Bayonetta (360)

Well, i guess the first obvious question is to whether Bayonetta managed to live up to the massive amount of hype generated by the 10/10 review and the subsequent fanboy fur-ore (which i myself was guilty of) led to very high, almost unattainable expectations.

Combat-wise Bayonetta is without equal, other games of this genre such as Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden don't even come close to the fluidity and depth on show here, it truly is unparalleled in this department. Also for a next-gen title from a country which is apparently struggling to adjust to todays more western-centric video game industry Bayonetta is absolutely dripping with innovative little ideas and confidence. It's cheeky little references to other Clover, Capcom and Sega titles are particularly brilliant, my personal favourite being the RE4 merchant skit!












Unfortunately i do have some issues with Bayonetta, the gameplay itself may be pure gaming crack but i personally found the character and location design to be quite bland and samey, basically if you've played the demo then you've pretty much seen everything with regards to looks. Many of the enemies are just too similar and seem to mold into one.

Personally i found the character of Bayonetta herself to be a bit bland also, particularly her voice, the overtly sexualised design of her character doesn't bother me but it doesn't make her any more endearing either. I know in this genre that gameplay is the main thing but i just didn't find her as "cool" as Dante or Viewtiful Joe for example.












The soundtrack however is pure brilliance and will ensure that you can never hear the song "Fly Me To The Moon" again without thinking of the wonderfully elegant combat on show here. Some of the other J-Pop style tracks on offer are pretty good too, a definite breath of fresh air after the dark heavy music vibe of Devil May Cry for example.

So in closing, in my opinion, Bayonetta doesn't quite meet the expectations set by the Edge review but it's certainly worth an 8 or 9 and is certainly one of the best games to come out of Japan for quite some time.