Format: Xbox 360
Developer: Platinum Games
Publisher: Sega
Release: January 2010
Now, I don’t know if you know this (err…), but I’m a bit of a Devil May Cry fan. I bought a PS2 solely for the original Devil May Cry, I put myself through the torture that was through Devil May Cry 2, I loved Devil May Cry 3 to absolute bits, and I put up with Nero as much as I had to in Devil May Cry 4. “But this isn’t Devil May Cry 5!” I hear you say. No it’s not, you’re right – it’s not even a spin-off of the Devil May Cry series. But it was created by some of the same minds behind the original DMC game, and if this isn’t a continuation of their devotion to the “Stylish Action” genre (of which, the Devil May Cry series was probably the only denizen, God Hand a next-door neighbour) then I’m a giant lava spider.
As far as the storyline itself goes, it’s standard fare. Deranged bad-guy wants to kick-start a new reality and (as we all know) you can only do that by wiping the existing one. You, as Bayonetta, have to stop him. There were some neat little diversions from this story-telling norm, such as Cereza, who was (I think) actually a younger version of Bayonetta herself who had been brought to the present from the past – I made the mistake of skipping most cut-scenes after a few seconds the first time around as I found them to be far too long-winded – But as the story became more interesting towards the end I stuck with them, even going right back and replaying earlier levels to see scenes that I’d missed, so I may have picked up some things out of the proper order. One strange thing: I find myself holding the right trigger and tapping the back whenever I’m confronted by a cut-scene in every game now.
While all the characters are very well fleshed out, Bayonetta herself steals the show – her vibrant personality shines through her total amnesia. She has a line for every situation, a quip for every occasion, a scathing put-down for every cherub faced enemy, a little wink for the camera every time she lands a certain attack and ends up on her back, legs akimbo. It is little wonder she feels like “a fucking celebrity in this town” – I wouldn’t be surprised if the real reason everyone knows of her is that they can see her ego for miles around. It’s almost as if the game is an attention whore as well, always throwing more enemies, more set-pieces and more huge bosses at you. It doesn’t want you to look away from the screen for a second: Between chapters you are offered a simple shooting game in which a sharp eye is rewarded with extra health or booster items for the next level, and where other games would show you a “Now loading…” screen, Bayonetta decides to keep this behind the scenes and you are invited to hone your skills in the practise mode.
Weapons, weapons, weapons. Bayonetta may have tonnes of them to choose from, but it’s the methods used in their selection and their unique traits that really made the combat interesting for me. You can have two sets of weapons to choose from at any point – each made up of a weapon or pair of weapons in your hands and a pair of weapons on your feet – one button press instantly switches between them, even mid-combo. The two button control scheme is deceptively simple, with one button controlling the use of the weapons in your hands and the other governing the weapons bound to your ankles – but the sheer amount of combos that you can produce just by combining these two buttons is very impressive.
In addition to this, holding one of the two attack buttons instead of releasing it (at the start of a combo, at the end, during, it doesn’t matter) elongates the attack with the weapons unique trait. For firearms this generally means they shoot. They shoot a lot. Pistols fire rapid bursts of bullets and shotguns fire with less delay between shots. Melee weapons are more diverse in their effects. The whip, Kulshedra, reaches out and snags enemies, dragging them closer for more punishment. Durga – a pair of claws that you can switch between fire and electric elements – can be devastating, quickly charging up then discharging a mass of shocking energy or slowly generating a fiery skull which explodes.
This combination of hot-switching and weapon diversity leads to some crazy stunts, such as starting a fast punchy combo with electric Durga in your hands, sending an enemy flying into the distance, then holding the feet attack button with some Durga claws set to fire, building up a scorching skull, switch to Kulshedra and drag them back to you just as the fiery skull explodes, but you quickly catch them in place by freezing them with Odette, then finish them off by summoning a massive demonic leg to kick them to pieces. Massive damage. In some respects, this approach has impressed me more than Devil May Cry’s combat mechanic. My mind boggles at the amount of thought and planning that went into making sure all the weapons complement, yet contrast with each other, and I would probably go so far as to say that although the combat in Bayonetta is a hell of a lot more over the top, it is possibly more appealing for newcomers to the genre than Devil May Cry’s, as it is more approachable and simple to grasp.
Odette was probably my favourite weapon. Despite them having no use at long range, the increased moving speed and ability to turn enemies into huge blocks of ice more than made up for their lack of distance. It seems so obvious now that the weapon I’d been waiting for my whole life was a pair of ice-skates. I also really enjoyed using Sai Fung (think shotguns attached by a small chain – gun-chucks, if you will), but feel they were unlocked far too late into the game. To be honest I never touched some of the weapons, except initially to see what they looked like and what effect they had on combat. There were too many pointless variations, for example I never once seriously considered using the normal, non-magic handguns or the Bazillions and Pillow Talk seemed a weaker Shuraba variant, albeit with prettier visuals.
As if that’s not enough, Bayonetta has more subtle tricks up her sleeve. She usually finishes her combos with giant fists or feet summoned from Inferno and given form by her hair: they strike her enemies a powerful blow. Witch Time, activated when you dodge an attack at the very last instant, slows your enemies and hopefully lets you finish them off quicker while they can’t fight back so much. While I did at first use the Devil May Cry method of holding the lock-on bumper and tapping jump to dodge, I soon dropped that habit and used the button that Platinum Games had so thoughtfully dedicated to dodging – I thought it would be too easy to use this exclusively, but it actually feels more natural having swift access to activating Witch Time. The difficulty comes in timing it so you dodge enemy attacks at the last moment, not the button combination.
Torture Attacks kill most enemies in one go: Once you have generated enough Magic through stylish combat, timely dodging and maybe using the odd taunt here and there, you are given the option to call upon some arcane machinery which you can use to decapitate enemies (after slapping their arse first, of course), grind them into the ground with huge, spiked wheels or in the case of bosses, summon demonic creatures from Inferno, such as the dragon-like Gomorrah, the huge spider Phantasmaraneae or, as Alisdair from the forum described, the Climax Chicken.
All this would be for nought if the enemies you unleashed this power upon were forgettable though. Far from it, the opposition are beautifully designed, putting me in mind of the Renaissance, particularly Michelangelo. Most “Servants of Heaven” have the look of the elegant and muscular statues we all recognise, but with modern twists. For example, Fortitudo has a large cherubim face set upside down on it’s body and two large serpent-like creatures it uses as arms – not something you’d likely see in a gallery of 16th century masterworks – but the influence is there. Not only that, but levels themselves are a masterclass. Constantly shifting your perceptions, one minute you running up walls and ceilings (all the while fighting enemies), the next you are navigating angelic walkways that wind around familiar paths, keeping things fresh. The music was suitably epic for the most part, but if I’m honest, by the end of the game I found that two of the musical tracks – the main Bayonetta theme (Mysterious Destiny) and Fly Me To The Moon (∞ Climax Mix) – really annoyed me.
Bayonetta could possibly be described as a collection of memorable moments. The ethereal butterfly wings that sprout when she double-jumps. The way that taunted, enraged enemies are indicated by fiery red halos. Using her middle finger to kick-start a motorcycle. The first time she morphs into a panther for faster movement. The gasoline fizzling out at the end of the Temperatia confrontation. That poor cherub statue’s penis. Finishing off Baldur with a lipstick headshot. Throwing the final boss into the heart of the sun. There are a fair amount of subtle nods to other games in there too, my favourites being Viewtiful Joe (Red-Hot Shot), Resident Evil (Whad’r’ya buyin’?) and Devil May Cry (Let’s rock, baby!). Some are not so subtle – In the levels based on Space Harrier and Outrun you are able to choose what soundtrack to listen to whilst playing. Do you choose the original versions or the Bayonetta remixed versions? As an aside, the hardest difficulty setting has the best title of all time: Non-Stop ∞ Climax Mode.
So, to conclude, yes, I did enjoy the game (immensely), but Devil May Cry 3 is still sitting pretty at the top of my Stylish Action chart simply because I found the combat more challenging, and as a result of this, more rewarding. It was a pleasure to once again play a Sega game that felt like a proper Sega game should, full of non-stop action and over the top shenanigans and it was, without a doubt, one hell of a roller-coaster. But I dare say it was just a bit too much. [9]
