by Wade Manns – The Corsair
Bayonetta
by SEGA and Platinum Games
Players: 1
Genre: Third-person action
Rating: Mature for blood and gore, intense violence, partial nudity, strong language, suggestive themes
Release 1/05/10
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One genre of video games that I didn’t really think I’d be into is the twitch action genre; in this genre, the player must make split-second decisions to ensure his survival. My coordination doesn’t usually allow me to enjoy those games, but in rare cases a game breaks through the mold and keeps me interested. Hideki Kamiya, maker of two of my favorite game series, Devil May Cry and Resident Evil, has again brought hope to my reflexes with “Bayonetta.”
The protagonist in this game is the eponymous Bayonetta, a 500-plus year old witch (not looking a day over 25) risen after a civil war between her clan, the Umbra Witches and their rivals, the Lumen Sages, sent her into a long slumber in a coffin at the bottom of a lake. Bayonetta, like others of her kind, has made contracts with unholy forces; the rules of her world state that because of this, she is condemned to Inferno. This also means that once she rises, she is the target of a myriad of attacks from the angels of Paradiso, who keep trying to send her where they feel she belongs. Fortunately, her compatriots are never far behind her; in fact, they’re in her hair.
Bayonetta’s “costume” (which looks like ostensibly shiny black leather), is actually cleverly manipulated hair, which she also uses to summon forth her infernal allies, in a technique known as the Wicked Weave. She uses this technique to send those angels foolhardy enough to confront her (who are not necessarily beautiful in form), packing back to Paradiso. She wants the companion piece to her large medallion which she always wears; together forming the Eyes of the World, a quarter of the way through the story, they seem to be a MacGuffin, a plot device the functioning of which is not important but serves as the impetus for the journey.
Bayonetta often finds herself in the city of Vigrid; there, she’s been told, are clues to restore her faded memory. Vigrid is crowded with people; however, they don’t see her, and we only see their shadows, because Bayonetta is almost always in Purgatorio (the parallel dimension in which she fights the angels who try to kill her) and cannot interfere in their affairs.
Aiding Bayonetta on her journey is her bumbling underworld contact, comic relief Enzo, as well as a Samuel L. Jackson wannabe: bald, trash-talking arms dealer, Rodin. Against her, amongst the many angels, are the four representations of the Cardinal Virtues; they take the form of epic boss battles at the end of every quarter of the game. Her main rival, Jeanne, the possessor of the other Eye of the World, shows up to harass her at several points.
The game has a very music-and-candy-oriented slant; Bayonetta bounces and whirls hypnotically through her attacks, and cutscenes showing off her dancing abilities are common. CDs (or pieces of them) acquired from mini-bosses may be redeemed at Rodin’s for new weapons, and many of the items Bayonetta uses for recovery or augmentation take the form of lollipops or other confections.
The entire game does not really take itself seriously, from its storyline to its flippant yet alluring protagonist and solid supporting characters. The combat is satisfying, the story ridiculously cheesy, and the visuals great. The only minor gripe I may have about the game is that the camera often focuses on the latest and greatest spectacle, of which there are many, rather on what I need it to focus on, namely the ground around Bayonetta and where I need to go next. This doesn’t stop me from giving the game five out of five stars.