Wow. We have officially reached peak character action, and I'm not sure if it will ever be matched.
I'd been waiting for Bayonetta 3, like zillions of others for years upon years, starving for anything more than the short teaser trailer they showed what felt like eons ago. When we finally got the Project GG fakeout trailer, I jumped for joy, screamed, did a jig, and kept waiting. To say that there had been expectations for the Umbral Witch's third entry would be an excessive understatement, as the first two beloved entries delivered something so right to gaming that was foreign to the medium. Bayonetta is an unapologetically raunchy and sexy character with a sense of humor derived straight from her Devil May Cry DNA, with an arsenal of moves that would put a Joestar to shame.
Now to the game itself. I expected to have a good time, playing through a campaign and getting on to the next game, hopefully satiated with my favorite femme fatale. What I didn't expect was to have an experience where I'd smile from ear to ear the entire time, laugh out loud to the point where it hurt, and tear up upon the games conclusion. Bayonetta to me was always a "fun" series in games 1 and 2, and even the anime, but it dawned on me with 3 that it was more than a game, but a memory to hold and take with me. What Platinum never fails to do with their character action games (MG: Revengance, Nier: Automata, Astral Chain) is keep the gameplay loop fresh, evolving from entry to entry with something new yet familiar so fans of the companies attention to making action fun feel rewarded and continiously interested in what is yet to come. In Bayonetta 1 you become familiar with Witch Time and ultra tight dodging and 1 on 1 combat with humanoids and massive angels alike. Bayonetta 2 begins to think bigger with its addition of the demonic elements into your routine arsenal. Bayonetta 3 takes the series' formula and supersizes it, giving the titular witch an entire arsenal of Kaiju-demons and weapons to bring with her in battle. I LOVED this, as it gives FULL agency to the player in making Bayonetta the game THEY want while keeping the game in its base alive. I played with Bayonetta's legendary pistol as my main weapon and toyed around with secondaries. Going from the G-Pillar (which is an awesome name) associated with Gomorrah, and the massive trainsaw associated with totally not DoomTrain from FFVIII. Being able to summon Doom Train, Gomorrah, and Madame Butterfly in combat whenever my meter was high made fights feel epic and grandiose, as they should with the series. Having the ability to jump between my fast combo and a heavy hitting G-Pillar or Trainsaw (I forgot the actually name but its a chainsaw made out of a train so I'm running with it) felt great because I could weave in and out of combat and do big damage when I wanted. With each area you visit, you gain a new demon to summon and weapon to use, meaning that your experience will vary from location to location and you'll have the time and availability to try out each set. Platinum's been phenomenal with player agency ever since Kamiya began his journey on the DMC series, bringing with him total player control at each step of his character action expertise (and even outside of it, like with Wonderful 101.) In all, Bayonetta 3's combat feels like a player sandbox, throwing enemies at you and letting the player decide on the best route to take to remedy opposition. This made the entire experience a delight, as I didn't feel hamfisted into playing a certain way.
Many games have experimented with adding new playable characters to series with a beloved protagonist to varying success. Metal Gear Solid 2 had the infamous Big Shell fakeout where players discover they're going to play the majority of the game as the freshly minted Raiden instead of the heroic Solid Snake. Yakuza 4 which I recently played has the player split between four characters, the last of which you play being the Dragon of Dojima. Devil May Cry 4 drops the hot headed and bragadocious Nero on the player, a cringe, young, unfamiliar blonde with an attitude and a whole lot to say. Speaking of cringe, young, blonde, and hot headed... Bayonetta 3 introduces a new playable character: Viola. Viola is cringe, there's no way to go around that, but remember Luka in Bayonetta 1? In 2? He's as cringe as they come, but with Bayonetta's self aware satire and humour, it fits like a glove. She's annoying... but it's alright in the scope of the game at hand. Tasked with saving the multiverse, she is mostly inexperienced and unready for the objective at large, which is perfectly contrasted with the aged Bayonetta in her third attempt at righting the ship. I didn't love her playstyle at first, but the totally not Nero stand-in, grew on me as I played and eventually graced into the game's last chapter. She uses a katana, with one of her special combo's being practically Vergil's judgement cut, coupled with the familiar (if you've played Bayonetta 1&2) Cheshire summon who can aid her in combat. With no built in witch time mechanic it was very tough to understand how to play her at first, as you're more or less implored to take a Metal Gear Rising approach to fighting. Making use of perfect parry's allows for witch time with Viola, which admittably was rather tough to master because her block button is the same (when double tapped) as her gap closer, meaning that players must use dilligent timing and patience to master the art of not taking damage. While I ultimately enjoyed Bayonetta's gameplay WAY more than I did Viola's, I applaud Platinum for the risk they took in making a bold and brash character like Viola with a completely different moveset.
Difficulty is an interesting concept with Bayonetta and Platinum at large. The concept of an action game being hard is largely subjective, as reflexes and attention span vary from person to person. I found Bloodborne for example to be, generally speaking, quite easy, which is the opposite of what many others will say. Now, I'm not alone in that quip but it is just a sign of how the opinion of a reviewer in stating a game's difficulty should always be called into question in regards to the reader's own experience. What is easy for me, may be hard for you. Now I've played many Platinum Games' games at this point... starting with Bayonetta (and going even further into all the DMC games if you take in Kamiya's repertoire) into Rising, Automata, Astral Chain, Bayonetta 2, into Bayonetta 3 so I'm quite familiar with the way these games are meant to be played and the requirements for dodge timings and damage windows. I found Bayonetta 3 to be quite easy, not necessarily because of the difficulty of combat in and of itself, but the tools Platinum gives players to just up and complete the game. Gone is the increasing cost of restorative items that grew out of DMC and in is the ability to purchase healing/power items ad nauseum. I LOVED how I had a safety net of healing and damage items in case I ran into difficult enemies. Did it make the game easier? Sure, but did it make it "less fun" because I didn't have to spend as much time grinding in enemy encounters so I understood each and every witch time moment? No.
The story is light, but who really cares? It's serviceable enough in the nearly 14 hours it took me to complete and gives moments of comedy and sorrow to each of the series' mainstays. Enzo, Rodin, Jeanne, Luka, and Bayonetta all return with a new look but retain their unique brands of exposition. Jeanne is beautiful once again, Bayonetta is even beautifulist (that is a word I will only use in regards to Bayonetta,) and Viola was quite astonishing as well. You'll travel from location to location and meet some very intricate characters that all will repeat familiar stories and moments, with their tragic downfalls becoming a trend to the game's climax. I don't want to spoil anything but damn, if I didn't say that the Chinese location had one of the most eye-candy characters in gaming history I would be lying. Also, riding a train on the Great Wall of totally not China will shooting cannons at a Kaiju before summoning a massive Demon to have a bubblebath fight is an absolutely unforgettable and unbeatable moment in gaming history.
Music has only improved in each Bayonetta entry with 3 being the complete peak of the series thus far. Bayonetta's theme is incredible, and Viola's totally not Paramore combat theme is going to be a popular listen for me in the weeks to come. The motifs/themes in each level and at familiar moments of the games are excellently laid as is usual with Platinum, adding even more to the basically flawless game at large.
I know there was a lot of controversy about it, and I did really love Hellena Taylor as Bayonetta but man... Jennifer Hale is gonna do what Jennifer Hale is gonna do. She does a PHENOMENAL job voicing Bayonetta, even as an Canadian-American. She crushed it, and I'm really happy she's who Platinum was able to get.
I knew this game would make me happy, but I didn't know how much. I didn't know this game would make me cry at the ending. I didn't know how much Bayonetta as a franchise meant to me. I didn't know this would make me reflect on my experience with Platinum and Kamiya to this degree. Bayonetta 3 knocked every single expectation I had for the Umbral Witch out of the park to never be seen again. Bayonetta 3 is peak, peak gaming, peak action, peak Bayonetta. This is a MUST play to fans of the franchise, and of character action games. Platinum went all that and then some to make this feel like the ultimate experience.
I'd been waiting for Bayonetta 3, like zillions of others for years upon years, starving for anything more than the short teaser trailer they showed what felt like eons ago. When we finally got the Project GG fakeout trailer, I jumped for joy, screamed, did a jig, and kept waiting. To say that there had been expectations for the Umbral Witch's third entry would be an excessive understatement, as the first two beloved entries delivered something so right to gaming that was foreign to the medium. Bayonetta is an unapologetically raunchy and sexy character with a sense of humor derived straight from her Devil May Cry DNA, with an arsenal of moves that would put a Joestar to shame.
Now to the game itself. I expected to have a good time, playing through a campaign and getting on to the next game, hopefully satiated with my favorite femme fatale. What I didn't expect was to have an experience where I'd smile from ear to ear the entire time, laugh out loud to the point where it hurt, and tear up upon the games conclusion. Bayonetta to me was always a "fun" series in games 1 and 2, and even the anime, but it dawned on me with 3 that it was more than a game, but a memory to hold and take with me. What Platinum never fails to do with their character action games (MG: Revengance, Nier: Automata, Astral Chain) is keep the gameplay loop fresh, evolving from entry to entry with something new yet familiar so fans of the companies attention to making action fun feel rewarded and continiously interested in what is yet to come. In Bayonetta 1 you become familiar with Witch Time and ultra tight dodging and 1 on 1 combat with humanoids and massive angels alike. Bayonetta 2 begins to think bigger with its addition of the demonic elements into your routine arsenal. Bayonetta 3 takes the series' formula and supersizes it, giving the titular witch an entire arsenal of Kaiju-demons and weapons to bring with her in battle. I LOVED this, as it gives FULL agency to the player in making Bayonetta the game THEY want while keeping the game in its base alive. I played with Bayonetta's legendary pistol as my main weapon and toyed around with secondaries. Going from the G-Pillar (which is an awesome name) associated with Gomorrah, and the massive trainsaw associated with totally not DoomTrain from FFVIII. Being able to summon Doom Train, Gomorrah, and Madame Butterfly in combat whenever my meter was high made fights feel epic and grandiose, as they should with the series. Having the ability to jump between my fast combo and a heavy hitting G-Pillar or Trainsaw (I forgot the actually name but its a chainsaw made out of a train so I'm running with it) felt great because I could weave in and out of combat and do big damage when I wanted. With each area you visit, you gain a new demon to summon and weapon to use, meaning that your experience will vary from location to location and you'll have the time and availability to try out each set. Platinum's been phenomenal with player agency ever since Kamiya began his journey on the DMC series, bringing with him total player control at each step of his character action expertise (and even outside of it, like with Wonderful 101.) In all, Bayonetta 3's combat feels like a player sandbox, throwing enemies at you and letting the player decide on the best route to take to remedy opposition. This made the entire experience a delight, as I didn't feel hamfisted into playing a certain way.
Many games have experimented with adding new playable characters to series with a beloved protagonist to varying success. Metal Gear Solid 2 had the infamous Big Shell fakeout where players discover they're going to play the majority of the game as the freshly minted Raiden instead of the heroic Solid Snake. Yakuza 4 which I recently played has the player split between four characters, the last of which you play being the Dragon of Dojima. Devil May Cry 4 drops the hot headed and bragadocious Nero on the player, a cringe, young, unfamiliar blonde with an attitude and a whole lot to say. Speaking of cringe, young, blonde, and hot headed... Bayonetta 3 introduces a new playable character: Viola. Viola is cringe, there's no way to go around that, but remember Luka in Bayonetta 1? In 2? He's as cringe as they come, but with Bayonetta's self aware satire and humour, it fits like a glove. She's annoying... but it's alright in the scope of the game at hand. Tasked with saving the multiverse, she is mostly inexperienced and unready for the objective at large, which is perfectly contrasted with the aged Bayonetta in her third attempt at righting the ship. I didn't love her playstyle at first, but the totally not Nero stand-in, grew on me as I played and eventually graced into the game's last chapter. She uses a katana, with one of her special combo's being practically Vergil's judgement cut, coupled with the familiar (if you've played Bayonetta 1&2) Cheshire summon who can aid her in combat. With no built in witch time mechanic it was very tough to understand how to play her at first, as you're more or less implored to take a Metal Gear Rising approach to fighting. Making use of perfect parry's allows for witch time with Viola, which admittably was rather tough to master because her block button is the same (when double tapped) as her gap closer, meaning that players must use dilligent timing and patience to master the art of not taking damage. While I ultimately enjoyed Bayonetta's gameplay WAY more than I did Viola's, I applaud Platinum for the risk they took in making a bold and brash character like Viola with a completely different moveset.
Difficulty is an interesting concept with Bayonetta and Platinum at large. The concept of an action game being hard is largely subjective, as reflexes and attention span vary from person to person. I found Bloodborne for example to be, generally speaking, quite easy, which is the opposite of what many others will say. Now, I'm not alone in that quip but it is just a sign of how the opinion of a reviewer in stating a game's difficulty should always be called into question in regards to the reader's own experience. What is easy for me, may be hard for you. Now I've played many Platinum Games' games at this point... starting with Bayonetta (and going even further into all the DMC games if you take in Kamiya's repertoire) into Rising, Automata, Astral Chain, Bayonetta 2, into Bayonetta 3 so I'm quite familiar with the way these games are meant to be played and the requirements for dodge timings and damage windows. I found Bayonetta 3 to be quite easy, not necessarily because of the difficulty of combat in and of itself, but the tools Platinum gives players to just up and complete the game. Gone is the increasing cost of restorative items that grew out of DMC and in is the ability to purchase healing/power items ad nauseum. I LOVED how I had a safety net of healing and damage items in case I ran into difficult enemies. Did it make the game easier? Sure, but did it make it "less fun" because I didn't have to spend as much time grinding in enemy encounters so I understood each and every witch time moment? No.
The story is light, but who really cares? It's serviceable enough in the nearly 14 hours it took me to complete and gives moments of comedy and sorrow to each of the series' mainstays. Enzo, Rodin, Jeanne, Luka, and Bayonetta all return with a new look but retain their unique brands of exposition. Jeanne is beautiful once again, Bayonetta is even beautifulist (that is a word I will only use in regards to Bayonetta,) and Viola was quite astonishing as well. You'll travel from location to location and meet some very intricate characters that all will repeat familiar stories and moments, with their tragic downfalls becoming a trend to the game's climax. I don't want to spoil anything but damn, if I didn't say that the Chinese location had one of the most eye-candy characters in gaming history I would be lying. Also, riding a train on the Great Wall of totally not China will shooting cannons at a Kaiju before summoning a massive Demon to have a bubblebath fight is an absolutely unforgettable and unbeatable moment in gaming history.
Music has only improved in each Bayonetta entry with 3 being the complete peak of the series thus far. Bayonetta's theme is incredible, and Viola's totally not Paramore combat theme is going to be a popular listen for me in the weeks to come. The motifs/themes in each level and at familiar moments of the games are excellently laid as is usual with Platinum, adding even more to the basically flawless game at large.
I know there was a lot of controversy about it, and I did really love Hellena Taylor as Bayonetta but man... Jennifer Hale is gonna do what Jennifer Hale is gonna do. She does a PHENOMENAL job voicing Bayonetta, even as an Canadian-American. She crushed it, and I'm really happy she's who Platinum was able to get.
I knew this game would make me happy, but I didn't know how much. I didn't know this game would make me cry at the ending. I didn't know how much Bayonetta as a franchise meant to me. I didn't know this would make me reflect on my experience with Platinum and Kamiya to this degree. Bayonetta 3 knocked every single expectation I had for the Umbral Witch out of the park to never be seen again. Bayonetta 3 is peak, peak gaming, peak action, peak Bayonetta. This is a MUST play to fans of the franchise, and of character action games. Platinum went all that and then some to make this feel like the ultimate experience.