Bayonetta
Encyclopedia
is a hack and slash
action game
for the Xbox 360
and PlayStation 3
developed by Platinum Games in cooperation with publisher Sega
. Set in a fictional city in Europe, the game centers on its title character
, Bayonetta
, who uses pistols and magical attacks to defeat enemies. The game has five difficulty settings; its two easiest settings contain a game mode playable with only one button, similar to a mode used in Devil May Cry. Its developers designed its characters with modern style and fashion in mind, and composed for it a largely upbeat soundtrack.
Development of the game started around January 2007, and it was released in Japan in late October 2009, with a U.S. release following in January 2010. It has been promoted through a television commercial with music by Japanese pop singer MiChi
, look-alike searches, a theme for the Google Chrome
web browser, a photo book, and soundtracks. In the United States and the United Kingdom, commercials have featured La Roux
's "In for the Kill (Skream
's Let's Get Ravey Remix)".
Critical reviews have praised its easily learned yet deep combat, fast pace, boss battles, time slowdown or "Witch Time" mechanic, and character and stage designs. The game has sold over 1.35 million units worldwide. On December 10th, 2010, IGN UK, in an episode of the weekly IGN Weekend Initiative show, announced that Bayonetta was their pick for the 2010 Game of the Year (GOTY). Cliff Bleszinski
, Design Director of Epic Games
, has stated that he is a fan of the game's "crunchy" game design. Later on, when asked what game in history he would liked to have worked on, he stated "Bayonetta".
. Its combat system is similar to that of director Hideki Kamiya's previous title, Devil May Cry
. The player controls a witch named Bayonetta, and using both melee and long ranged attacks, complex combo strings, and multiple weapons, is encouraged to explore ways to dispatch angelic enemies with as much flair as possible. Special commands or actions are woven into events, finishes, executions, and unique "Torture Attacks" in which Bayonetta summons a variety of devices to deal devastating blows to her enemies. Such devices range from chainsaws to iron maidens. Bayonetta also has unique but limited abilities that her enemies do not possess, such as "Witch Time", which activates when the player makes a well-timed dodge to an attack. This temporarily slows time to allow Bayonetta to inflict massive amounts of counter damage before the enemies can react.
The player can double jump
for extra height, perform evasive backflips, and destroy background objects and doors. Camera views can be rotated, enemy targets can be locked on, and weapons can be switched during play. With unlockable transformations, the player can make Bayonetta become a panther or one of various other living creatures to enhance her abilities. Lollipops can be used to heal
her, replenish her magic or increase her strength, although using these items, as well as dying, lowers the score for that chapter. By finding various component items, the player can combine them into new items. Many enemies and objects drop halos when destroyed, which resemble the rings from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. The player can collect the halos to buy items, techniques and weapon upgrades. The player can also use enemy weapons, either to directly attack or as props for movement. Bayonetta's strongest attacks transform her hair into giant boots, fists or monsters that assault the enemy. Bayonetta starts the game with four guns, two in her hands, two on her feet. By finding golden LP album
s, some of which are in multiple pieces, players can earn new weapons, such as shotguns, a katana and a whip. These can be customized to Bayonetta's arms and legs in various combinations.
The game consists of multiple chapters, each consisting of several verses. Depending on how well the player performs, they are given one of the following medals at the end of the verse; Stone, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Pure Platinum, similar to the rating system of Viewtiful Joe
. There are some medals that are earned off the beaten path, such as special areas with set challenges. At the end of the chapter, a final score and an award is given depending on the type of medals achieved, with the score being deducted for any items used and deaths occurred. In between chapters there is a minigame called 'Angel Attack', in which players use Arcade Bullets found in the main levels to shoot at angels and earn points. These points can be traded in for items, with any leftover points exchanged for halos.
The game includes five difficulty modes: "Very Easy", "Easy", "Normal", "Hard", and "Non-Stop Climax". On Easy and Very Easy, a "Very Easy Automatic" mode is made available in which the game positions Bayonetta to perform attacks on enemies, and the player only needs to press one button to execute elaborate combos, unless they wish to perform their own choice of movements or attacks. Kamiya, who first added such a mode to Devil May Cry, posted a video on the game's official website in which character designer Mari Shimazaki demonstrated the mode (which Kamiya "jokingly called 'Mummy Mode) in Bayonetta. He expects players to first complete the game in 10 to 12 hours, but believes that its rating system (similar to that of Viewtiful Joe
, which he directed) and the pursuit of high scores will provide replay value
. The rating system has six ranks: Stone, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Pure Platinum. The player's rank on the chapter depends on all the ranks of the stage's "verses" (subdivisions of the chapter). There is also an overall rank that is calculated upon the ranks of all the chapters. The game has a fixed button configuration; Kamiya said "we found that there wasn't really a point to changing [it]".
and uses various firearms, along with magical attacks she performs with her own hair, to dispatch her foes. She awakens after a 500 year sleep and finds herself in an unfamiliar area with no memories of who or what she is. Over time, she begins to remember what caused her current predicament. 500 years before the incident that caused Bayonetta's memory loss, there were two factions preserving the balance between darkness and light in the world: the Umbra Witches, who are followers of darkness, and their counterparts, the Lumen Sages, who are followers of light. The factions shared two distinct treasures, the 'Eyes of the World' (separately named the 'Left Eye' and the 'Right Eye') which they used to oversee the just passage of time. Both factions mysteriously disappeared from Vigrid under unknown circumstances. Bayonetta still has an ornate piece of jewelry which contains a small red gem, and believes this gem is the Left Eye of the Eyes of the World. While searching for the Right Eye, she often receives flashbacks that make her remember what caused her current predicament.
A male character known as (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal
) had met Bayonetta as a child, and is now a "possible love interest" for her. Other characters include Bayonetta's rival and fellow Umbra Witch , who wields four guns like Bayonetta; , the owner of a bar called the Gates Of Hell where Bayonetta can buy various weapons and items; an informant named who looks and sounds similar to actor Joe Pesci
, and provides comic relief; a young girl named whom Bayonetta meets early in the game; and the main antagonist .
The dimensions Bayonetta inhabits are the game's different settings, which borrow from Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradiso
(heaven), which generally takes the form of a heavenly yellow or golden valley or palace and is the home of the "Angel" enemies she faces; Purgatorio
(purgatory), a metarealm that functions as an "in between" for metaphysical beings and stands alongside yet outside of the plane humans exist on (all beings in and outside of Purgatorio take on a transparent, watery appearance); and Inferno
(hell), which is the game's hellish realm that contains infernal demons of the sort that Bayonetta herself occasionally summons with her Witch powers. Further research uncovers that the Witches actually drew most of their power from the Demons that exist in Inferno.
Bayonetta follows Enzo's information to a city called Vigrid, and once there she is forced to fight Angels in order to progress. Shortly after her arrival, Bayonetta is confronted by Jeanne, another Umbra Witch, who seems to have allied herself with the Angels. Afterward, she meets a young man named Luka (nicknamed "Cheshire" by Bayonetta), who has been trying to track her down because he believes she is responsible for his father's death. After fighting her way through Vigrid, Bayonetta encounters Fortitudo, one of the four Cardinal Virtues
, and faces him in battle. After being dispatched, Fortitudo reveals that he is merely a sacrifice to Jubileus, the Creator, whom the Angels are trying to resurrect.
After defeating Fortitudo, Bayonetta makes her way through the Crescent and Sunrise Valleys, and upon reaching the end, finds Jeanne conversing with Temperantia
, the second of the Cardinal Virtues. Jeanne attacks Bayonetta, and the two Witches face off in battle, with Bayonetta emerging victorious. Continuing on her path, she eventually meets a lost child named Cereza, who wears glasses and carries around a stuffed cat named Cheshire. Much to Bayonetta's frustration, the child believes she's her mother and follows her around. Together, they make their way to a portal leading to Paradiso
, where Bayonetta is forced to defend Cereza from the Angels. Upon returning to the human world, Bayonetta leaves Cereza with Luka and confronts Temperantia, who she defeats. Continuing her search for the Right Eye, Bayonetta follows Luka and Cereza down Prominence Bridge in an attempt to reach the island known as Isla del Sol, but becomes trapped in Paradiso. After escaping, she is attacked by Iustitia
, the third Cardinal Virtue, and defeats him.
Luka devises another plan to infiltrate Isla del Sol by boarding a Valkyrie
jet headed for the island. However, Cereza becomes lost in the jet, and Bayonetta is forced to search for her. Interrupting her search is Jeanne, who knows full well about Cereza. The two Umbra Witches fight, with Bayonetta emerging victorious. However, during their battle the jet was shot down by Sapientia
, the final Cardinal Virtue. Finally recovering Cereza, Bayonetta escapes the sinking Valkyrie with the girl and hands her to Luka. She is then attacked by Sapientia, who reveals after being defeated that the gem Bayonetta believes to be the Left Eye is nothing more than a "worthless rock". After the battle, Bayonetta heads for Isla del Sol with Luka and Cereza in a helicopter. However, their helicopter is suddenly shot down with missiles from the island. The group somehow survives, with Luka becoming ensnared in one missile's fins, and Bayonetta and Cereza safely perched on another. Bayonetta guides the missile back to Isla del Sol, shooting down attacking forces of angels, including clones of Fortitudo and Temperantia.
When they reach the island, Bayonetta is confronted once again by Jeanne, who is revealed to be the one controlling the missiles with a remote. Atop a tall building, she explains that Bayonetta was a child born from an Umbra Witch and a Lumen Sage. This was strictly forbidden by the clans' ancient commandments, as it was foretold that this would bring calamity to the world. Jeanne says that for that reason, allowing Bayonetta to exist is a danger that cannot be accepted. Luka suddenly arrives in a stolen vehicle and steals Jeanne's remote, before leaving with Cereza; however, the vehicle drives off the building and explodes. As a stunned Bayonetta looks on in stupefaction, Jeanne states, "Time is of the essence. This can wait no longer!" and the two Umbra Witches fight one last time. Their battle begins atop the building, which then collapses onto another building, where the battle continues and Jeanne's clothing changes to a white version of Bayonetta's. The battle then shifts onto two separate missiles, before culminating atop another building. Bayonetta finally defeats Jeanne, who states that the reason Bayonetta possesses the Left Eye is because she has accepted her fate. Bayonetta hands Jeanne the gem she had been carrying, which triggers a recall of the events that occurred 500 years before. Bayonetta suddenly remembers that her real name is Cereza, and that Jeanne was once her friend; it was Jeanne who sealed her away, giving Bayonetta the gem to protect her and the Left Eye. Their reunion is short-lived, however, as Jeanne sacrifices her own life to save Bayonetta from a missile attack. Bayonetta is blown through a window of the Ithavoll Building, and is joined by Luka and Cereza.
Upon walking up to a large double door, Cereza begins to hear a familiar voice and claims that it is her "Daddy". Bayonetta follows her up the tower, fighting clones of Temperantia, Iustitia, and Sapientia along the way, as well as encountering an enormous statue of Jubileus, the Creator, inside the building. Upon reaching the very top of the tower, Bayonetta finally meets Father Balder, the supposed last of the Lumen Sages, who has taken up residence in what is presumably the "highest point of Lumen hierarchy and society".
Balder reveals to Bayonetta that he is her father, and that he plans to reunite the three universes by resurrecting Jubileus, the Creator. To accomplish that, he needs the Eyes of the World, and one of those eyes - the Left Eye - is Bayonetta herself. Balder explains that due to her memory loss Bayonetta could not awaken the Left Eye, and the only way for her to realize her true potential was for her to regain those lost memories. When Bayonetta asks him where he got the girl, he reveals that Cereza is in fact her younger self and was part of the plan to make Bayonetta remember her past. Luka suddenly emerges from the shadows and ridicules Balder's "entrepreneurial philosophy". It is then that Balder reveals that it was in fact he, and not Bayonetta, who orchestrated the death of Luka's father. A furious Luka is lifted into the air by the limbs by four angels, and Balder tells him he will have the dignity of dying in the same manner as his father. Bayonetta kills the angels before they can dismember Luka; however, Balder telekinetically throws Luka out of a window. Balder further angers Bayonetta by revealing he had mentally reprogrammed Jeanne to obey him, at which point Bayonetta attacks him. However, Balder easily overpowers her, grabbing her in a choke-hold and flinging her across the room, before absorbing Cereza to increase his power. An enormous shock wave destroys the room and begins to travel down the tower, reducing it to rubble. Bayonetta manages to recover and engages in battle with her father. Fighting amidst the falling rubble, Bayonetta ultimately manages to defeat Balder.
After the battle, Balder's lifeless body hits the ground, and Bayonetta lands safely with Cereza in her arms. A missile suddenly flies overhead, with Luka once again ensnared in its fins. Using her Umbran Watch, Bayonetta manages to open a time portal to bring the child, her younger self, back to her original timeline. However, this causes her to regain all her memories upon returning to the present time, causing her to fall unconscious. Balder then reappears, seemingly unharmed, stating that the Left Eye has now been awakened. He then transports himself and the unconscious Bayonetta towards the statue on top of the tower in order for them to begin the resurrection of Jubileus and take their places as the Eyes of the World, who would oversee a new reality for all eternity. As they both enter into the eyes of the statue, the tower's outer structure crumbles to reveal a missile which launches into space.
With Bayonetta imprisoned, Jeanne suddenly makes her reappearance. It is revealed that the gem she got from Bayonetta managed to remove Balder's mind control and allowed her to shield from the incoming missiles in the nick of time. She ascends the statue on her magically enhanced motorcycle by riding along the surface of the missile used to launch Jubileus into orbit. Arriving just in time to save Bayonetta, she pulls her out of the statue's left eye, causing Jubileus to go berserk and consume Balder in the process. Bayonetta and Jeanne manage to defeat the deity, but end up in a free-fall towards Earth. Both Bayonetta and Jeanne manage to survive the descent, and the epilogue shows them continuing their battles with the Angels.
's Xbox 360
game console, while Sega
—with Platinum Games's original data and support— handled Nex Entertainment
to port
the game to Sony
's PlayStation 3
. Shimazaki designed the game's characters to be "fashionable", with "subdued" features. She designed the titular character to fulfill Kamiya's request for a modern, female witch that wears glasses and wields four guns, and the two settled on her original concept for the character despite her work "over a year" on other concepts. Bayonetta emerged as a long-haired, black-clothed witch with a beehive hairdo
(in place of the traditional pointy hat
) and glasses (which Kamiya "really pushed for ... to differentiate Bayonetta from other female characters and give her a sense of mystery and intelligence"). Conversely, Shimazaki "didn't require a huge amount of effort" to design Bayonetta's short-haired, red-clothed rival Jeanne, who merely wears her glasses on her head above her eyes. She added plumes to Jeanne's handguns to add movement to the design, and thick makeup to Jeanne's face to "make [her] feel like something out of the 1960s". Though Shimazaki preferred Bayonetta, Jeanne turned out to be the more popular of the two witches among Kamiya and the development team. Still, in an April 2009 interview, Kamiya called the former "in many ways ... my ideal woman".
Though the game's director "deliberately created Bayonetta from scratch" and has called its story "completely original", he has admitted using "some names from Scandinavian mythology
" and playing "about half of" Devil May Cry 4
for research. As a fan of folk music, he also named Bayonetta's set of four handguns after the old English ballad "Scarborough Fair
", and its individual guns Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Hiroshi Yamaguchi focused on composing music for the game that has a "nice up-tempo beat" and expresses femininity through female choirs, pianos, and other beautiful' instruments"—though some tracks also use pure orchestra or folk instrument
s—while Kenichiro Yoshimura transformed Shimazaki's Bayonetta design into a game model and used the digital sculpting
tool ZBrush
to create normal maps
for its details. He worked with Shimazaki on the model's makeup, referred to foreign models with similar bodies, and said "I really wanted to get Bayonetta's backside perfect. I guess I am into that sort of thing..."
To Kamiya, the core theme of the game and its protagonist's attacks is "sexiness". He said Bayonetta's ability to transform into a panther reflected the developers' desire to "make her a sexy witch". To emphasize "her femininity and sexuality", the developers made Bayonetta lose rose petals instead of blood when hit, and used a butterfly motif that manifests in her wings (which appear in her shadow and during double jumps), her giant fist attack (a butterfly appears on the back of the fist), and the arms of her glasses. Her giant boot, fist, and monster attacks reveal some of her body—her hair is magically formed into clothes but must be temporarily reallocated to forming offensive weapons—and when the player targets an enemy, red lips mark the enemy's chest; this led IGN
to call the developing game a mix of "action and a great big helping of fan service
". The game's sexual tone is reflected in its age rating in the United States: the Entertainment Software Rating Board
rated the developing game "Mature" ("M", for ages 17 and older) for containing "Partial Nudity" and "Suggestive Themes", as well as "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence," and "Strong Language". (By comparison, Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
rated the game "D", also for those ages; the British Board of Film Classification
rated the game "15" for "strong language and bloody violence"; and it is rated "18" under the PEGI
system used in the United Kingdom and other European countries for its use of violence and language.)
Kamiya had worked on previous games such as Devil May Cry
, Viewtiful Joe
and Resident Evil, and as such, the game makes occasional references to these games, as well as other Clover Studios titles and various Sega
franchises, such as a minigame inspired by Space Harrier
,
of Bayonetta were released on Xbox Live
and PlayStation Network in Japan on October 8, 2009, and internationally on December 3, 2009. The full game was released on October 29, 2009, in Japan, and was later released in other regions in 2010: January 5 in North America, January 7 in Australia, and January 8 in Europe. Sega announced on August 26, 2009, that Japanese pop singer MiChi
would perform "Something Missing", written for a Bayonetta commercial. The commercial, which has since been shown on the game's official Japanese website, touts the game as "" and features a model dressed as Bayonetta with a lollipop.
A 150-song, five-CD soundtrack for the game was scheduled for a November 4 release. Another soundtrack CD, Rodin's Selection, was created for inclusion with pre-order
ed copies of the game. It comes packaged in a brown jacket styled as a menu from Rodin's bar "The Gates of Hell". Sega of Europe released a ∞ Climax Edition (or simply Climax Edition) of the game in the UK, France, Spain, and Australia, which included the game, the Rodin's Selection tracks packaged in a black-and-red jacket with the game logo, and an artbook. Pre-orders in Australia and "most European territories" included a replica of one of Bayonetta's "Scarborough Fair" guns.
Bayonetta Witch of Vigrid, a book with pictures of the title character and an "interview" with her, was released on October 22, 2009. By then, a Bayonetta theme had been made available for the Google Chrome
browser. At the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Sega chose Penny Drake
to model as Bayonetta after auditioning 100 women. The company then joined men's lifestyle website Maxim.com
to run a contest to find women who looked like Bayonetta. The grand prize winner, Andrea Bonaccorso, announced on November 23, 2009, received an Xbox 360, a 50-inch plasma television, and a copy of the 360 version of the game.
An update for the PlayStation 3 version was released on January 28, allowing players to install the game on their hard drive, dramatically reducing load times.
A song entitled "Reaping Beauty" by MC Lars
and featuring Beefy, Random, Tina Root
of Small Halo and SMP was included on the second re-release of Lars' album 21 Concepts (But a Hit Ain't One)
. The song is directly inspired by Bayonetta, and heavily references the title character and many of the game's aesthetic and gameplay elements.
provided the main vocals for the theme of Bayonetta.
Tracklist
Australia praised the developing game in March 2009 as "absolutely stunning-looking" and "a balls-out action game set amongst glorious European architecture", and called its titular witch their "new favourite videogame character ever ... even cooler than [Devil May Cry main character] Dante ... she has the playfulness and versatility of Dante, but wrapped up in some of the most visually inventive combat we've seen in a long while". Similarly, GameSpy
's Gerald Villoria praised the game in July that year as highly original to the point that it could end up like the poor-selling Ōkami
(another Kamiya-directed game) for it—"the premise, the characters, the action sequences, they're all entirely different from anything else I've ever seen," he wrote—and called its lead a "constantly moving", "remarkably multi-faceted" character "presented in an ultra-stylish way".
Matt Leone of 1UP.com
said of a pre-release version of the game's PS3 port at E3 2009: "The first thing I noticed was that, at the end of a normal combo, you can hold down the final button in the string to continuously fire gunshots—which looks incredibly cool when you kick someone and then keep your leg pointed at their face as your foot pours bullets on it." He added, "I'll be amazed if Bayonetta doesn't end up being one of the best action games this year." Staff at GameSpot
UK were also generally impressed with the PS3 port, which they played on June 3. They called the "Witch Time" mechanic a "cool move" and one of the two boss battles they fought "pretty intense", and said "it's easy to see the similarities between the two over-the-top action games [Bayonetta and Devil May Cry]". They added, "Rampant violence and sexism is par for the course" in the game. 1UP's staff again played a PS3 version for 15 minutes on the weekend of August 31 that year, at Platinum Games's "Feel Bayonetta" event in Tokyo's Roppongi
district. They said that it "was very blurry" compared to a 360 version displayed there, and that its frame rate
"was all over the place. ... it was often hard to keep track of the action [in one scene] because of the graphical issues on PS3."
Bayonetta was one of twelve games to receive a Japan Game Awards 2009 "Future Division" award at Tokyo Game Show
2009. At the show, Daniel Feit of Wired News
played both versions and felt the 360 version was "a little brighter and more colorful ... while the PS3 version cut scenes feel like you're watching a movie through a sepia filter." He found the game's commands easy to learn and perform, but criticized the camera angles sometimes used in the game in both versions: "When Bayonetta runs too close to the edge of a scene, the camera can automatically focus on her and the wall instead of showing the enemies cornering her. Some of her larger hair-based attacks can also obscure the action." Other reviewers compared her to former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin
for her appearance and her glasses in particular. Kamiya has said of the comparisons, "in the US they say Sarah Palin. In Japan, they always bring up people like [singer-songwriter] Angela Aki
. I think they say something similar in every country. That country's famous glasses girl. ... The thing with that impression is, you know, we've put out plenty of trailers now, and when you play the game and see the cutscenes, I think people will recognize Bayonetta as Bayonetta. Then people will look at Sarah Palin and say that she looks like Bayonetta."
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Sinobi, a Japanese blog known for its early sales data, reported Bayonetta sold 138,000 copies—93,000 for the PS3 and 45,000 for the 360—on its day of release in the country. Media Create
reported the PS3 version sold 135,242 copies and was the top-selling game during its week of release there, while the 360 version sold 64,325 copies and charted at number seven. Phil Elliott of GamesIndustry.biz called the 360 version's lower sales figures "a very strong performance for the Microsoft platform, relative to installed base". The two releases fell to number eight and number 15 respectively the following week. By March 31, 2010, Bayonetta sold 1.35 million units worldwide.
A few days before Bayonetta release, Japanese gaming publication Famitsu
awarded the Xbox 360 version a perfect 40 out of 40. The PlayStation 3 version received a slightly lower 38 out of 40, due to scores of nine from two of its four reviewers. As others did pre-release, the two reviewers criticized the PS3 port's frame rate problems; one thought the difference from the 360 version was slight. One was quoted as saying, "the fun is the same, but the controls and overall look [on the PS3] feel a bit more unwieldy than the Xbox 360 one, which is a shame." UK magazine Edge
awarded the game a score of 10 out of 10, praising the game's combat system for being both deep and based around clear rules which are immediately accessible and well-taught to the player. Edge singled out the upgrade from Normal to Hard difficulties as "where Bayonetta transitions from the great to the legendary," concluding, "it's difficult to recall another third-person actioner that feels so worth mastering."
Ryan Clements of IGN
gave the 360 version a 9.5 out of 10 and the PS3 version an 8.2. In separate reviews for each version, he called the game "stylish, entertaining", and "unique", and its voice work "a bit campy but still extremely enjoyable", but said its "plot is all over the place" and "isn't as skillfully told as game stories like Mass Effect
and Uncharted. In his 360 version review, he called the game an "incredible work" with "final moments ... alone worth the price of admission", but said it sometimes exhibited minor "screen tearing and slowdown, which happen during explorative sections and intense action sequences, respectively". He said the PS3 version was "still a fun game" but had "a lot of problems, primary among them being the excessive slowdown and loading":
Gamearena rated the game 5 out of 10, criticizing the depiction of the heroine, saying "It starts to feel awkward after not too long, and a little insulting, as it seems like the game expects you to leer and ogle her at every chance you get. You are practically begged to actively position her into sexually suggestive poses and maneuver her as you please, and at the same time think of her as a strong and sexy heroine, not some object you can... actively position into sexually suggestive poses and maneuver as you please." The review also discussed the game's lack of mass-market appeal - "Many people found DMC too campy and over-the-top, and Bayonetta makes it look monochrome in comparison. If you don't like the genre, Bayonetta will not change your mind."
GameSpot's video review lamented duller graphics and inconsistent frame rate
s for its PS3 port
.
The Associated Press
review was not as forgiving as most others. "Bayonetta feels like a game that would have blown me away 15 years ago. (It even pays tribute to Sega arcade classics like "Space Harrier" and "Hang-On.") While it introduces an exotic new vision, it doesn't give us anything to do except fight, and its strictly linear story prevents you from exploring its distinctive universe. It's high on style, but less than satisfying."
Eurogamer rated it 9 out of 10, "The result is a game that exemplifies so much of what commentators claim has died in the Japanese game industry. A blast of creative brilliance, both technically accomplished, strategically deep and infused with rare imagination, Bayonetta represents the pinnacle of its chosen niche. "
GamesRadar
gave the game 10 out of 10. Nathan Irvine of their UK division said it "nails ... the epic scale of everything that unfolds before your eyes and the manner in which it's delivered", believed it was better than God of War Collection, Devil May Cry 4
, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
, and praised its "superb action" and humor (such as "Luka doing his best Assassin's Creed
impression by looking moody in an Altair/Ezio style hood"). However, he said "the only time anything makes sense with Bayonetta story is right at the end", and complained about some of the game's Quick Time Event
s (QTEs):
In contrast to Irvine, IGN UK's Martin Robinson said "it's not Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden or God of War that's the best point of reference but Super Mario Galaxy
": he felt Bayonetta, like the Nintendo game, "loves to tinker with the player's sense of perspective, and fights that begin on street surface often wind their way up the surrounding walls". Robinson praised the "fluid, intuitive and ultimately satisfying" combat system and "its conveyor belt of ever-more inventive foes. From the lowliest grunt to the most hulking of bosses", and said, "Even after two playthroughs we're discovering more and more to Bayonetta's move set each time we go back to the game." Still, he felt "a little too much time is given over to the exposition".
GameZone's Louis Bedigian gave both versions an 8.5 out of 10, saying "Bayonetta is one of those rare fantasy games that sounds crazy on paper but is absolutely genius in execution. Every level feels like a fresh journey through a hellish world – which says a lot for a game that is (believe it or not) a part of the hack-n-slash genre."
Nerve.com's Face-Off by John and Pete said Bayonetta is the videogame equivalent of Paul Kenyon's Baroness spy pulp novels.
Hack and slash
Hack and slash or hack and slay, abbreviated H&S or HnS, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat. "Hack and slash" was originally used to describe an aspect of pen-and-paper role-playing games , carrying over from there to MUDs, MMORPGs, and video games in general...
action game
Action game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
developed by Platinum Games in cooperation with publisher Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
. Set in a fictional city in Europe, the game centers on its title character
Title role
The title role in the performing arts is the performance part that gives the title to the piece, as in Aida, Giselle, Michael Collins or Othello. The actor, singer or dancer who performs that part is also said to have the title role....
, Bayonetta
Bayonetta (character)
is a fictional character in the video game Bayonetta. Created by Hideki Kamiya for Platinum Games and designed by Mari Shimazaki, she has also appeared in promotions and other media related to the title...
, who uses pistols and magical attacks to defeat enemies. The game has five difficulty settings; its two easiest settings contain a game mode playable with only one button, similar to a mode used in Devil May Cry. Its developers designed its characters with modern style and fashion in mind, and composed for it a largely upbeat soundtrack.
Development of the game started around January 2007, and it was released in Japan in late October 2009, with a U.S. release following in January 2010. It has been promoted through a television commercial with music by Japanese pop singer MiChi
Michi
is the twenty-third single of Japanese pop band Exile. It was released on February 14, 2007 and was limited to 100,000 copies. The song has been certified as being downloaded more than 1,000,000 times as a ringtone by the RIAJ, and more than 250,000 times as a full-length download to cellphones.-...
, look-alike searches, a theme for the Google Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
web browser, a photo book, and soundtracks. In the United States and the United Kingdom, commercials have featured La Roux
La Roux
La Roux are an English electropop duo made up of singer, keyboardist, co-writer and co-producer Eleanor Kate Jackson, and co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid. Jackson describes their relationship as "very much a half and half sharing situation... not like a singer producer outfit", but also...
's "In for the Kill (Skream
Skream
Skream is a dubstep producer based in Croydon. One of dubstep's first and most prominent producers, he has played an important role in the genre's development. His debut album Skream! was released in 2006, and was followed up by Outside the Box in 2010...
's Let's Get Ravey Remix)".
Critical reviews have praised its easily learned yet deep combat, fast pace, boss battles, time slowdown or "Witch Time" mechanic, and character and stage designs. The game has sold over 1.35 million units worldwide. On December 10th, 2010, IGN UK, in an episode of the weekly IGN Weekend Initiative show, announced that Bayonetta was their pick for the 2010 Game of the Year (GOTY). Cliff Bleszinski
Cliff Bleszinski
Clifford Michael "Cliff" Bleszinski is the design director for the game development company Epic Games in Cary, North Carolina. He is most famous for his continuing hand in the development of the Unreal franchise, especially 1999's Unreal Tournament, and the Gears of War franchise...
, Design Director of Epic Games
Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., also known as Epic and formerly Epic MegaGames, is an American video game development company based in Cary, North Carolina. Its most recent success has been the Gears of War series of games, although it is also known for its Unreal Engine technology. It is the parent company of...
, has stated that he is a fan of the game's "crunchy" game design. Later on, when asked what game in history he would liked to have worked on, he stated "Bayonetta".
Gameplay
Bayonetta is a single-player, third-person 3D action gameAction game
Action game is a video game genre that emphasizes physical challenges, including hand–eye coordination and reaction-time. The genre includes diverse subgenres such as fighting games, shooter games, and platform games, which are widely considered the most important action games, though some...
. Its combat system is similar to that of director Hideki Kamiya's previous title, Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry
is an action game developed and published by Capcom, released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Although it is the first game in the series of the same name, the events in Devil May Cry are second in the series storyline's chronological order, taking place after Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and...
. The player controls a witch named Bayonetta, and using both melee and long ranged attacks, complex combo strings, and multiple weapons, is encouraged to explore ways to dispatch angelic enemies with as much flair as possible. Special commands or actions are woven into events, finishes, executions, and unique "Torture Attacks" in which Bayonetta summons a variety of devices to deal devastating blows to her enemies. Such devices range from chainsaws to iron maidens. Bayonetta also has unique but limited abilities that her enemies do not possess, such as "Witch Time", which activates when the player makes a well-timed dodge to an attack. This temporarily slows time to allow Bayonetta to inflict massive amounts of counter damage before the enemies can react.
The player can double jump
Double jump
Double jump may refer to:* Double jump , performing the same jump twice in a row in cheerleading* Double jump , Two revolutions in a figure skating jumps* Double jump...
for extra height, perform evasive backflips, and destroy background objects and doors. Camera views can be rotated, enemy targets can be locked on, and weapons can be switched during play. With unlockable transformations, the player can make Bayonetta become a panther or one of various other living creatures to enhance her abilities. Lollipops can be used to heal
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....
her, replenish her magic or increase her strength, although using these items, as well as dying, lowers the score for that chapter. By finding various component items, the player can combine them into new items. Many enemies and objects drop halos when destroyed, which resemble the rings from Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog series. The player can collect the halos to buy items, techniques and weapon upgrades. The player can also use enemy weapons, either to directly attack or as props for movement. Bayonetta's strongest attacks transform her hair into giant boots, fists or monsters that assault the enemy. Bayonetta starts the game with four guns, two in her hands, two on her feet. By finding golden LP album
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
s, some of which are in multiple pieces, players can earn new weapons, such as shotguns, a katana and a whip. These can be customized to Bayonetta's arms and legs in various combinations.
The game consists of multiple chapters, each consisting of several verses. Depending on how well the player performs, they are given one of the following medals at the end of the verse; Stone, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum and Pure Platinum, similar to the rating system of Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe
is a video game developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4 for the Nintendo GameCube. It was originally released in 2003 as a part of the Capcom Five under director Hideki Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba. Viewtiful Joe was later ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 by the same design team under the...
. There are some medals that are earned off the beaten path, such as special areas with set challenges. At the end of the chapter, a final score and an award is given depending on the type of medals achieved, with the score being deducted for any items used and deaths occurred. In between chapters there is a minigame called 'Angel Attack', in which players use Arcade Bullets found in the main levels to shoot at angels and earn points. These points can be traded in for items, with any leftover points exchanged for halos.
The game includes five difficulty modes: "Very Easy", "Easy", "Normal", "Hard", and "Non-Stop Climax". On Easy and Very Easy, a "Very Easy Automatic" mode is made available in which the game positions Bayonetta to perform attacks on enemies, and the player only needs to press one button to execute elaborate combos, unless they wish to perform their own choice of movements or attacks. Kamiya, who first added such a mode to Devil May Cry, posted a video on the game's official website in which character designer Mari Shimazaki demonstrated the mode (which Kamiya "jokingly called 'Mummy Mode) in Bayonetta. He expects players to first complete the game in 10 to 12 hours, but believes that its rating system (similar to that of Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe
is a video game developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4 for the Nintendo GameCube. It was originally released in 2003 as a part of the Capcom Five under director Hideki Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba. Viewtiful Joe was later ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 by the same design team under the...
, which he directed) and the pursuit of high scores will provide replay value
Replay value
Replay value or replayability is a term found in combination with video games, but it may be also used to describe other kinds of games, movies, music, or theater plays. In video games, the term replay value is used to describe the entertainment value of playing a game more than once...
. The rating system has six ranks: Stone, Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Pure Platinum. The player's rank on the chapter depends on all the ranks of the stage's "verses" (subdivisions of the chapter). There is also an overall rank that is calculated upon the ranks of all the chapters. The game has a fixed button configuration; Kamiya said "we found that there wasn't really a point to changing [it]".
Setting and characters
Bayonetta takes place in Vigrid, a fictional city in Europe. The title character (voiced by Hellena Taylor) is a witch who shapeshiftsShapeshifting
Shapeshifting is a common theme in mythology, folklore, and fairy tales. It is also found in epic poems, science fiction literature, fantasy literature, children's literature, Shakespearean comedy, ballet, film, television, comics, and video games...
and uses various firearms, along with magical attacks she performs with her own hair, to dispatch her foes. She awakens after a 500 year sleep and finds herself in an unfamiliar area with no memories of who or what she is. Over time, she begins to remember what caused her current predicament. 500 years before the incident that caused Bayonetta's memory loss, there were two factions preserving the balance between darkness and light in the world: the Umbra Witches, who are followers of darkness, and their counterparts, the Lumen Sages, who are followers of light. The factions shared two distinct treasures, the 'Eyes of the World' (separately named the 'Left Eye' and the 'Right Eye') which they used to oversee the just passage of time. Both factions mysteriously disappeared from Vigrid under unknown circumstances. Bayonetta still has an ornate piece of jewelry which contains a small red gem, and believes this gem is the Left Eye of the Eyes of the World. While searching for the Right Eye, she often receives flashbacks that make her remember what caused her current predicament.
A male character known as (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal
Yuri Lowenthal
Yuri Lowenthal is a voice actor that has voiced several anime and video game characters. He also voiced Kamal for the alternate reality game I Love Bees....
) had met Bayonetta as a child, and is now a "possible love interest" for her. Other characters include Bayonetta's rival and fellow Umbra Witch , who wields four guns like Bayonetta; , the owner of a bar called the Gates Of Hell where Bayonetta can buy various weapons and items; an informant named who looks and sounds similar to actor Joe Pesci
Joe Pesci
Joseph Frank "Joe" Pesci is an American actor, comedian, and musician.He is known for playing a variety of different roles, from violent mobsters to comedic leads to quirky sidekicks...
, and provides comic relief; a young girl named whom Bayonetta meets early in the game; and the main antagonist .
The dimensions Bayonetta inhabits are the game's different settings, which borrow from Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradiso
Paradiso
Paradiso is the Italian or Latinized version for Heaven or Paradise. It may also refer to:* Paradiso , the third part of Dante's Divine Comedy* Paradisio, a Belgian dance act* Paradiso , a music venue in Amsterdam...
(heaven), which generally takes the form of a heavenly yellow or golden valley or palace and is the home of the "Angel" enemies she faces; Purgatorio
Purgatorio
Purgatorio is the second part of Dante's Divine Comedy, following the Inferno, and preceding the Paradiso. The poem was written in the early 14th century. It is an allegory telling of the climb of Dante up the Mount of Purgatory, guided by the Roman poet Virgil...
(purgatory), a metarealm that functions as an "in between" for metaphysical beings and stands alongside yet outside of the plane humans exist on (all beings in and outside of Purgatorio take on a transparent, watery appearance); and Inferno
Inferno
Inferno means "Hell" in both Italian and Portuguese, so this word may refer to:*Hell*Conflagration, a large uncontrolled fire.-Literature:* Inferno , the first part of Dante's Divine Comedy...
(hell), which is the game's hellish realm that contains infernal demons of the sort that Bayonetta herself occasionally summons with her Witch powers. Further research uncovers that the Witches actually drew most of their power from the Demons that exist in Inferno.
Plot
In the present day, an informant named Enzo has joined up with Bayonetta, a witch who was revived twenty years ago from the bottom of a lake and has little or no memories of her past. When Enzo informs her of the possible whereabouts of the person that owns the "Right Eye", one-half of a set known as the "Eyes of the World", she sets out to find this person, hoping that it may help her regain her lost memories.Bayonetta follows Enzo's information to a city called Vigrid, and once there she is forced to fight Angels in order to progress. Shortly after her arrival, Bayonetta is confronted by Jeanne, another Umbra Witch, who seems to have allied herself with the Angels. Afterward, she meets a young man named Luka (nicknamed "Cheshire" by Bayonetta), who has been trying to track her down because he believes she is responsible for his father's death. After fighting her way through Vigrid, Bayonetta encounters Fortitudo, one of the four Cardinal Virtues
Cardinal virtues
In Christian traditionthere are 4 cardinal virtues:*Prudence - able to judge between actions with regard to appropriate actions at a given time*Justice - proper moderation between self-interest and the rights and needs of others...
, and faces him in battle. After being dispatched, Fortitudo reveals that he is merely a sacrifice to Jubileus, the Creator, whom the Angels are trying to resurrect.
After defeating Fortitudo, Bayonetta makes her way through the Crescent and Sunrise Valleys, and upon reaching the end, finds Jeanne conversing with Temperantia
Temperance (virtue)
Temperance has been studied by religious thinkers, philosophers, and more recently, psychologists, particularly in the positive psychology movement. It is considered a virtue, a core value that can be seen consistently across time and cultures...
, the second of the Cardinal Virtues. Jeanne attacks Bayonetta, and the two Witches face off in battle, with Bayonetta emerging victorious. Continuing on her path, she eventually meets a lost child named Cereza, who wears glasses and carries around a stuffed cat named Cheshire. Much to Bayonetta's frustration, the child believes she's her mother and follows her around. Together, they make their way to a portal leading to Paradiso
Paradiso
Paradiso is the Italian or Latinized version for Heaven or Paradise. It may also refer to:* Paradiso , the third part of Dante's Divine Comedy* Paradisio, a Belgian dance act* Paradiso , a music venue in Amsterdam...
, where Bayonetta is forced to defend Cereza from the Angels. Upon returning to the human world, Bayonetta leaves Cereza with Luka and confronts Temperantia, who she defeats. Continuing her search for the Right Eye, Bayonetta follows Luka and Cereza down Prominence Bridge in an attempt to reach the island known as Isla del Sol, but becomes trapped in Paradiso. After escaping, she is attacked by Iustitia
Justice (virtue)
Justice is one of the four cardinal virtues in classical European philosophy and Roman Catholicism. It is the moderation between selfishness and selflessness....
, the third Cardinal Virtue, and defeats him.
Luka devises another plan to infiltrate Isla del Sol by boarding a Valkyrie
Valkyrie
In Norse mythology, a valkyrie is one of a host of female figures who decides who dies in battle. Selecting among half of those who die in battle , the valkyries bring their chosen to the afterlife hall of the slain, Valhalla, ruled over by the god Odin...
jet headed for the island. However, Cereza becomes lost in the jet, and Bayonetta is forced to search for her. Interrupting her search is Jeanne, who knows full well about Cereza. The two Umbra Witches fight, with Bayonetta emerging victorious. However, during their battle the jet was shot down by Sapientia
Prudence
Prudence is the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason. It is classically considered to be a virtue, and in particular one of the four Cardinal virtues .The word comes from Old French prudence , from Latin...
, the final Cardinal Virtue. Finally recovering Cereza, Bayonetta escapes the sinking Valkyrie with the girl and hands her to Luka. She is then attacked by Sapientia, who reveals after being defeated that the gem Bayonetta believes to be the Left Eye is nothing more than a "worthless rock". After the battle, Bayonetta heads for Isla del Sol with Luka and Cereza in a helicopter. However, their helicopter is suddenly shot down with missiles from the island. The group somehow survives, with Luka becoming ensnared in one missile's fins, and Bayonetta and Cereza safely perched on another. Bayonetta guides the missile back to Isla del Sol, shooting down attacking forces of angels, including clones of Fortitudo and Temperantia.
When they reach the island, Bayonetta is confronted once again by Jeanne, who is revealed to be the one controlling the missiles with a remote. Atop a tall building, she explains that Bayonetta was a child born from an Umbra Witch and a Lumen Sage. This was strictly forbidden by the clans' ancient commandments, as it was foretold that this would bring calamity to the world. Jeanne says that for that reason, allowing Bayonetta to exist is a danger that cannot be accepted. Luka suddenly arrives in a stolen vehicle and steals Jeanne's remote, before leaving with Cereza; however, the vehicle drives off the building and explodes. As a stunned Bayonetta looks on in stupefaction, Jeanne states, "Time is of the essence. This can wait no longer!" and the two Umbra Witches fight one last time. Their battle begins atop the building, which then collapses onto another building, where the battle continues and Jeanne's clothing changes to a white version of Bayonetta's. The battle then shifts onto two separate missiles, before culminating atop another building. Bayonetta finally defeats Jeanne, who states that the reason Bayonetta possesses the Left Eye is because she has accepted her fate. Bayonetta hands Jeanne the gem she had been carrying, which triggers a recall of the events that occurred 500 years before. Bayonetta suddenly remembers that her real name is Cereza, and that Jeanne was once her friend; it was Jeanne who sealed her away, giving Bayonetta the gem to protect her and the Left Eye. Their reunion is short-lived, however, as Jeanne sacrifices her own life to save Bayonetta from a missile attack. Bayonetta is blown through a window of the Ithavoll Building, and is joined by Luka and Cereza.
Upon walking up to a large double door, Cereza begins to hear a familiar voice and claims that it is her "Daddy". Bayonetta follows her up the tower, fighting clones of Temperantia, Iustitia, and Sapientia along the way, as well as encountering an enormous statue of Jubileus, the Creator, inside the building. Upon reaching the very top of the tower, Bayonetta finally meets Father Balder, the supposed last of the Lumen Sages, who has taken up residence in what is presumably the "highest point of Lumen hierarchy and society".
Balder reveals to Bayonetta that he is her father, and that he plans to reunite the three universes by resurrecting Jubileus, the Creator. To accomplish that, he needs the Eyes of the World, and one of those eyes - the Left Eye - is Bayonetta herself. Balder explains that due to her memory loss Bayonetta could not awaken the Left Eye, and the only way for her to realize her true potential was for her to regain those lost memories. When Bayonetta asks him where he got the girl, he reveals that Cereza is in fact her younger self and was part of the plan to make Bayonetta remember her past. Luka suddenly emerges from the shadows and ridicules Balder's "entrepreneurial philosophy". It is then that Balder reveals that it was in fact he, and not Bayonetta, who orchestrated the death of Luka's father. A furious Luka is lifted into the air by the limbs by four angels, and Balder tells him he will have the dignity of dying in the same manner as his father. Bayonetta kills the angels before they can dismember Luka; however, Balder telekinetically throws Luka out of a window. Balder further angers Bayonetta by revealing he had mentally reprogrammed Jeanne to obey him, at which point Bayonetta attacks him. However, Balder easily overpowers her, grabbing her in a choke-hold and flinging her across the room, before absorbing Cereza to increase his power. An enormous shock wave destroys the room and begins to travel down the tower, reducing it to rubble. Bayonetta manages to recover and engages in battle with her father. Fighting amidst the falling rubble, Bayonetta ultimately manages to defeat Balder.
After the battle, Balder's lifeless body hits the ground, and Bayonetta lands safely with Cereza in her arms. A missile suddenly flies overhead, with Luka once again ensnared in its fins. Using her Umbran Watch, Bayonetta manages to open a time portal to bring the child, her younger self, back to her original timeline. However, this causes her to regain all her memories upon returning to the present time, causing her to fall unconscious. Balder then reappears, seemingly unharmed, stating that the Left Eye has now been awakened. He then transports himself and the unconscious Bayonetta towards the statue on top of the tower in order for them to begin the resurrection of Jubileus and take their places as the Eyes of the World, who would oversee a new reality for all eternity. As they both enter into the eyes of the statue, the tower's outer structure crumbles to reveal a missile which launches into space.
With Bayonetta imprisoned, Jeanne suddenly makes her reappearance. It is revealed that the gem she got from Bayonetta managed to remove Balder's mind control and allowed her to shield from the incoming missiles in the nick of time. She ascends the statue on her magically enhanced motorcycle by riding along the surface of the missile used to launch Jubileus into orbit. Arriving just in time to save Bayonetta, she pulls her out of the statue's left eye, causing Jubileus to go berserk and consume Balder in the process. Bayonetta and Jeanne manage to defeat the deity, but end up in a free-fall towards Earth. Both Bayonetta and Jeanne manage to survive the descent, and the epilogue shows them continuing their battles with the Angels.
Development
Kamiya directed development of Bayonetta at Platinum Games since January 2007, and the game was "more-or-less complete" by October 21, 2009. The group developed for MicrosoftMicrosoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
's Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
game console, while Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
—with Platinum Games's original data and support— handled Nex Entertainment
Nex Entertainment
Nex Entertainment, formerly known as GAU Entertainment and Nextech, is a Japanese developer of video games. The company usually does not market or publish the games it develops, instead they primarily develop games for other companies on a contract basis...
to port
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
the game to Sony
Sony Computer Entertainment
Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. is a major video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a wholly owned subsidiary and part of the Consumer Products & Services Group of Sony...
's PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. Shimazaki designed the game's characters to be "fashionable", with "subdued" features. She designed the titular character to fulfill Kamiya's request for a modern, female witch that wears glasses and wields four guns, and the two settled on her original concept for the character despite her work "over a year" on other concepts. Bayonetta emerged as a long-haired, black-clothed witch with a beehive hairdo
Beehive (hairstyle)
The Beehive is a woman's hairstyle that resembles a beehive; it is elegant and it is also known as the B-52, for its similarity to the bulbous nose of the B-52 Stratofortress bomber. It originated as one of a variety of elaborately teased and lacquered versions of "big hair" that developed from...
(in place of the traditional pointy hat
Pointy hat
Pointed hats have been a distinctive item of headgear of a wide range of cultures throughout history. Though often suggesting an ancient Indo-European tradition, they were also traditionally worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq people of Atlantic Canada, and the Huastecs of Veracruz...
) and glasses (which Kamiya "really pushed for ... to differentiate Bayonetta from other female characters and give her a sense of mystery and intelligence"). Conversely, Shimazaki "didn't require a huge amount of effort" to design Bayonetta's short-haired, red-clothed rival Jeanne, who merely wears her glasses on her head above her eyes. She added plumes to Jeanne's handguns to add movement to the design, and thick makeup to Jeanne's face to "make [her] feel like something out of the 1960s". Though Shimazaki preferred Bayonetta, Jeanne turned out to be the more popular of the two witches among Kamiya and the development team. Still, in an April 2009 interview, Kamiya called the former "in many ways ... my ideal woman".
Though the game's director "deliberately created Bayonetta from scratch" and has called its story "completely original", he has admitted using "some names from Scandinavian mythology
Norse mythology
Norse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
" and playing "about half of" Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 4 is an action game that was published and developed by Capcom in 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows platforms. The game is the fourth installment to the Devil May Cry series....
for research. As a fan of folk music, he also named Bayonetta's set of four handguns after the old English ballad "Scarborough Fair
Scarborough Fair
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional ballad of the United Kingdom.The song tells the tale of a young man, who tells the listener to ask his former lover to perform for him a series of impossible tasks, such as making him a shirt without a seam and then washing it in a dry well, adding that if she...
", and its individual guns Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme. Hiroshi Yamaguchi focused on composing music for the game that has a "nice up-tempo beat" and expresses femininity through female choirs, pianos, and other beautiful' instruments"—though some tracks also use pure orchestra or folk instrument
Folk instrument
A folk instrument is an instrument that developed among common people and usually doesn't have a known inventor. It can be made from wood, metal or other material. It is a part of folk music...
s—while Kenichiro Yoshimura transformed Shimazaki's Bayonetta design into a game model and used the digital sculpting
Digital sculpting
Digital sculpting, also known as Sculpt Modeling or 3D Sculpting, is the use of software that offers tools to push, pull, smooth, grab, pinch or otherwise manipulate a digital object as if it were made of a real-life substance such as clay....
tool ZBrush
ZBrush
ZBrush is a digital sculpting tool that combines 3D/2.5D modeling, texturing and painting. It uses a proprietary "pixol" technology which stores lighting, color, material, and depth information for all objects on the screen...
to create normal maps
Normal mapping
In 3D computer graphics, normal mapping, or "Dot3 bump mapping", is a technique used for faking the lighting of bumps and dents. It is used to add details without using more polygons. A common use of this technique is to greatly enhance the appearance and details of a low polygon model by...
for its details. He worked with Shimazaki on the model's makeup, referred to foreign models with similar bodies, and said "I really wanted to get Bayonetta's backside perfect. I guess I am into that sort of thing..."
To Kamiya, the core theme of the game and its protagonist's attacks is "sexiness". He said Bayonetta's ability to transform into a panther reflected the developers' desire to "make her a sexy witch". To emphasize "her femininity and sexuality", the developers made Bayonetta lose rose petals instead of blood when hit, and used a butterfly motif that manifests in her wings (which appear in her shadow and during double jumps), her giant fist attack (a butterfly appears on the back of the fist), and the arms of her glasses. Her giant boot, fist, and monster attacks reveal some of her body—her hair is magically formed into clothes but must be temporarily reallocated to forming offensive weapons—and when the player targets an enemy, red lips mark the enemy's chest; this led IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
to call the developing game a mix of "action and a great big helping of fan service
Fan service
, fanservice, or , is a term originating from anime and manga fandom for material in a series which is intentionally added to please the audience. It is about "servicing" the fan - giving the fans "exactly what they want"...
". The game's sexual tone is reflected in its age rating in the United States: the Entertainment Software Rating Board
Entertainment Software Rating Board
The Entertainment Software Rating Board is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and content ratings, enforces industry-adopted advertising guidelines, and ensures responsible online privacy principles for computer and video games as well as entertainment software in Canada, Mexico and...
rated the developing game "Mature" ("M", for ages 17 and older) for containing "Partial Nudity" and "Suggestive Themes", as well as "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence," and "Strong Language". (By comparison, Japan's Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
Computer Entertainment Rating Organization
The is a Japanese entertainment rating organization based in Tokyo. rating video game content in console games with levels of rating that informs the customer of the nature of the product and for what age group it is suitable...
rated the game "D", also for those ages; the British Board of Film Classification
British Board of Film Classification
The British Board of Film Classification , originally British Board of Film Censors, is a non-governmental organisation, funded by the film industry and responsible for the national classification of films within the United Kingdom...
rated the game "15" for "strong language and bloody violence"; and it is rated "18" under the PEGI
Pan European Game Information
Pan European Game Information is a European video game content rating system established to help European parents make informed decisions on buying computer games with logos on games boxes. It was developed by the Interactive Software Federation of Europe and came into use in April 2003; it...
system used in the United Kingdom and other European countries for its use of violence and language.)
Kamiya had worked on previous games such as Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry (series)
Devil May Cry is a series of five action hack and slash video games set in the modern day. The series was developed by Capcom and created by Hideki Kamiya. Originally intended to be a sequel in Capcom's Resident Evil series, Devil May Cry was such a radical departure from the series' style that it...
, Viewtiful Joe
Viewtiful Joe
is a video game developed by Capcom's Production Studio 4 for the Nintendo GameCube. It was originally released in 2003 as a part of the Capcom Five under director Hideki Kamiya and producer Atsushi Inaba. Viewtiful Joe was later ported to the Sony PlayStation 2 by the same design team under the...
and Resident Evil, and as such, the game makes occasional references to these games, as well as other Clover Studios titles and various Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
franchises, such as a minigame inspired by Space Harrier
Space Harrier
is a third-person rail shooter game, released by Sega in 1985. It was produced by Yu Suzuki, responsible for many popular Sega games. It spawned several sequels: Space Harrier 3-D , Space Harrier II , and the spin-off Planet Harriers ....
,
Versions and merchandise
DemosGame demo
A game demo is a freely distributed demonstration or preview of an upcoming or recently released video game. Demos are typically released by the game's publisher to help consumers get a feel of the game before deciding whether to buy the full version....
of Bayonetta were released on Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
and PlayStation Network in Japan on October 8, 2009, and internationally on December 3, 2009. The full game was released on October 29, 2009, in Japan, and was later released in other regions in 2010: January 5 in North America, January 7 in Australia, and January 8 in Europe. Sega announced on August 26, 2009, that Japanese pop singer MiChi
Michi
is the twenty-third single of Japanese pop band Exile. It was released on February 14, 2007 and was limited to 100,000 copies. The song has been certified as being downloaded more than 1,000,000 times as a ringtone by the RIAJ, and more than 250,000 times as a full-length download to cellphones.-...
would perform "Something Missing", written for a Bayonetta commercial. The commercial, which has since been shown on the game's official Japanese website, touts the game as "" and features a model dressed as Bayonetta with a lollipop.
A 150-song, five-CD soundtrack for the game was scheduled for a November 4 release. Another soundtrack CD, Rodin's Selection, was created for inclusion with pre-order
Pre-order
A pre-order is an order placed for an item which has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came when people found it hard to get popular items in stores due to their popularity. Companies were then given the idea to allow people to reserve their own personal copy, before the release, ...
ed copies of the game. It comes packaged in a brown jacket styled as a menu from Rodin's bar "The Gates of Hell". Sega of Europe released a ∞ Climax Edition (or simply Climax Edition) of the game in the UK, France, Spain, and Australia, which included the game, the Rodin's Selection tracks packaged in a black-and-red jacket with the game logo, and an artbook. Pre-orders in Australia and "most European territories" included a replica of one of Bayonetta's "Scarborough Fair" guns.
Bayonetta Witch of Vigrid, a book with pictures of the title character and an "interview" with her, was released on October 22, 2009. By then, a Bayonetta theme had been made available for the Google Chrome
Google Chrome
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...
browser. At the 2009 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Sega chose Penny Drake
Penny Drake
Penny Drake is an American Independent film actress and model. She is the daughter of a Southern Baptist pastor.Her modelling career since 2008 has included work for Herra Couture, Flora Zeta and Ed Hardy...
to model as Bayonetta after auditioning 100 women. The company then joined men's lifestyle website Maxim.com
Dennis Digital
Dennis Digital is the interactive Internet and mobile division of Dennis Publishing, which publishes Maxim, Stuff, Blender and The Week.-Overview:...
to run a contest to find women who looked like Bayonetta. The grand prize winner, Andrea Bonaccorso, announced on November 23, 2009, received an Xbox 360, a 50-inch plasma television, and a copy of the 360 version of the game.
An update for the PlayStation 3 version was released on January 28, allowing players to install the game on their hard drive, dramatically reducing load times.
A song entitled "Reaping Beauty" by MC Lars
MC Lars
Andrew Robert MacFarlane Nielsen is an American rapper, known by his stage name MC Lars. He is the self-proclaimed originator of "post-punk laptop rap". He was one of the first underground rappers to sample and reference post-punk and emo bands...
and featuring Beefy, Random, Tina Root
Tina Root
Tina Root , also now known as Tina Minero, is an American classically trained female vocalist and songwriter from Los Angeles, California, perhaps most famous for her work performing as the lead singer of Switchblade Symphony during the mid-to-late-1990s...
of Small Halo and SMP was included on the second re-release of Lars' album 21 Concepts (But a Hit Ain't One)
21 Concepts (But a Hit Ain't One)
21 Concepts is a collection of MC Lars' B-sides, collaborations and remixes. It was originally released via his website in 2007, and was re-released - with a different tracklisting - on CD in 2010....
. The song is directly inspired by Bayonetta, and heavily references the title character and many of the game's aesthetic and gameplay elements.
Original soundtrack
The Bayonetta original soundtrack has only been released in Japan. The album contains five discs with 150 tracks used in the game. Helena NoguerraHelena Noguerra
Helena Noguerra is a Belgian actress, singer and television presenter of Portuguese descent. She is the sister of singer Lio....
provided the main vocals for the theme of Bayonetta.
Tracklist
Rodin's Selection
Rodin's Selection is a special soundtrack included with Japanese preorders of Bayonetta. Its six tracks are scheduled for inclusion in the game's Climax Edition for PAL regions.Pre-release
Cam Shea of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
Australia praised the developing game in March 2009 as "absolutely stunning-looking" and "a balls-out action game set amongst glorious European architecture", and called its titular witch their "new favourite videogame character ever ... even cooler than [Devil May Cry main character] Dante ... she has the playfulness and versatility of Dante, but wrapped up in some of the most visually inventive combat we've seen in a long while". Similarly, GameSpy
GameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
's Gerald Villoria praised the game in July that year as highly original to the point that it could end up like the poor-selling Ōkami
Okami
is an action-adventure video game developed by Clover Studio and published by Capcom. It was released for Sony's PlayStation 2 video game console in 2006 in Japan and North America, and 2007 in Europe and Australia...
(another Kamiya-directed game) for it—"the premise, the characters, the action sequences, they're all entirely different from anything else I've ever seen," he wrote—and called its lead a "constantly moving", "remarkably multi-faceted" character "presented in an ultra-stylish way".
Matt Leone of 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
said of a pre-release version of the game's PS3 port at E3 2009: "The first thing I noticed was that, at the end of a normal combo, you can hold down the final button in the string to continuously fire gunshots—which looks incredibly cool when you kick someone and then keep your leg pointed at their face as your foot pours bullets on it." He added, "I'll be amazed if Bayonetta doesn't end up being one of the best action games this year." Staff at GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
UK were also generally impressed with the PS3 port, which they played on June 3. They called the "Witch Time" mechanic a "cool move" and one of the two boss battles they fought "pretty intense", and said "it's easy to see the similarities between the two over-the-top action games [Bayonetta and Devil May Cry]". They added, "Rampant violence and sexism is par for the course" in the game. 1UP's staff again played a PS3 version for 15 minutes on the weekend of August 31 that year, at Platinum Games's "Feel Bayonetta" event in Tokyo's Roppongi
Roppongi
is a district of Minato, Tokyo, Japan, famous as home to the rich Roppongi Hills area and an active night club scene. Many foreign embassies are located in Roppongi, and the night life is popular with locals and foreigners alike...
district. They said that it "was very blurry" compared to a 360 version displayed there, and that its frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
"was all over the place. ... it was often hard to keep track of the action [in one scene] because of the graphical issues on PS3."
Bayonetta was one of twelve games to receive a Japan Game Awards 2009 "Future Division" award at Tokyo Game Show
Tokyo Game Show
The , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
2009. At the show, Daniel Feit of Wired News
Wired News
Wired News is an online technology news website, formerly known as HotWired, that split off from Wired magazine when the magazine was purchased by Condé Nast Publishing in the 1990s. Wired News was owned by Lycos not long after the split, until Condé Nast purchased Wired News on July 11, 2006...
played both versions and felt the 360 version was "a little brighter and more colorful ... while the PS3 version cut scenes feel like you're watching a movie through a sepia filter." He found the game's commands easy to learn and perform, but criticized the camera angles sometimes used in the game in both versions: "When Bayonetta runs too close to the edge of a scene, the camera can automatically focus on her and the wall instead of showing the enemies cornering her. Some of her larger hair-based attacks can also obscure the action." Other reviewers compared her to former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
for her appearance and her glasses in particular. Kamiya has said of the comparisons, "in the US they say Sarah Palin. In Japan, they always bring up people like [singer-songwriter] Angela Aki
Angela Aki
, born Kiyomi Angela Aki on September 15, 1977, is a Japanese pop singer-songwriter, guitarist and pianist from Itano, Tokushima, Japan.-Early life:...
. I think they say something similar in every country. That country's famous glasses girl. ... The thing with that impression is, you know, we've put out plenty of trailers now, and when you play the game and see the cutscenes, I think people will recognize Bayonetta as Bayonetta. Then people will look at Sarah Palin and say that she looks like Bayonetta."
Release
| IGN UK IGN IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment... |
Game of the Year Game of the Year Game of the Year is a title awarded by various magazines, websites, and shows to a deserving game. Many are only for PC or console video games... |
| GameSpot GameSpot GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which... |
Best Boss Fights |
| GameSpot GameSpot GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which... |
Best Original IP |
| GameTrailers GameTrailers GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create... |
Best New IP |
| Giant Bomb Giant Bomb Giant Bomb is an American video game website and wiki that includes gaming news, reviews, commentary, and video, created by former GameSpot editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis in collaboration with Whiskey Media... |
Best Debut |
Sinobi, a Japanese blog known for its early sales data, reported Bayonetta sold 138,000 copies—93,000 for the PS3 and 45,000 for the 360—on its day of release in the country. Media Create
Media Create
is a Japanese company that "gathers and analyzes data from the digital entertainment industry, specifically focusing on the Japanese console gaming market...
reported the PS3 version sold 135,242 copies and was the top-selling game during its week of release there, while the 360 version sold 64,325 copies and charted at number seven. Phil Elliott of GamesIndustry.biz called the 360 version's lower sales figures "a very strong performance for the Microsoft platform, relative to installed base". The two releases fell to number eight and number 15 respectively the following week. By March 31, 2010, Bayonetta sold 1.35 million units worldwide.
A few days before Bayonetta release, Japanese gaming publication Famitsu
Famitsu
is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five Famitsū magazines: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS3 + PSP, Famitsū Xbox 360, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
awarded the Xbox 360 version a perfect 40 out of 40. The PlayStation 3 version received a slightly lower 38 out of 40, due to scores of nine from two of its four reviewers. As others did pre-release, the two reviewers criticized the PS3 port's frame rate problems; one thought the difference from the 360 version was slight. One was quoted as saying, "the fun is the same, but the controls and overall look [on the PS3] feel a bit more unwieldy than the Xbox 360 one, which is a shame." UK magazine Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
awarded the game a score of 10 out of 10, praising the game's combat system for being both deep and based around clear rules which are immediately accessible and well-taught to the player. Edge singled out the upgrade from Normal to Hard difficulties as "where Bayonetta transitions from the great to the legendary," concluding, "it's difficult to recall another third-person actioner that feels so worth mastering."
Ryan Clements of IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
gave the 360 version a 9.5 out of 10 and the PS3 version an 8.2. In separate reviews for each version, he called the game "stylish, entertaining", and "unique", and its voice work "a bit campy but still extremely enjoyable", but said its "plot is all over the place" and "isn't as skillfully told as game stories like Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
and Uncharted. In his 360 version review, he called the game an "incredible work" with "final moments ... alone worth the price of admission", but said it sometimes exhibited minor "screen tearing and slowdown, which happen during explorative sections and intense action sequences, respectively". He said the PS3 version was "still a fun game" but had "a lot of problems, primary among them being the excessive slowdown and loading":
Gamearena rated the game 5 out of 10, criticizing the depiction of the heroine, saying "It starts to feel awkward after not too long, and a little insulting, as it seems like the game expects you to leer and ogle her at every chance you get. You are practically begged to actively position her into sexually suggestive poses and maneuver her as you please, and at the same time think of her as a strong and sexy heroine, not some object you can... actively position into sexually suggestive poses and maneuver as you please." The review also discussed the game's lack of mass-market appeal - "Many people found DMC too campy and over-the-top, and Bayonetta makes it look monochrome in comparison. If you don't like the genre, Bayonetta will not change your mind."
GameSpot's video review lamented duller graphics and inconsistent frame rate
Frame rate
Frame rate is the frequency at which an imaging device produces unique consecutive images called frames. The term applies equally well to computer graphics, video cameras, film cameras, and motion capture systems...
s for its PS3 port
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
.
The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
review was not as forgiving as most others. "Bayonetta feels like a game that would have blown me away 15 years ago. (It even pays tribute to Sega arcade classics like "Space Harrier" and "Hang-On.") While it introduces an exotic new vision, it doesn't give us anything to do except fight, and its strictly linear story prevents you from exploring its distinctive universe. It's high on style, but less than satisfying."
Eurogamer rated it 9 out of 10, "The result is a game that exemplifies so much of what commentators claim has died in the Japanese game industry. A blast of creative brilliance, both technically accomplished, strategically deep and infused with rare imagination, Bayonetta represents the pinnacle of its chosen niche. "
GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
gave the game 10 out of 10. Nathan Irvine of their UK division said it "nails ... the epic scale of everything that unfolds before your eyes and the manner in which it's delivered", believed it was better than God of War Collection, Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 4
Devil May Cry 4 is an action game that was published and developed by Capcom in 2008 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows platforms. The game is the fourth installment to the Devil May Cry series....
, and Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2
Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, also known as Ninja Gaiden Σ 2, is an action-adventure game developed by Team Ninja for the PlayStation 3. It is an enhanced port of Ninja Gaiden II.-Plot:...
, and praised its "superb action" and humor (such as "Luka doing his best Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed is an award-winning historical third person, stealth action-adventure video game developed by Ubisoft for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows. The bulk of the game takes place during the Third Crusade, with the plot revolving around a sect known as the Secret Order of...
impression by looking moody in an Altair/Ezio style hood"). However, he said "the only time anything makes sense with Bayonetta story is right at the end", and complained about some of the game's Quick Time Event
Quick Time Event
In video games, a Quick Time Event is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen prompt. It allows for limited control of the game character during cut scenes or cinematic sequences in the game...
s (QTEs):
In contrast to Irvine, IGN UK's Martin Robinson said "it's not Devil May Cry, Ninja Gaiden or God of War that's the best point of reference but Super Mario Galaxy
Super Mario Galaxy
is a 3D platform game developed by Nintendo EAD Tokyo and published by Nintendo for the Wii. It was released in most regions in November 2007, and is the third 3D original platformer in the Mario series, after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine. The game follows the protagonist, Mario, on a...
": he felt Bayonetta, like the Nintendo game, "loves to tinker with the player's sense of perspective, and fights that begin on street surface often wind their way up the surrounding walls". Robinson praised the "fluid, intuitive and ultimately satisfying" combat system and "its conveyor belt of ever-more inventive foes. From the lowliest grunt to the most hulking of bosses", and said, "Even after two playthroughs we're discovering more and more to Bayonetta's move set each time we go back to the game." Still, he felt "a little too much time is given over to the exposition".
GameZone's Louis Bedigian gave both versions an 8.5 out of 10, saying "Bayonetta is one of those rare fantasy games that sounds crazy on paper but is absolutely genius in execution. Every level feels like a fresh journey through a hellish world – which says a lot for a game that is (believe it or not) a part of the hack-n-slash genre."
Nerve.com's Face-Off by John and Pete said Bayonetta is the videogame equivalent of Paul Kenyon's Baroness spy pulp novels.