BAYONETTA is Like Diet Coke (Bayonetta Review)

I've never been a big fan of Diet Coke or anything with diet attached to it. Sure it tastes like normal Coke at first, than a moment later you get that nasty fake sugar after taste. Splenda isn't so splendid. Hedeki Kamiya's newest action-adventure shooter, in my opinion, falls short to the Devil May Cry series. (For those of you wondering which version I played, I played the much criticized PS3 version.) My disappointment in the game doesn't come from the lack of polished graphics. In my opinion there's not a big enough difference in the graphics for me to gripe about which version I'll buy. I do agree that the Xbox 360 version looks 10% better than the PS3 version, but like I said not enough for me to care.

What are the pros of Bayonetta? The combat and combo system is quite fun. Nothing more entertaining than bashing the hell out of these demonic angels. I really like the introduction of the "Witch Time", because it opens a new dynamic of how you fight enemies. Some enemies really require you to thrash them in "Witch Time." If you don't you can be hacking and slashing at them for quite a long time. Plus, I think that slow motion in games is kind of cool. The other thing I like about Bayonetta is the mini game at the end of each chapter called "Angel Attack." Here you play an arcade style shooter where each killed angel has a different score assigned to them. I like this game because if you do well you can get more points to buy upgrades at Rodin's shop, or you can use the said points to buy special power ups that can help you in the next level. Until I got my health gauge to a pretty high level, I had a tendency to buy the limited one level health upgrade.

Why does Bayonetta leave a bad after taste? One of my biggest problems with Bayonetta is the story. It's trying to be an over the top B film. The story is not at all interesting, the stylization sucks, and the corny lines do not sell. One line in particualr made want to hit the mute button, "How do you American's say it, 'Bust a cap in your ass?'." She was trying to be funny in that point in the story, but as a threat or even as a joke I couldn't take her serious. Why have the game run in cool cut scenes and then all of a sudden switch to those stupid film strip stroylines that act like a comic book. These were really annoying in what could have been high action sequences but they got ruined by these still film strip frames. There was no climax for me that's for sure.
Even though, I like the combat and combo system, some things like some of the new weapons and new moves did not add to the experience. To be honest, I pretty much stuck with the katana and witch pistols on my feet until the end of the game. Bayonetta's weapons don't add anything new to the game. It's pretty much the same combo but with a different weapon. You'll pretty much stick with your working combo until the end of the game. Another thing I don't like is how you can't cancel out of an on-going combo when you know an enemy is coming at you from behind. Isn't that what the dodge move is for?
The most useless button in the game is your fire button. As long as you have a gun attached to your hands or feet, this button is useless. It doesn't count toward your combos, so why bother pressing it. I think a block button or something else would have been a lot better.
Finally, what annoyed me more than anything were the sudden action button sequences during cut scenes. One point in the game I didn't even know I was suppose to do something until the game screen said I died. That was a major WTF moment for me. It could have given me an on screen control cue or something.

All-in-all, Bayonetta is much like my analogy of Diet Coke and this game. It taste good and is fun at first, but there's always going to be that terrible after taste. Is this a must buy? No, I really don't think so. It's a game for fans of games like Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden. However, I do think it is worth a weekend rental or a bargain deal buy.

Played the PS3 version of Bayonetta on normal difficulty from beginning until the end. Haven't done a second play through, yet.