Myviewing

User Score
9.5

Presentation - 9.1
Gameplay - 9.7
Value - 9.7

Platinum Games despite its great reputation among the most hardcore of gamers everywhere, almost every game has failed to do well on a commercial level.  Ranging from Viewtiful Joe to Madworld, one can find a good track record among Platinum Games’ beginnings as Clover Studios to their current situation.  Despite continued failures to be commercial hits, they continue to provide great games to this day.  This year though, there is now a new contribution to the gaming community in the form of Bayonetta.  With a hot chick on the cover, the premise of fighting against angels, over the top action sequences, there isn’t much to go against when the concept is brought on paper, but it’s all just a question of whether or not the game is truly worth picking up at the $60 price tag.  And having played from experience, I can easily say that Bayonetta is a very promising new IP that will hopefully provide a new franchise for Platinum Games.
               

The main concept behind Bayonetta is one that involves the main character named (what else?) Bayonetta.  Bayonetta is an Umbra Wtich who has lost all memory of her past and is reawakened to be dragged into a battle between the forces of Heaven and Hell that is continuously being fought on the mortal plane.  If the story is not making much sense at this point, then you have a pretty good idea of how it is that the story is going to present.  The story doesn’t rely on that much narrative and sacrifices this in favor of crazy over the top action that would make the most crazy-for-action Hollywood director jealous.  This of course is all a good thing in the video game world since gameplay is always the main factor to what makes a game good.  Besides, the story itself isn’t too badly told and the wacky presentation will get you some laughs and giggles every now and then, and you’ll find some fairly memorable characters all along this wacky road.
               

In terms of graphics, Bayonetta shows that it is nothing short of a next generation game if not a bar raising example of gaming to date.  The style and art direction is something very eye pleasing and there are very few if any technical problems that are present throughout the game.  There are some frame rate issues, but this very happens if ever and rarely affects the flow of the game (I have heard this is different on the Playstation 3 version, but I can’t say for myself.).  The only major drawback is that some of the cut scenes are told in stills instead of pre-rendered ones that flow rather inconsistently with how good looking the game really is.
               

The sound department is pretty much on the same level be it the music, the voice acting, and the sound effects.  The sound effects all sound like they should and there’s never any sound tearing or jumps that go against the flow of the game.  Chances are you’d probably think an English woman giving out dialogue from a woman who resembles a hot version of Sarah Palin wouldn’t be ear pleasing or consistent, but against all imagination it actually does manage to work quite well.  Hellena Taylor gives Bayonetta a voice that definitely shouldn’t be replaced anytime soon, and does very well with the script be it from serious lines to one liners like, “You want to touch me?”  The rest of the cast is also just serviceable at worst and there’s never any voices that I would call ear wrenching or even forgettable.  For purists of Japanese material out there, from what I have seen there really isn’t any way to activate Japanese voices, so hopefully you’ll be able to sit through that if at all.  The music is well done and is quite a different experience from soundtracks such as Devil May Cry.  There’s no heavy metal soundtracks, rather an upbeat and catchy series of tunes with female choirs, all of which will be quite memorable for the eardrums. 
               

Obviously the presentation all seems to be well and good when you’re talking about Bayonetta at all, but gameplay is probably what your trying to find out about at this point.  You may have heard from various reviewers that Bayonetta is a definitive action game that beats out everything from Devil May Cry to God of War.  Overall, it’s pretty easy to see how that is the case, this game being one of the smoothest and most varied action titles that you’ll play in the most recent years.  You obviously play as Bayonetta through pretty much all of the game who attacks her enemies with her hair (Yes.  This game is officially Japanese.) and gun heels.  Her hair is able to transform her into a panther or a crow or just use regular melee attacks along with the option to use unique weapons that you can pick up through the battlefield.  The melee attacks are all capable of making a ton of different combos that are always the result of button mashing fare along with aerial based combos.  This happens throughout every level and the boss battles manage to convey an epic sense of what Bayonetta is facing and their freaky designs all fit with the forces of Heaven Bayonetta faces.  
               

Outside of the main combat that is presented in Bayonetta, there are also combat challenges you can find throughout the levels, upgrades, or finding hidden levels.  The exploration in the levels manage to be a step up from other action games such as Devil May Cry, though it still feels rather limiting in terms of invisible walls and such.  All of this makes Bayonetta a smooth and action packed game that will easily leave you playing for many hours on end.
               

Bayonetta in terms of length is about 12 hours to beat which isn’t a bad deal for the price tag at the current time.  When you take that into consideration and the many deeper features to find throughout the game though, you’ll find that there is much to find throughout the game be it in terms of replay value or hidden features, from the hidden bosses, bonus costumes, gallery, the attempts to get the best combat system out there, this just about triples all of Bayonetta’s length to make for an even greater purchase.  Overall, if you ever liked the concept behind Bayonetta in the first place, then you certainly won’t be making a mistake with making this great action game your next purchase.  If you ever had doubts prior to what the games concepts were, you certainly don’t have anything to worry about since it does have a ton of content along with fan service.  At the end of the overview of a well done game such as this, Bayonetta is a great way to kick of one of the best years in gaming to date and is very much worth a purchase at the current price tag, an you’ll only have more incentive to make a purchase with the price drops that happen in the future.  Hopefully if Bayonetta manages to be commercially successful, this will not only present a new future for Platinum Games, but an awesome new franchise for gamers to enjoy.