At first glance, Bayonetta seems like it has the perfect formula for the best action game ever. It’s got a sexy, badass protagonist, over-the-top combat, and to top it off, its creative director is Hideki Kamiya, the man behind the original Devil May Cry. All of these components have come together to make something truly special.

Bayonetta is simply an amazing action game. The level of polish never ceased to impress me. The combat system is the epitome of what every Devil May Cry game has strived to be and more. The combat animations are super smooth, flowing from combo to combo almost seamlessly. There is nothing more satisfying than watching Bayonetta toss her foe up into the air with a quick punch, fill him full of bullets, and finish him off with a gigantic, demonic heel made out of hair.

Like DMC, Bayonetta’s combat is a fluid combination of ranged gunfights and intense melee fighting. The more complex combos are extremely tricky to pull off and require near-perfect timing, but always reward you with some absurd, over-the-top animation. The pure absurdity of the combat is hilarious. Bayonetta summons demons from hell to devour her foes… with her hair! Her hair, which is also her clothing, opens a portal to hell and takes the form of an enormous demon that beats the living hell out of bosses.

Rather than blocking, Bayonetta expects the player to dodge incoming attacks. Pulling the right trigger at just the right second triggers “Witch Time”, which slows down all of your enemies for a moment, letting you get in one or two of those killer combos. This system makes the combat a lot more fun. There’s nothing quite as fun as slowing time at just the right moment and unleashing a huge combo or torture attack.

There are quick time events, but they aren’t implemented in an annoying way. I don’t mind mashing on the X button fifty times if it means that I get to summon a giant demonic crow made of hair to peck out the eyes of my foes or throw an angelic minion into the iron maiden and crush him to death.

Building up combos fills up Bayonetta’s magic meter which, when full, lets you unleash “torture attacks” on your enemies. These high damage attacks let Bayonetta summon torture and execution devices such as iron maidens and guillotines to punish your angelic foes. These are some of the craziest attacks in the game, and they are extremely entertaining to watch.

Different weapons are unlocked as you play through, and they can change up the pace and style of the combat dramatically. Bayonetta always has two weapons equipped at once; one set of ranged weapons attached to her heels and one being held. Mixing and matching weapons is a great way to find a combat style that fits the way you want to play. The player is able to swap between two custom weapon sets during combat, which adds another level of fluidity to the action. Encounters and the tactics required to survive them are changed up often, and I loved being able to quickly swap between a short range, high damage weapon for taking on the big, tough enemies and a fast, long range weapon for dealing with the weaker, more numerous foes.

The bosses are simply incredible. Not since God of War 2 have I been so impressed with the scale of a boss battle. For example, in one of the fights about half-way through the game, you fight a wind-based boss in the middle of a raging tornado, dodging rocks, riding pieces of debris, and avoiding fireballs all while trying to inflict damage on the monstrous foe. Most of the bosses are so large that Bayonetta actually can run along their arms and legs, inflicting damage at weak points before jumping to safety. Also worth noting are the boss fights with Bayonetta’s rival (and dare I say equal), Jeanne. These are the most fast-paced fights and they require sharp reflexes and lightning fast combos, but are some of the most fun encounters in the whole game.

The story sequences that break up the action feel like they get in the way more than anything else. The story is fairly uninteresting, which is a bit of a let down considering how excellent the rest of the game is. The jokes fall flat, and there is almost no character development. I can’t remember watching a single cutscene and actually being interested in the story. But, when it comes to a game like Bayonetta, you don’t play it for the story. You play it for the action, and thankfully the insane action is where Bayonetta shines.

Bayonetta took me around fifteen hours to beat, which is about twice as long as the average action game. Even after fifteen odd hours of hacking, slashing, and hair-demon summoning, I still found myself wanting more of Bayonetta’s addictive combat and insane style.

The over-the-top combat paired up with impressive visuals and ridiculous combos and finishing moves combine to make one of the best action games this generation, and earning Bayonetta her place beside Dante and Kratos. While it may not do a lot of new things, Bayonetta’s near perfect combat, stylish visuals, and intense boss fights make it one of the greatest games of its kind, and an instant classic. Bayonetta is one of those timeless games that you will be able to go back to years from now and it will still feel fresh. I cannot recommend Bayonetta strongly enough, and fans of the action genre owe it to themselves to check this one out.

This review is based on the Xbox 360 version of Bayonetta provided to us by SEGA.

Tags: action, Bayonetta, Hack and Slash, Platinum Games, ps3, Sega, Xbox 360

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 8:31 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.