Bayonetta

K guys, first off I want to note that I will compare this game to Devil May Cry 3 a lot. I don't know if you guys know this but the original director (I think it was director) of Devil May Cry 1 was the head of Bayonetta's development after he stopped working on the DMC series (which is the 1st one I believe). Anyways, both games do have striking similarities (I'll review DMC3 in the near future =] ).

Bayonetta is an Action/Adventure game that heavily focuses on combat. Since it's a current-gen game, that graphics are beautifully rendered and very slick at high FPSs.

STORY

You are Bayonetta, a witch that was re-awoken, but is now faced with amnesia. An informant Enzo tells her about a Jewel that she once possessed, and she sets off to find the person in hopes of finding the jewel and her lost memories. Along her journey to uncover the buried memories and truth, she faces countless demons and angels alike, trying to stop her from her goals. 

I'm really going to have to say, the story to me wasn't all that appealing. The cutscenes in the game did have their funny parts (a lot of humor, sexual innuendo and such, and cool kickass scenes) but other that that I wasn't entirely captivated by the story.

GAMEPLAY

Like I said before, this game focuses on combat a lot more. As a witch, you have a plethora of abilities and weapons at your disposal.

Abilities 

Shapeshifting

When you think of a witch, you often think of shapeshifting right? Well Bayonetta can! Throughout the game, you will be able to obtain the abilities to shapeshift into different animals with different abilities. The cat form endows you with speed and dodging. The crow enables you limited flight. And the bats are complete de-materialization.  Generally, the cat and crow are for those puzzle and platforming moments in the game (Which  is a lot of times, but they're fairly short and easy). The bat form is a combat one where it allows you to completely dodge an attack, BUT the timing has to be extremely precise, for DMC vets, think Royal Guarding.

Wicked Weave

Bayonetta is actually all nude. The latex stuff you see on her actually her hair in a clothing form. Pretty cool right? She can do a lot more with it too, including turning it into a giant pair of fists and beating the crap out of the boss or even make a giant foot kick your enemies. She can manipulate her hair into various shapes to attack. While she's weaving, you start to see less and less clothes on her. Such a tease hehe.

Witch Time

Think Bullet time in the matrix. You activate Witch Time every time you successfully dodge an opponent's attack, which is quite often. All your enemies will be slow-mo and you'll be able to run free and unleash combo hell on them. This ability is almost the core of the combat system.

Weapons/Accessories


Bayonetta literally has an arse..senal. You can have up to three Accessories and 4 weapons equipped at any given time. Her weapons range from small automatic revolvers to ice-skates and katanas. The weapons are restricted to two different sets, each containing 1 upper body and 1 lower body weapon. Some weapons are strictly upper, and some lower, but there are a few that can go both ways.

Combat


This is not like God of War or Dante's Inferno. The combat in this game is very combo orientated. Yes, you'll be mashing buttons the same, but mashing with skill will reward you with more things. During any combo, right in the middle of it, you can switch weapon sets and unleash a whole new combo. If, you've played DMC, try thinking about how people Helm Breaker and Killer Bee spam. Each weapon has a massive list of combos that you can link up and mix and match to your liking. The combat is also VERY fast-paced, and you'll find yourself at times swarmed with enemies of different sizes and abilities; it gets very intense at the harder difficulty levels.

That's where Witch Time comes in. You'll be masterful at dodging, be able to pick and focus on which enemy you want to take down first thanks to your heightened abilities. It certainly doesn't make the game a cakewalk though, just possible hehehe. Also, there are some enemies where Witch Time is a necessity to even deal damage (mainly bosses).

Enemies


The game features a wide variety of enemies to fight. They'll range from all sizes and shapes to different abilities and weaknesses. You'll have your tiny minions that'll be a commonplace to fight, but then you'll also have your large behemoth's that'll take a few blows to kill or even the agile ones that will require precise timing and counters to take down. It's all in the game.

Bosses...almost every single one of them in this game are MASSIVE. I can't really think of a comparison right now, except maybe Master Hand in SSB, but if you were fighting both hands and the bodies those hands were attached to. They're usually multi-stage...you have to take down body part by body part and then you'll kill them. That's just how big they are.

Yea, 'nuff said.

OVERVIEW
Well like always, this is a very small review of the game. I'm only trying to attempt to get you to play it, not know everything about it. That's for you to find out when you get it.

Cheers,
Happy gaming guys!