Bayonetta manages to be one of the finest achievements in the hack and slash genre, and a hell of a lot of fun.
The fact is Platinum Games (formerly known as Clover Studios) knows the ingredients for a great game. Bayonetta is the perfect example. First things first, and that's the combat, because really whats a hack and slash without addictive combat? They went out of their way to ensure that gamers would visit for the style and stay for the visceral, often surreal combat. It's truly the finest part about the game, everything is spot on, nothing seems out of place or unnecessary. In fact, even the dodging technique becomes almost like a fun mini game on its own. The game demands you play it, by that I mean this is not the game you play for a few hours each week, because if you do that you'll be punished. Bayonetta is like learning how to skateboard, or how to play guitar, you stick with it until you have mastered it, or you will feel lost. In this way the game is similar to Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden franchise.
The games visuals do the trick, and too be honest they are nothing to brag about. The environments offer a cool, Gothic eastern European feel that sets the mood. In the later levels the environments change from your typical cityscape, or cathedral to a much more engaging surreal quality. One moment you'll be fighting atop a skyscraper, the next zooming down a highway stretch at godly speeds, to gunning down angels while ridding a missile to some Island. The game offers a variety of sights and sounds to keep you entertained. And speaking of entertained, the boss battles in Bayonetta seem to try to out do every other game in this genre, and prove that bigger is better.
Where Bayonetta takes it's biggest hit is in the storytelling department. I wasn't expecting Half Life quality narrative, but the best way to describe it would be a jagged mess of cutscenes, each making less sense than the other. The first half of the game does a good job of setting up character and setting, but the entire second half suffers from taking itself a little more serious than it should. It seems that the development team tried their hardest to "humanize" Bayonetta, forgetting that it's the complete oddity of her that makes her likable in the first place. Some of the jokes are hilarious however, and it's refreshing to see a video game that concentrates on comedy, because the one thing that is lacking from a good many games is that comedic factor. If I can say one thing that I learned from playing Bayonetta it's that I realized how important a good narrative is for any game that wants to last over the ten hour mark. With that being said, Bayonetta was not made for its story.
What else can be said about Bayonetta? It's a psycho sexual romp that holds a mirror up to the video game industry. It reflects everything that gamers who grew up in the 90's remember about console gaming. The flamboyant lead protagonist, the hyper sexual in your face attitude, the ridiculous don't blink or you're dead combat, and essence of what video games were made for, to be fun. I feel old already, that the industry I grew up with can have modern games pay homages, and nod their hats to glory days. That's exactly what Bayonetta purpose is, to remind us that video games have a place in popular entertainment. Video games do not need to try to be films, or "art", there origins are in pure entertainment. Like fast food, Bayonetta is something you enjoy, when in the back of your mind you know you shouldn't.