First before I start this tune-up of sorts, this is an introduction to what I would like to call the Gaming Garage. It would be more or less a potpourri of games that interest me either at the time or a while back. Some may be current, others may be obscure, while there may just be that one game that will make you go simply "What The Fuck?".
More or less it will also make you say "Why the hell did you review this game when the hype has died down?" I'll be brief, I always do things like this so get used to it. I don't like it when the hype is too strong upon a game's release. I had a bad experience with one game in which I will probably add to the garage at a later date.
This game falls on the more modern side, with a little dash of WTF to go around. Enter Bayonetta, an action game developed by Platinum Studios, published by Sega, and released in the US on January for the Playstation 3/Xbox 360.
First impressions started when I played the demo to this game a month before its release. Sadly, my attention span is rather short as I only played through the prologue and got bored, immediately turning the game off and turning to my dashboard.
Now, you're probably wondering, "Gee, you obviously didn't love this game, why did you take the risk and buy it?" and I would have to agree with you on that statement. Especially considering the fact that I bought the game exactly upon release date, I'm a big risk taker when it comes to games. Sixty bucks is a pretty big risk agreed however, and as I popped the game in, I wondered had I made a mistake in taking a gamble based on a game I rarely even touched?
However let me make this clear that this game would not be my first entry in the Gaming Garage if I did not like this game. The game went beyond my expectations of what everyone else declared a "Devil May Cry-esque game".
It is far beyond its brother-in-law in that it has its own flare and charm that kicks in immediately at the prologue's cutscene which is to this day one of the most weirdest yet interesting scenes I ever saw in a video game.
Prologue aside, the game itself begins with Bayonetta exiting a train approaching the city of Vigrid, resembling a more Italian-esque city. The first part of the game explains that she is a witch who was entrapped in a coffin for hundreds of years, only to wake up with amnesia for two decades. Having no clue about her past besides her powers, she embarks on a quest to look for a stone that would possibly help her figure out her origins among other things.
Along the way she meets Jeanne, the designated arch-rival in the game, who has the same powers as her as well as skill. Over the course of the story she plays an important role in the story, but as a character I have grown to love Jeanne. While Bayonetta represents the free-spirited type, Jeanne is the more aggressive of the two. Plus, her clothing and the fact that she makes her first appearance on a bike, the way she uses the bike among other things makes her just as much of a badass as Bayonetta.
Over time however, the story branches off into something much deeper than a simple "wild goose chase" and leads into a rollercoaster of events that I sometimes would have had to look at the screen with a blank expression on my face. Events unfold suddenly and sometimes the story does have it's off course moments but thankfully the gameplay saves it.
Leaving the story aside, I'll go back to the fundamentals of the game. While Bayonetta may as well be a badass as she elegantly slays her foes, she's also not made up of bricks. She takes damage just like the worst of them, so it takes skill to learn when to dodge your enemies attacks. Button mashing is not enough. I will repeat this. If you depend on simply mashing buttons, you'll be seeing "The Witch Hunts Are Over" a lot.
This was a breath of fresh air for me as I had to work for my kills, all the while looking stylish as hell doing these. While there is a certain glitch that breaks this game *cough*Kilgore*cough*, if played the way it was meant to be played then the experience will be much more enjoyable.
There are some scrappy levels that people seem to generally dislike however, such as the motorcycle and the missile level. Personally I love these two levels as they are a change of genre, plus the shout outs to Outrun, Afterburner, and Space Harrier "Welcome to my fantasy zone.".
Speaking of shout-outs, the game is chock-full of them. Ranging from Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and many others that the developers had worked on. Though since this is technically a "Sega" game, there are also shout-outs to the above mentioned games, Sonic, and even Virtua Fighter.
We're finished already mummy?
Sadly, as long as I could make this post about this game, I would have to wrap this up. There's just so much to do in this game and a lot to unlock even after the story has been completed. Several gamers would say that the game truly begins when you complete it and I would have to agree, three playthroughs later.
To wrap this up, I definitely recommend this game but on the following conditions. Of course, going without saying, if you're not the action-y type, you probably won't like this game. If you don't feel comfortable with some of the themes (oversexuality abound!), this won't be for you either, but for everyone else who is normal I wouldn't pass this up not even for a minute.
The shining sword gives this: 8/10
This concludes my first garage post, the next one won't be as long I promise! 'Till again!
Post a Comment