Bayonetta: 10% Plot, 90% Awesome?
While Bayonetta won’t be available to the general public until the fifth, official reviews are already live and teeming with praise. But why? The general consensus is that Bayonetta perfected the combat controls from Devil May Cry and swapped out Dante for a woman wrapped in her own hair. The foot you see above is also made of hair. While I still suspect this game is directed toward people with that kind fetish, the demo went over incredibly well on Xbox live, even though it really does come off as a button masher. A game of this caliber is a pretty big step up for Sega, but a nagging question remains: where the hell is the plot?!
Having tried the demo myself, I found the combat controls to be smooth and quite fun. Actually, I performed worse if I did mash the same buttons over and over again. Bayonetta does require some tactical diversity, but not much. The real kicker (HAH!) is that I have no idea what the hell is going on outside of the opening movie. So Bayonetta is a witch, right? From hell? No. Okay, she’s from… the U.K? Awesome. But really, that’s about it. Even if the city itself they’ve named is made up, props to them for trying to add a sense of realism. The rumors currently swimming across GameStops whisper of a fun, plot-less killfest. This game looks like it may end up a guilty pleasure rather than an innovative, though-provoking digital adventure. Of course, we should have discerned this ages ago when we first viewed the teaser trailer. Clearly, plot can not exist once you strap guns to your high heels.
Despite all this, critics are still grading Bayonetta in the A-range for its combat. Personally, I’ll forgive a game for lackluster plot as long as it makes up for it in game play and graphic quality. Bayonetta actually appears to be step back in visuals, unfortunately. The landscapes are the most crisply rendered and the character herself seems unpolished. I can almost count the pixels. The gray haze that permeates the game seems to make it worse. By attempting to unite all the on screen characters in one dull filter, the visual elements worsen. Matt Leone of 1up claims that the game looks considerably better on the Xbox than the PlayStation 3. Either way you go, though, it’s not incredibly pretty.
I can’t write this game off just yet, even though critics and friends urge me that the missing story elements really make this an empty experience. Judgment day will come soon enough. Like, tomorrow soon.
[Source: 1up]
