It's pretty hard to believe that "Bayonetta" has now been out for 11 years (10 in the US). It's probably also hard to believe that I didn't play the game myself until the 2018 re-release on the Switch. I remember watching my brother play it in small increments back in 2010 on the Xbox 360, but since I was feeding my "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" obsession at the time, I myself didn't play it when it was big back then. However, after a number of people very highly recommended it to me, I had to give it a shot. And I must say, I was extremely impressed.
"Bayonetta" is incredibly fast-paced; being an action game, that should be a given, but the game never ceases to be exciting. Even in some of its "slower" moments, the game is fun and exciting. The bigger moments are where things pick up even more, with some really fantastic boss fights that only serve to make the game even better. The combat in the game is also extremely fluid (aided by the Switch port running at a smooth 60 FPS) and the "Witch Time" mechanic adds an amazing layer to the gameplay, allowing for more strategy, but also for more unique ways of going about things. While the visuals may show their age just a bit, they still look pretty good (especially when you consider it HAS been out for over a decade now), and while the story may be pretty off the wall (it's about a witch who kills angels, do you expect Dickens here?), the bonkers nature of it manages to keep things pretty interesting.
The only things holding the game back from being a 10 is that the instafail Quick Time Events can be a bit frustrating to deal with (I get QTEs are supposed to be fast, but THIS fast?), and the game can feel like it relies a bit too much on button mashing at times. Also, I don't know what it is, but when it comes to giving 10 out of 10 scores, I feel like a game needs to have that unexplainable "something" that makes it a 10, and I unfortunately didn't really find that in "Bayonetta." Maybe it was caused by the slight reliance on button mashing or the frustrating QTEs, but I felt there was just something holding it back from being a 10.
Don't let that fool you, though, "Bayonetta" really is an amazing (and criminally underrated) game. How this sold over a million copies but still didn't meet expectations is beyond me, because it really deserved far better. Now that it's on the Switch, though, there's yet another opportunity to try this game if you missed out on either the original release in 2010, the Wii U port in 2014 or the PC port in 2017 (and hey, there's also the recent PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions, too!). There are a lot of different ways to play it, so if you haven't already, give it a shot! You won't be disappointed!
Final rating: 9 out of 10 "Awesome"