Man, what a letdown. I beat Bayonetta 2 on Christmas Eve so naturally didn't have the time to write a review. But I thought it was an improvement on the original in basically every way. I loved it. So naturally I was really excited for this one even with all the dumb drama surrounding its release. Now that I've finally got to it... all I really feel is disappointment.
Before I start being too negative I'll say a few things I like about it. First of all I love how colorful this game is. My biggest complaint with the first game was how damn dreary it looked, and to see 2 and 3 be a lot more vibrant is pleasing. Plus the location variety is fun and helps keep things interesting (desperately needed). I also think there's a really fun selection of weapons to use, Tartarus and the yo-yo being my favorite. And! This game has a lot of dancing. I love dancing. I love Bayonetta dancing. But if this game thinks I'll forgive it for throwing a lot of dancing at the end after mostly boring me for 12 hours then its kinda wrong!
God this game was such a slog to get through for so much of it. The combat may be flashy and the weapons may be cool but it didn't feel fun. The new enemies are almost all just boring. And it feels entirely too reliant on the summoning which besides giving more dancing just makes the combat feel slow and sluggish. Then there is playing as Viola which is a whole other can of worms. You only play as her in three chapters and an epilogue but everything about her moveset is so basic that those three chapters end up feeling like some of the longest in the game. Besides the normal combat the game does switch things up a bit often. I do really like when games get funky with their genres so its appreciated here but even some things like the kaiju fights are just so helplessly boring. There is also Jeanne's side chapters (you don't get to call them Side Chapters and make them mandatory, fuck you) that shake things a bit too but its just.. I really don't know how else to put it. Its not fun.
All of this translates into the cutscenes too. I love the over the top cutscenes in the first two games and DMC but its just way too much here. Its almost all action with very little substance and they drag on and on. Multiple times I just found myself completely zoning out. It all felt mindless. So much creativity with so little love put into it. The story of course suffers from this. Theres very little plot but this game still has the most cutscenes in the series. The first games story was barely decipherable but still fun. 2's was quite enjoyable but still nothing amazing. But here in Bayo 3 its both hard to follow and not enjoyable. The whole multiverse thing is great potential that's handled spectacularly uninterestingly. Only does it really do cool things with it at the very end where its already too late. I actually didn't really mind the whole Viola-Bayo-Luka thing going on but the ending is just kinda bad. Viola is basically female Enzo and I don't hate him but we really did not need more of that. There are dozens of attempts at humor with her and they did not land for me a single time. And now with the game really heavily pushing that they want to continue the story with her as the new main character in Bayo 4? Yeah. My interest in this turning into a saga has almost entirely diminished.
Despite huge missteps with story and pacing, I didn't hate Bayonetta 3. It has cool colors and lots of dancing and Bayonetta is still one of my favorite video game characters. But, I just can't help but feel really disappointed having completed it. I was sure this could be an easy 4.5 for me but Im struggling to find enough reasons for why it deserves a 3/5. Its mostly just the dancing.
man :/
A few more things I wanted to add but didn't know where to fit in to the review. Jennifer Hale my queen does great as the new actress for Bayo. Having one voice line for being idle is annoying. New soundtrack is cool but Tomorrow is Mine still clears. The Switch needs a sequel desperately.
Thanks for reading <3
Nancymeter - 64/100
Game Completion #18 of April
Game Completion #88 of 2023
Before I start being too negative I'll say a few things I like about it. First of all I love how colorful this game is. My biggest complaint with the first game was how damn dreary it looked, and to see 2 and 3 be a lot more vibrant is pleasing. Plus the location variety is fun and helps keep things interesting (desperately needed). I also think there's a really fun selection of weapons to use, Tartarus and the yo-yo being my favorite. And! This game has a lot of dancing. I love dancing. I love Bayonetta dancing. But if this game thinks I'll forgive it for throwing a lot of dancing at the end after mostly boring me for 12 hours then its kinda wrong!
God this game was such a slog to get through for so much of it. The combat may be flashy and the weapons may be cool but it didn't feel fun. The new enemies are almost all just boring. And it feels entirely too reliant on the summoning which besides giving more dancing just makes the combat feel slow and sluggish. Then there is playing as Viola which is a whole other can of worms. You only play as her in three chapters and an epilogue but everything about her moveset is so basic that those three chapters end up feeling like some of the longest in the game. Besides the normal combat the game does switch things up a bit often. I do really like when games get funky with their genres so its appreciated here but even some things like the kaiju fights are just so helplessly boring. There is also Jeanne's side chapters (you don't get to call them Side Chapters and make them mandatory, fuck you) that shake things a bit too but its just.. I really don't know how else to put it. Its not fun.
All of this translates into the cutscenes too. I love the over the top cutscenes in the first two games and DMC but its just way too much here. Its almost all action with very little substance and they drag on and on. Multiple times I just found myself completely zoning out. It all felt mindless. So much creativity with so little love put into it. The story of course suffers from this. Theres very little plot but this game still has the most cutscenes in the series. The first games story was barely decipherable but still fun. 2's was quite enjoyable but still nothing amazing. But here in Bayo 3 its both hard to follow and not enjoyable. The whole multiverse thing is great potential that's handled spectacularly uninterestingly. Only does it really do cool things with it at the very end where its already too late. I actually didn't really mind the whole Viola-Bayo-Luka thing going on but the ending is just kinda bad. Viola is basically female Enzo and I don't hate him but we really did not need more of that. There are dozens of attempts at humor with her and they did not land for me a single time. And now with the game really heavily pushing that they want to continue the story with her as the new main character in Bayo 4? Yeah. My interest in this turning into a saga has almost entirely diminished.
Despite huge missteps with story and pacing, I didn't hate Bayonetta 3. It has cool colors and lots of dancing and Bayonetta is still one of my favorite video game characters. But, I just can't help but feel really disappointed having completed it. I was sure this could be an easy 4.5 for me but Im struggling to find enough reasons for why it deserves a 3/5. Its mostly just the dancing.
man :/
A few more things I wanted to add but didn't know where to fit in to the review. Jennifer Hale my queen does great as the new actress for Bayo. Having one voice line for being idle is annoying. New soundtrack is cool but Tomorrow is Mine still clears. The Switch needs a sequel desperately.
Thanks for reading <3
Nancymeter - 64/100
Game Completion #18 of April
Game Completion #88 of 2023