Cut-scenes that seem almost like satire belie a magnificent game with a sound story and user friendly scaling controls.
Bayonetta is apparently the last surviving member of a clan known as the Umbra Witches. She was imprisoned in a tomb in the bottom of a lake for 500 years. Now that she's been released she suffers from a case of amnesia. Now she seeks to restore her missing past. Apparently the Umbra witches were half of the factions that over-saw the entire world. The other half was a clan called The Lumen Sages. The Lumen worked their magic with the aid of The Light, or Paradiso. The Umbra went to The Darkness or Inferno. These are two of the 3 members of the Trinity of Realities. The 3rd is The Human Realm. There is a 4th realm, a border-world of sorts, known as Purgatorio. Bayonetta's Umbra witch powers make her a resident of this border world. Purgatorio, which is the only realm in which those allied to the darkness and the light can see eachother clearly and neither side can affect the human world, is the staging area for the battle between Bayonetta and Paradiso. As a witch Bayonetta struck deals for her soul with the demons that inhabit The Inferno so she could obtain and command their powers. Now she wars with the forces of Paradiso (Heaven) to keep from being dragged to Inferno as part of her deal. It gets deeper than that, after some playing you ultimately find out what happened to the Umbra and the Lumen. The story is much deeper than that with a sizeable cast of characters and it's hard to explain the story further without spoiling everything so I'm not going to go into anymore detail.
On the surface this game seems like another stylized action game that offers up a shallow story and a few hours of smashing through nameless baddies and huge bosses. This is a half-truth. It's a stylized action game that offers up hours of baddie smashing and outrageous boss-fights with massive, monstrous bosses. The action is somewhat sporadic, interspersed with cut-scenes dripping with so much sexual innuendo; brash, obscene humor; and way-over-the-top violence that it seems to be a satire of action games. However, the story is delightfully deep with some great twists and turns to keep you interested. Of course, the action itself should do that on its own.
The game offers up some puzzle solving elements but it's mostly just finding the nearest object to interact with to open the door or allow you to clear the gap. Let's just say you won't strain yourself or get hung up on seemingly impassable puzzles.
There are also a few levels that have you piloting a vehicle. These are pretty well made (no control flaws or anyting) and do a sound job of breaking up the potential monotony of this title.
The game uses a combo system which has Bayonetta dishing out punishment with a flurry of melee attacks and sprays of hot lead from her firearms. It's a simple, two button system and varying your timing and buttons changes the attacks. All the attacks are highly stylized and are as impressive to watch as they are devastating. Among other things she uses a technique called The Wicked Weave. Her uniform is actually her hair which she can also use as her portal to summon weapons to annihilate her foes. She also has a series of special attacks like Climax attacks in boss fights or Torture Attacks while hacking through cannon-fodder baddies. These are visual masterpieces. Bayonetta cashes in on her bargains with the demons of Inferno and summons things to help her destroy her heavenly foes. During torture attacks you can behead foes in a guillotine or smash them under a demonic spiked wheel. During the climax attacks Bayonetta uses her powers and summons an enormous and destructive demon from her hair to finish of her mortally wounded angelic opposition. The climax and torture attack interfaces are very similar. A counter is displayed with some kind of explosive nomenclature like "megatons" and up. When this appears you either have to frantically mash a button or rotate the left stick to increase the counter. If you can max it out you are awarded with the highest score possible from the move.
There are also a couple of amazing and unique aspects to some boss fights like a boss fight where you have to use two of Bayonetta's demons using one to run the boss into the other. Or when the demon summons a boss crusher that launches the boss towards something to ensure its ultimate doom. There's even one where through a shower of broken glass you control a bullet to make it dodge shards that would deflect it from its goal between the boss' eyes. These are just another set of the refreshing twists in the control scheme that keeps the fighting from getting too repetitive.
But Bayonetta isn't all offense and no defense. She has several techniques to avoid taking or minimizing taken damage. The two most common are her evade and her bat flurry technique. The evade is fairly simple, press the button and a direction and she'll dart in that direction with a stylish, gymnastic flair. Once you acquire the technique, the bat flurry can be used with the same button. If you press it instantly after taking damage Bayonetta splits into a flurry of bats who will then reassemble. This will mitigate the damage that you just took.
What sets the game apart from other action games is its availability to novice players. This game has multiple difficulty levels and these don't just affect things like the enemies and the way they move. Depending on your difficulty level, even the play controls are affected. Lower difficulties mean that not only are enemies easier and hit softer but everything does a lot less damage. Things that would kill better players on better difficulty levels don't bother you at all on the lower settings. I am a bit of novice when it comes to these types of action games. I've never been that good at them and my attempts at other titles like the older Onimusha or Devil May Cry series ended in failure. The games featured what I felt was a steep learning curve that kept me at a distance. Bayonetta's scaling difficulty system makes this game accessible to players like myself. Plus, with the added benefit of awards per level, this game's wonderful scaling play control give this game a respectable level of replayability. Because now more novice players can learn the game at their pace and ease into high diffculties and, even if the Very Easy Automatic setting is as far as they can get, they can still challenge themselves by trying to get the coveted Pure Platinum awards in every stage.
The end of this title is pretty impressive. The game's first mission you can play was the Prologue and the end final mission is the epilogue. The game's ending is incredibly satisfying and, while I don't want to run any spoilers here, I will say that while the ending is the twine that nicely wraps up this impressive package it does beg that you replay it. The massive boss fight and its final resolution are the perfect finish for this game. The rewards are impressive and again help to tempt you to play it again.
My only complaint about this title is so inconsequential that I only print it here because I feel somewhat obligated to mention it. It's the only thing I think could have been a blemish in an otherwise flawless pearl of a game. It just kind of gnaws at me because I feel it shouldn't be a big deal and then I think it's the only thing that kept this game from perfection to me. In most action titles the early cut-scenes are always heavy with combat. This is usually to show you how freakin' awesome the main character is. However, after a short time playing the game the combat in cut-scenes starts to slide so that eventually all they do is set up the fight that you control. Bayonetta doesn't really do this until much much later in the title. And by then it's a bit too little, too late.
Like I said...stupid, paltry complaint with no weight or merit.
:::::::SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT***SPOILER ALERT:::::::
I don't really ruin the story with this spoiler. This spoiler ruins a joke in the title so if you want to get the full impact that the developers intended this joke to have then don't read anymore. I have to do it. I do. Sorry, but at least I warned you. In this game Sega did something I have to salute. I always root for the underdog and Sega has been the underdog for a while, even as a publisher. There is one level that starts with Bayonetta standing a speeding missle and proudly declaring "Welcome to my Pleasure Zone!". Obviously this is a double entendre but, if you add that Sega had a hand in this game, this line should strike a chord with with the old arcade and Genesis gamers. I guess that makes it a triple entendre. That's right! One of the levels of this title is a Space Harrier reference! Of course they spin it all with the Bayonetta theme. It's another excellent twist to break what could have been monotony had this title not been so well made. I have to salute Sega for having the guts to finally throw down with some self-referential humor. It's a refreshing touch that brought a big, stupid smile to my face through the entire stage.