ElvenBenzene Bayonetta Review

Bayonetta is the standard that every action game should be held to, the combination of ultra-fluid combat, impeccable level design and phenomenal bosses is unmatched. The game is designed as a series of combat puzzles. It's a game less about brute force and more about finesse, often requiring you to use the environments themselves to your advantage. Because the entire game is built around these same core mechanics, the puzzles do not break the pacing of the game like they would in some other action titles. Everything feels like an extension of the combat itself. The combat itself is the main draw (as it should be), mechanics like Witch Time and Beast Within give you a nearly endless toolkit, where everything flows into everything else. The combination of on the fly weapon switching and various gauntlets allow you to customize your loadout heavily to tailor for a host of different playstyles. If you are a fan of Metal Gear Rising, you can equip the Moon of Mahaa-Kala to give yourself a proto Raiden parry (this is probably my favorite gauntlet). The game balances this fluid combat with bosses that actively punish button mashing and sloppy play, you need to learn every move in your arsenal, especially on higher difficulties. The story is entertaining in the standard Hideki Kamiya way, with a lot of dry, sarcastic, often sexually charged banter between characters. Dialogue like this is very hard to write properly, but Bayonetta does it well overall, in fact it's one of it's strengths. I did not expect to be as invested in the plot as I was. If there is one minor flaw with the game, it's the Alfheim sections. Not the sections themselves (they are often very fun optional challenges), but rather how you access some of them. In order to see an Alfheim portal, you must have reached a certain point in a level, and you must be looking in a certain direction from a specific zone in order for the portal to appear. In early levels the conditions are very forgiving, but in later levels, it can become ridiculous, with the last Alfheim portal's view point being only a few steps away from the no-return zone to trigger the boss fight. Bayonetta is a must play game, an absolute masterpiece.