Okay, so you’ve probably already know of my obession with Bayonetta. One of 2010’s first games, it will probably remain one of the year’s best when we’re poppin’ champagne corks during the countdown for 2011. Its ridiculously over the top, totally camp, and irrefutably japanese in nature, and while it probably won’t be a hot seller, those fortunate enough to spend some time with the game’s titular witch are in for something truly unforgettable. She certainly “flied me to moon“!
The reasons I found it so great basically boil down to two:
1. It’s Happy to be a game: Creator Hideki Kamiya didn’t take anything seriously while developing the concept of Bayonetta. Where else, apart from a video game (or a weird anime), would the concept of a librarian-glass wearing, gun tottin’ witch, whose stilettos double as guns,and whose clothing is made from her own dark, demon possessed hair, work? As absurd as the premise sounds (and it is), Platinum Games managed to craft a cohesive, irreverant and fun world to explore. Amidst endless jabs, references and homages at other games (Hello, Okami!) the universe where Umbra Witches, Lumen Sages, and Angels fight for the Eyes of the world make sense. Even more so than the plot itself. They clearly had fun creating the universe, but probably, nowhere near the amount they had when crafting our heroine.
While at first glance she’s a crass and blatant attempt at attracting gamers of the male kind (and possibly enrage girls), she’s actually a pretty likable character. With her british accent and witty, sarcastic comments, she made the game a joy to play. Also, as you spend more time with the game, you begin to notice in the end, she probably wasn’t designed to “seduce” you, but merely for you to enjoy playing a game and laugh of all the nonsense she’s able to do. For all the “sexiness” of the title, it’s quite tame and most of the “erotic” moments are really comic reliefs. Also, while I love her design I have to mention no normal man would be attracted to her. While it works in the game, she’s completely and inhumanly disproportionate, and if virtual proportions were translated to real life, she would probably equate to an 8 ft. giant, . They did get ONE thing right, tough:
You’re welcome. Another great thing about this game is it’s deliberate kitsch-ness in it’s art. The music is a fusion of cheesy jazz, elaborate orchestral sacro-styled music, and some really pumping electronic tunes (a favorite of mine is the After Burner tribute remix). The art on the other hand mixes gothic, angelic, grotesque, cute and sexy. Both would really be out of place anywhere else, but it’s that cohesiveness achieved throughout the whole game that brings it all together and makes it work. Now, on to the next thing that makes this an awesome game.
2. Simply Complex: A nice concept is good enough, but if there’s so fun in playing, then there’s no point at all. An boy, this game is FUN. It’s fast, frantic and chaotic, yet I dare to to find a more refined and elegantly functioning action game. There is NONE. Bayonetta can do what pretty much every other action character can. She jumps (and sprouts butterfly wings when double jumping), runs, taunts, shoots, punches, and kicks. The main factors differentiating this from other game are 3 components. First, we have witch time. By making dodges button based, she’s able to dodge freely incoming attacks. When an attack is evaded just in time, it triggers witch time, slowing down time and giving Bayo’ the chance to massively pummel her foes. Now to the pummeling. You can combo pretty much everything in this game, giving you the chance to be really creative with your attack patterns. The third factor, are the weapons. They skimmed no ideas (or fetishes) while coming up with them. You have all the standard fare like guns, swords and bazooka’s but they really went an extra mile including “gun-chuks”, a snake-shaped whips, and even a pair of ice skates named “Odette”, in honor to the Swan Lake’s heroine. Never saw that coming. Additionally, the better you combo, B begins performing “wicked weave” attacks, which strip her of most of her cloths and summons nasty monsters from her hair (remember she dresses with her hair) and torture attacks, where she summons medieval devices to punish her opponents. Pretty sweet.
The creators were kinda enough to give you the opportunity to set two sets of weapons that you’re able to interchange in the fly. It doesn’t like sound much, but remember you can equip different weapons on both her hands AND feet, which opens up your offense capabilities even more. Add to that some gameplay changing accessories, tons of unlockables and a pretty lengthy main campaign and you end up with a game you’ll be playing for weeks.
In the end, this is a game that I enjoyed immensely, and that reignited my love for the action genre. It’s truly fun, innovative, and deep to satisfy every kind of gamer. It’s quite hard, but thankfully there’s also an easy mode for beginner’s so, if you’re mildly interested in this game try it.
PS. I have the PS3 version. It’s a great game, but it’s marred by technical deficiencies the XBOX360 versions doesn’t suffer from (ie. LOADING). If you have both options, get the XBOX one. If not, get still because it’s an awesome game!
No comments:
Post a Comment