Van Redd Reviews Bayonetta

[Van Redd]

This game has some sort of mental disorder when it comes to narrative. It does things to prose that are better left to "behind the curtain movies" (porn if your slow). I have never met the creator, Hideki Kamiya, but I must assume he must be a rambling, foaming at the mouth, madman...he may or may not even soil himself as he programs. While that may be the case, the man knows how to make an action game.

This game has some of the weirdest cut scenes you will ever watch. Some are the normal nonsense you would expect form this sort of game but a LARGE number of them are weird anime like still shots of the characters posing and talking at each other without moving....except that elements of their cloths are swaying in the wind. It is odd to say the least. Be prepared to honestly have no clue what the hell is going on most of the time.

Let us be clear, this is from the guy who came up with Devil May Cry. You will know this because when you play it you will realize that you ARE playing Devil May Cry. This game is the true spiritual successor to DMC. So spiritual, in fact, that it possessed it violently. You have the same bare-knuckle gameplay of combos and learning the timing of enemy maneuvers. You are still dodging like a madman. You still get new weapons left and right. It has been polished very well, and except for a few camera issues you will not find much to complain about. Even the difficulty has been streamlined. You get fairly good checkpoints for continues so you can make it though the game before you try to go back and get better scores.

Make no mistake, that is what this game is all about. You will pay almost zero attention to any story elements...the draw here is to get good, get better, and get medals. The combat is fast and exhilarating. It is all based around dodging and weaving while keeping your combos going and avoiding getting hit. On normal the intensity cranks up rather fast which will be a wall to a lot of players new to the genre, but the inclusion of two easier modes helps this.

Enemy designes are interesting. They boil down to being angelic interpretations of the standard demon fare that litters the DMC games. They are all animated excellently and there is a lot of variety of types. This game looks great but at least on the 360 I noticed the occasional screen tearing during jumps from time to time.

BOTTOM LINE: If you want a really great, well balanced action game then this is it.

[bluemanrule]

Nice review. I've been waiting on reviews and an Amazon price drop for this game. It and mass Effect are the only 2 games I'll buy in Jan. Thanks for the heads up. I just wish the story elements were rather coherent and intriguing.

Update: After finishing the game, I thought the story was what you expect from Kamiya. It was fleshed out but just in an outdated method (text-only codex entries). Thanks for the review.

BTW, I enjoyed our XBL party the other night. That was fun. Keep your reviews coming.

[Zoyd]

This game is the true spiritual successor to DMC. So spiritual, in fact, that it possessed it violently.

I like that.

I've been looking at this game, wondering about it. Giant Bomb gave it a good review, too. I've always been more of a Ninja Gaiden guy than a DMC guy, but this is starting to look like it needs renting. I'll be checking it out. Thanks, Van.

[Mishra]

Just from what I've seen of videos & playing the demo, it's definitely worth a rental!