When the new year rang in, it became clear that Sega was celebrating 2010 a little more than most publishers. After all, the much anticipated Bayonetta was finally unleashed after being held back for the holidays and the critical reception has been glowing, including the rare 10 out of 10 from Edge Magazine. Yet compared to certain other current-gen hits like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV, the game will no doubt confound non-gamers with its appeal; wives will roll their eyes, girlfriends will leave the room, mothers will be shocked, but gamers will drool.
Let's face facts: most core gamers are still the same boys in their heart of hearts they were when they were 12 years old. When you're that young, things are painted in very broad strokes and entertainment is rarely subtle - Bayonetta fits this bill perfectly, crashing through a plate glass window riding a motorcycle and firing two machine guns. More than any game we've seen since the first Devil May Cry, Bayonetta fulfills this primal gaming libido like few interactive experiences have.
The core of Bayonetta's over-the-stratosphere gameplay is rooted in razor-edge twitch gameplay, very old-school in its own way, yet rife with new-school variety. She's got two big guns [not to mention a pistol in each hand HEYOH! -Ed.] like any good action heroine, but she cranks it up to 11 with guns mounted on her stiletto heels. Punish enemies with a whip, torture them with Medieval contraptions, slow down time, and finish them off using magical hair attacks... teasing gamers by revealing parts of Bayonetta's body, since her skin-tight catsuit is also made out of her hair. It is a collection of fanboy design sketches realized in a fever dream with aplomb.
I have no idea what's going on in this screen shot, but it sure is awesome!
The game's aesthetic and story obviously bows to its mechanics but don't knock the game's eclectic style. The architecture screams out of the screen while the creative enemies are a menagerie of angels, demons and marble statues. It's bombastic and frenetic and, unlike many current gen games, is not colored brown. This is not to mention the countless nods and throwbacks to titles new and old, sure to make gamers giggle the world over.
We haven't even gotten to the embodiment of gamer id: the titular character herself. Bayonetta is almost farcical in her sexuality; the witch looks like a ridiculous hodgepodge of S&M, librarian and goth fantasies. Many games star animated sex dolls, but few can let you dance like a stripper one second and act like a dominatrix the next. Cheap sex appeal has gone hand in hand with gaming for a long time, and Bayonetta embraces this if not celebrates it.
It's difficult to say what, exactly, Bayonetta does so right, but we're pretty sure it has something to do with the part of gamers' brains that debates between ninjas and pirates and likes to quote the movie 300. Tapping into these giddy instincts with panache can be hard, but developers/publishers should take note; to know Bayonetta is to know what makes many gamers tick.
Bayonetta is a Bacchanalian feast in sophomoric gaming excess... and we wouldn't have it any other way.
2 Comments
January 16, 2010
As a long time gamer, much longer than I care to admit, I can say why this game does not speak to me. This gamer likes to be a hero that fights evil and saves the innocent. I know a lot of gamers are not like that and want to be the drug dealer or demon witch that kill the women and children. Then again I am the gamer type that liked the 1st Matrix better than the 2nd 2 movies combined and none of the games based on them.
I am not saying Bayonetta is not a great game, to get scores like it has and speak so clearly to David that it clearly has a voice. But as a long time hardcore gamer, it simply does not have a voice that speaks to this type of gamer.
In the end the measure of how much Bayonetta actually speaks to gamers as a whole will be not by how much it made some gamers drool and wives walk out of the room, but if it effects the industry by its superior game design and/or sales. Much the way great games like Call of Duty, Tomb Raider and GTA have helped shape the direction gaming is going today.
January 20, 2010
"I know a lot of gamers are not like that and want to be... demon witch that kill the women and children."
If you're going to criticize a game, have the courtesy not to make up content that isn't included.
And of course it all comes back to gameplay; it's just that I think the game executes with more panache than other games out there