Sunday, 8 April 2018

Reviewing: Bayonetta

Source of the image: Concept Art of the game owned by PlatinumGames

The most sexy and brutal Hack and Slash Game I ever seen… let us «fly to the moon» in this big adventure

“In your wickedness, you have broken the ancient commandments and crafted a bond with one of the light. Our laws are clear. They demand you be eternally imprisoned. As for the impure child, she must be kept from the path of the dark arts forever.” (Quote said by an Umbra Elder in Opening Cinematic of the game)

Source of the video: Uploaded by PlayscopeTrailers
Trailer from the game released in 2009 for PS3 and Xbox 360

Developer: PlatinumGames
Publisher(s): Sega, Nintendo
Director: Hideki Kamiya
                         Platform(s): PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch
Release date: 29 October, 2009
Genre(s): Action, Hack and Slash
Mode: Single-Player

Source of the image: https://www.technobuffalo.com
One of Bayonetta strike poses after defeating an enemy

Synopsis (with no spoilers):
After being on a continuous sleep that lasted over 500 years, a very powerful witch named Bayonetta finally awakes from a tombstone inside of a lake without any memories from her past, of what she is and where she belongs to. The game then follows the witch into the present day, twenty years subsequently the previous events. With the help of her counterparts Rodin and Enzo, she is able to discover one part of a rare artefact called “The Eyes of the World” and learns that this can guide her to reveal more from her mysterious past. Enzo tells her that to find the other half of the artefact, she must travel to Vigrid, an (imaginary) city situated in Europe well known for its witchery history background. Along her journey, she also encounters important characters such as Jeanne, another witch that seems to know some important details about Bayonetta’s past; Luka, a young man that accuses Bayonetta for his father’s death and threats her to expose her magic to the world; and a cute little girl called Cereza that closely resembles Bayonetta as a kid and considers this witch to be her “mommy”. While defeating other dimensional creatures from heaven, “The Angels”, and travelling through the mysterious city of Vigrid, will Bayonetta, with her strong powers and enchanting personality, be able to locate the other “Eye of the World” and lastly disclose her unknow past?

Source of the video: Uploaded by ilLuZionViDeoS
Promotional Teaser trailer for Bayonetta (2009)

Review:
Gameplay - The game is divided in various chapters and whenever the players finishes one of them, they are rewarded with a medal it can be either Stone, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Pure Platinum, depending on how well we played it through (this being determined by the numbers of deaths and the quantity of special items used). While controlling Bayonetta, the player can explore the scenery upon rotating the angles of the camera and making the main protagonist run, jump or doing acrobatic stylish moves to progress from zone to zone, the witch can also break doors to reach other areas and destroy objects around her to get items or golden halos (that serve to buy these “items”, to upgrade weapons and purchase unique techniques for the witch to use during battle). These recovery items are Lollipops that differ in four colours, the greens ones are for heath; the purples for magic; the reds for attack power and the yellows serve to create a magic barrier that protects the witch from enemy’s encounters for a restricted time limit. The player can combine these items to make their effect stronger. Bayonetta can also transform herself into a panther and many other wild beings to perform high abilities that help her outstand difficult objectives. In the beginning of the game, only certain difficulties are available (Very Easy, Easy and Normal) and if players want to play on hard mode they must finish the story first on normal and eventually complete hard mode to unlock the “Climax mode” (thus this can provide quite a challenge).

Combat - During the gameplay, players have to beat many angelic beings by using melee attacks or distant strikes, they can switch from various weapons and make “sexy poses with provocative threats” to enrage the enemies. Bayonetta can use many techniques in combat to reach supreme combos and make extraordinary finishing moves with brutal executions called “Torture attacks”, in which she uses sharp and dangerous objects to blow her rival creatures into pieces. The witch also has another special ability, “The Witch time”, that stops time for a few seconds, so that Bayonetta can damage her enemies and dodge their attacks more easily. Bayonetta’s hair not only serves to give her an outfit, but also to summon several demonic creatures, mostly, by the end of the battles. She begins the game with only four badass guns, but upon finding rare golden LP albums, the player can receive new other weapons such as a katana, a whip and two shotguns, that can be customized and serve as accessories as well.

Source of the image: https://ps3xboxreviews.wordpress.com/reviews/review-bayonetta/
Bayonetta fighting two angels with her main guns

Characters - In the storyline, there are various important characters that have a determinant role during the game such has, Bayonetta – of course - (main protagonist, a seductive and enigmatic Umbra witch); Jeanne (once one of the heirs for the Umbra Witches, she is initially Bayonetta’s rival but then they become allies); Luka (also named “Cheshire” by Bayonetta, is a journalist that wants to reveal the dark secrets of the Witch worldwide to supposedly avenge his father’s death); Cereza (a mysterious young cute little girl that is closely similar to Bayonetta has a kid); Balder (or known by “Masked Lumen”, is the main antagonist of the game and Bayonetta’s father); Rodin (a demon bartender and owner of a superordinary dimensional bar called “Gates of Hell”, that sells the best hellish weapons in the market to Bayonetta) and Enzo (an undertaker and Rodin’s old friend, that helps Bayonetta during her journey by revealing pertinent information to guide her).

Environment - The main setting for the development of the game, is a fictional city situated in Europe named Vigrid, the urban area is very antique and mystical, the buildings, that surround the stone made paths, contain vestiges of what looks like to be pre-Renaissance architecture. There is lots of flora that decorate the beautiful roaming passages, luxurious squares and decorated landscapes presented once we progress during the levels. Beneath city there is also a large underground catacombic paths that hide some of the secrets behind Vigrid’s obscure history background.

Source of the image: https://www.giantbomb.com/bayonetta/3030-20710/
One of Vigrid’s parks surrounded by the city’s old buildings

Angel Attack - When players complete a level and initiate another one, there is also a special minigame that they can play titled “Angel Attack”, in which the player uses Arcade Bullets collected during the primary levels to shoot flying angels and earn points that can be exchanged for items available in the shop, the extra points that aren’t high enough to buy these items can also be traded for golden halos.

Animated movie - There is also an animated film based entirely on the game, called “Bayonetta: Bloody Fate”, the story starts and finishes the same away as the game does, but the entire plot and significant events are resumed into only 90 minutes of entertainment. The film was released in 2013. Produced by Gonzo studios and directed by Fuminori Kizaki, with screenplay done by Mitsutaka Hirota and character design by Ai Yokoyama.

Final analysis in a few lines: “One of my favourite hack and slash games, that introduces us to a confident and independent beautiful Witch with a dark past and twisted destiny. Bayonetta is more than meets the eye, try to overlook the sensual part of this character, and remember Bayonetta for her amazing personality, her story, and the game for its very emotional ending, that gives us a soft side of this seemly strong protagonist (I also cried a lot during the final scenes of this game)”.

My Final Score: 8/10

Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayonetta_(video_game)
https://en.wikiquote.org
http://bayonetta.wikia.com
My Gaming Experience

A.K.

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