God. Where do i start. First things first this game isnt the unmitigated disaster that some were expecting, and its definitely not the unimpeachable action messiah that even fewer were. It's Fun(tm), but with some strikingly obvious warts.

The moment-to-moment action is really enjoyable when playing as bayonetta herself; unlike Bayo2, witch time is strong but not overly generous - the new enemies have tricky attack animations that "catch" less frequently on your dodge frames, in addition to tighter hitboxes. The problem here is mostly that its Easy To Not Have To Dodge At All because the enemies just Dont Hit You.

The new weapon system leaves something to be desired. Designwise the new tools are great, as always, but losing the interchangeable hands/feet weapon equip slots hurts. You never feel like you have enough options, despite having roughly the same amount of discrete tools at your disposal at a given time.

The summon system is fun, if not spectacular in motion. Having madama butterfly explode out of a circle of blood and do a seismic tetsuzanko that clears an entire room is viscerally satisfying, but the thrill leaves just as fast as it sets in. The summons are either crushingly powerful or pathetically limp and difficult to parse, often grinding the forward momentum of individual verses to a painful, tooth-grinding crawl. you Can just elect to not use them, but you then cut the nose off of your proverbial face.

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I have a sneaking suspicion that some in the platinum games office enjoyed working on Nier Automata a bit too much, to bayonetta's detriment. The quirky direction changes of automata rear their head in a much uglier way here - derailing the action for many, Many slow and gimmicky setpieces. 1 had them, 2 had them in spades, and 3 follows its elder sibling's precedent. They totally kill the pace of the game and make me never want to replay this one, even if it sucks to know ill never get those platinums.

This is the main issue 3 seems to have, it doesn't know when to turn off the charm and just make you fucking play. Automata's gameplay left-turns were largely a carryover from Nier Replicant's tortured, low-budget development - the gameplay version of Citizen Kane's parrot to keep the audience awake. Here, they just seem baffling. They're cool to watch, occasionally cool to play (thank you, wartrain gouon), but crushingly boring to think about replaying. I just wanna do combos for fucks sake.

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Ive finished it. The great beast is dead.

Team little angels, there is not a force on this earth that could shield you from my wrath.