Bayonetta (Xbox 360) Preview

Posted by Joe Roche on 12.22.2009

Hands On: 411's Joe Roche goes hands on with the demo of Bayonetta but does he come away impressed?



I don't think it'll come as much surprise to describe Bayonetta as Devil May Cry-ish, after all Hideki Kamiya is the man behind both franchises, and while he no longer works under the Capcom/Clover Games banner his recently (2007) formed Platinum Games still employs much of the team that brought Dante to your home console in 2001. With Bayonetta Kamiya reminds gamers that he is the master of the over-the-top action genre, doing away with the tough and brooding Dante and introducing us to the sexy witch Bayonetta and her hair.

Bayonetta released in Japan in October 2009 so I could dip into a lengthy discussion of the storyline behind the game and the characters that you'll meet – but I'll save all of that for the full review. For now, because the North American audience won't get their hands on Bayonetta for a few weeks I thought I'd just discuss the demo which is available right now on the Xbox Live Marketplace.

The demo has two playable stages; the first is a Tutorial stage that takes place on a crumbling tower as our heroine seemingly plunges to her death. During the downfall angles – yes winged creates with holy looking artifacts in their hands – attempt to attack you and you must fight them off…there is also a dragon so you've got that to deal with as well. The tutorial level is great because Bayonetta has a lot of various attacks that she can utilize to fight off the Angels – my favorite of which is her handstand spinning heel gun attack. Oh that's right folks Bayonetta carries a gun in each hand, but also has guns strapped to her boots so that she can essentially fire four different guns at once. This comes in handy when you're surrounded and by holding onto the kick button and twirling the left stick you can spin Bayonetta's heels around firing off bullets in every direction. It's just as cool as it sounds and a helpful attack because there are a lot of enemies that will flood the screen and surround Bayonetta at any time.

On top of sweet boots/guns Bayonetta has many other nifty tricks up her sleeve that you'll want to experiment with in the tutorial level. When an angel is about to attack Bayonetta can dodge out of the way expertly at the last moment which initiates WITCH TIME – essentially slowing down the pace of the game and allowing Bayonetta to attack her enemies before they can attack her. It's a bit like Max Payne's bullet time only you're a witch and it's activated by dodging incoming attacks (so nothing like bullet time at all). There is also the fantastically enjoyable "torture combos" which can be activated once you've saved up enough magic energy – these torture combos will be triggered by an on-screen activation sequence however unlike the God of War quick time events you can bypass these button suggestions and just perform regular kills – but I wouldn't suggest it. Trust me the first time you slam an Angel into some type of spiked coffin contraption you will instantly be in love with the "torture combos."

After you've learned the controls in the tutorial you can jump into some of the actual game. The selectable stage in the demo opens with Bayonetta on a train traveling to Vigrid. Without getting into too many plot details Vigrid is a fictional European city where a good portion of the game is set. Before you disembark the train Bayonetta is haunted by some unknown voice telling her that it's time for her to "open the eyes of the world." You also see specters of people – perhaps people in another dimension (or you're travelling in another dimension, honestly you don't get much detail in the demo). It's obvious from just the small glance of Vigrid that you get in the demo that Platinum Games spent a lot of time on the detail because the game looks beautiful. The game (or at least this stage) has a brighter Devil May Cry feel to it – especially when you reach doors that are blocked, or when you shoot vases and they explode into coins (halo's which are used as currency).

Relatively quickly upon entering Vigrid you run into a band of Angels who descend from the sky (as flowers bloom all around you) and stand in your way. I love how as the battle begins the music changes in a very Japanese action movie (think Quentin Tarrantino/Kill Bill) style. Hopefully you remembered what you learned in the tutorial because this battle is not simple. The Angels are led by an Archangel who is a bit bigger, and wields a very big weapon. The battle isn't revolutionary and it much akin to other action titles (though not a bad thing) – although there is something oddly satisfying about destroying an Angel with a "torture combo." After you dispatch the Angels another larger and much more difficult to destroy enemy emerges from the ground and this is where things get interesting. One of the best aspects of these action titles are the large bosses. I always enjoy fighting something that seems three times the size of my character and I was not disappointed in Bayonetta. Without giving too much away of the fight a great tactic is to wait for the boss to attack, then dodge at the last second to initiate WITCH TIME which will slow things down allowing you to unload clip after clip into the glowing red gem on the bosses back.

After dispatching the boss – and watching the entire surrounding area get destroyed (destructable environments!) you are off to the church looking building where some magic blocks a door and more Angels emerge from nowhere. The final stage in the demo has the boss that you thought you had just dispatched ripping a portion of the bridge you were standing on away from the supporters and hurling you around the sky. This battle was visually stunning as you attempt to unhinge the monsters grasp even though (and this is where the demo ends) you seemingly wind up falling to your death. The vertical nature of the battles was excellently done and something that you don't normally see in games like this – most everything remains on a level plane.

The demo isn't all gumdrops and lollipops (sorry Christmas has rotted my brain) there are still some faults with Bayonetta that I'd be remiss to not bring up. The most glaring is the camera – honestly Kamiya you've been making this game (or at least this type of game) since 2001 the least you could do is figure out the camera as there were far to many times when my camera was left in some awkward position, or I was attacked from behind by something that I could've sworn I'd already killed. So yeah we're nine years into this particular team making this particular game and they're still screwing up the camera angles – so that's a bit disappointing. My other problem with the demo is that it's almost impossible to figure out what the hell this game is supposed to be. All you can really gather from Bayonetta is that she's beautiful, there are special moves that you can do with her that require most of her hair (which covers her whole body) to come apart and turn into a dragon that eats a boss (no seriously this happens) which is sexy and super cool, and that there is a mysterious voice somehow involved. Without the internet I would have no clue what this game was about, and even then it's only partially helpful. Now it's not a huge complaint – frankly giving me just a taste of the game is good because I'm hungry for another bite and that means after the New Year I'll be looking for Bayonetta. I'd just love more background information on the character or on the game itself other then the tiny bit of information that we're giving in the short demo.

In closing your feelings on Bayonetta will depend on the type of game that you love to play. If you enjoy games like Devil May Cry and God of War then you're going to love Bayonetta otherwise you might want to skip it. Graphically the game looks cool, and there is a certain feeling of campiness which I know is often times just misplaced Japanese-ness but once you see the opening cinematic for the demo you'll understand why this game piques my interest. I really enjoy the very short demo, I thought the combat was fluid and cool, the torture combos and hair related finishing moves were outstanding, and the concept and story seem unique enough (though not fleshed out in the demo) for me to recommend this game. The full retail version of Bayonetta won't be available in the U.S. until January 5, 2010 and the PS3 port is being handled by SEGA.

Screenshots
All 14 Bayonetta Screenshots