Insane game made by insane people. Playing 9 months or so after the game had launched, I've heard all about the discourse over the game's systems, over Viola, and of course the ending. Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect going into it. But as it turns out, the game is insane. And I loved every bit of it.
With a whooping FIFTY FIVE different movesets by my count, the game is constantly throwing new experiences at your face... and it pretty much always works! There's a couple of sections, particularly the spider chase in ch2 and any time Viola has to rely on witch time, that falter, but they are far between and are over in a couple minutes max.
Viola as a whole, although she's a fair step down from playing as Bayonetta, is only around for like an hour of the game. Her parry Witch TIme does suck, but its pretty easy to get by in the main game without hitting it much at all (all of the witch time reliance is in side fights), so it never got frustrating. Really, I don't understand why she's such a sticking point for a lot of people.
As for Bayonetta, she controls better than ever, one of the best controlling characters I've ever experienced. THe Demon Slave system integrates seemlessly into her existing movesets. It was so fun to pull off combos switching between Bayonetta and the demons, and I ended up using a wide variety of them throughout the game.
The story wasn't very good, unsurprisingly. It's better than Bayonetta 2's, probably 1's as well. I could actually understand what was going on for most of the plot, which is a marked improvement. I understand why people were so upset by the ending, but I was left feeling rather ambivalent to the negative parts of it. They'll be back, probably. This series hasn't suggested any reason why they wouldn't.
All the negatives were eclipsed by the one fanservicey section that made me fangirl harder than any game has in a while. It was crazy, it was a unique segment structured for like 2 minutes of gameplay, it felt great. It encapsulated everything so great about Bayonetta 3.
With a whooping FIFTY FIVE different movesets by my count, the game is constantly throwing new experiences at your face... and it pretty much always works! There's a couple of sections, particularly the spider chase in ch2 and any time Viola has to rely on witch time, that falter, but they are far between and are over in a couple minutes max.
Viola as a whole, although she's a fair step down from playing as Bayonetta, is only around for like an hour of the game. Her parry Witch TIme does suck, but its pretty easy to get by in the main game without hitting it much at all (all of the witch time reliance is in side fights), so it never got frustrating. Really, I don't understand why she's such a sticking point for a lot of people.
As for Bayonetta, she controls better than ever, one of the best controlling characters I've ever experienced. THe Demon Slave system integrates seemlessly into her existing movesets. It was so fun to pull off combos switching between Bayonetta and the demons, and I ended up using a wide variety of them throughout the game.
The story wasn't very good, unsurprisingly. It's better than Bayonetta 2's, probably 1's as well. I could actually understand what was going on for most of the plot, which is a marked improvement. I understand why people were so upset by the ending, but I was left feeling rather ambivalent to the negative parts of it. They'll be back, probably. This series hasn't suggested any reason why they wouldn't.
All the negatives were eclipsed by the one fanservicey section that made me fangirl harder than any game has in a while. It was crazy, it was a unique segment structured for like 2 minutes of gameplay, it felt great. It encapsulated everything so great about Bayonetta 3.
Hugh
11 months ago