during a combo, either by pressing the dodge button, or simply pressing another attack to change it up. The combat system in Bayonetta is one of the most polished combat systems I have ever played. It tops any other action game of this type. I’m a huge proponent of Devil May Cry, and I love God of War, but even they didn’t feel this fluid during combat.
Moving forward through the story you collect rings (thanks sega) which can be spent on upgrades to your weapons, techniques, or purchase items to help you survive the game. Item’s can also be brewed using your alchemy abilities, blending items you find into different lollipops for health, magic, invincibility etc. The system is limited but adds a cool angle to the game, allowing you to brew what you need on the fly (provided you collect enough of the appropriate items.) Graphically the game looks fabulous, at least on 360. For the first time ever I can confidently say that a game looks better on the Xbox. Whatever switch flipped during the ps3 development should be unflipped. The visuals on ps3 look cloudy, muddy even. And it pauses slightly for 1-2 seconds any time you pick up an item, open a door, move into a new area.. Pretty much do anything that doesn’t affect game play on the 360. Every other aspect of the game performs just fine, and the combos system still flows perfectly. If you can handle the wierd pausing and the blur then the Playstation version is just fine.

Keeping on par with most action games, the story to Bayonetta does feel a bit thin. Tho offering a cool character with a creative idea, more than 70% of the way through I was still mildy confused as to why I was storming the gates of heaven. I was aware that she wanted to know her past and who she was, and also why the small child called her mummy. I just didn’t find myself motivated to find out. I only wanted to slaughter more angels, whether it be with my stiletto gun, fists, or finishing them with torture attacks. THESE ARE SERIOUSLY COOL, whether shoving them into the iron maiden, stretching them across the rack, using the guillotine, or even dropping a giant spike wheel on their heads. Bayonetta leaves nothing to the imagination for creatively killing the enemy, and in doing so kept me cranking excitedly through every level. With 8-12 hours of game play on normal, and plenty of reasons to play through the game a second time. Bayonetta is a great addition to the collection of any action enthusiast. Read more about the ESRB info here

Loved:

• Absolutely beautiful combat system, the best I have seen in any action game.
• A cool take on the heaven and hell battle story, the angels looked like a cool blend of catholic cherubs and egyptian gods.
• ACTION ACTION ACTION
• A simple item creation system that makes the game survivable in the heat of combat.
• Torture kills that get more creative with every new angel you battle.

Hated:

• The Playstation 3 version not performing as well as the 360 version, why can’t people make them work the same?
• At times the sexual innuendo is so over the top that it’s obnoxiously cheesy, and hard to take seriously
• The way she walks.. the run is fine the walk is irritating, who walks like that.

Score:

XBOX	PS3
Graphics – 10 Gameplay – 10 Replay – 9 Audio – 10 Overall – 9.75	Graphics – 9 Gameplay – 9 Replay – 9 Audio – 10 Overall – 9.25