I’m not completely unfamiliar with the over-the-top antics that can happen in a Capcom game. I’ve played all of the House of the Deads, Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and countless others. That being said, I was not expecting what befell me during my play through of the 10th Anniversary of Bayonetta. You literally are hurtling from the heavens down to Earth as a dark witch all while shooting these ‘Heaven Demon’s (not sure how else to describe them) alongside this Red Witch Sister of you. No tutorial, you’re controlling everything as a VoiceOver is explaining things; but you’re thrust so deep into the action you couldn’t possibly hear what it was saying. Needless to say, first five minutes of the game, I’m completely hooked into whatever bonkers ride that Capcom wants to take me on.
I never got a chance to play Bayonetta when it first came out. I remember seeing it when it was launched on Xbox 360 and I was/am a Playstation guy. There was a sequel, it came out for other systems, but still I didn’t pay attention. So, when we got the chance to review it for the site for the 10th Anniversary of this alongside Vanquish, I jumped at the chance. I’ll be honest, after that initial jump into the action the plot, for me, just kinda skirts along. You don’t have your memories, you fight a bunch of angels, you’re an Umbra Witch (whatever the Heaven that means) and yeah, I just kinda let the cutscenes happen; eagerly anticipating my next battle. So, let’s get into the gameplay shall we?
You fight things with your hair. Your Freaking Hair! Not only that, you can change form into things like a Butterfly to get around. You get katana swords, you have guns in your hand in in your shoes. The whole thing is just bonkers. I loved doing combos on the baddies and adding more to my repertoire. Nothing was more satisfactory than spinning around using my gunkata skills and feeling like a mix between John Wick and a John Woo movie. The gameplay was a blast and as the story progressed through bigger monsters, I never once got bored with making them explode in animated glory. Speaking of, they gave a 4K gloss to the graphics so the colors popped on the screen and you didn’t see any of the grain a game of its yeas may have held.
The soundtrack whizzed by at a million miles an hour like I was taking part in Dance Dance Revolution. This isn’t a bad thing whatsoever, because it definitely matched the gameplay. A mix of sweeping grandeur with church organs at a frenetic pace is the perfect background noise to destroying dragons. It very much fit the tone of the game. I also was a fan of the controls in Bayonetta. As someone who doesn’t mind button mashing, you can do that and get through this game. If you want to add combos willed with control spins and alternating button presses, you can do that too. It really opens you up to opportunities to explore your own play style. Plus, putting together almost endless combo chains to destroy the enemies is most satisfying indeed.
Overall, I had a very fun time playing Bayonetta. For a 10 year old game, it doesn’t feel old. That’s the beauty of Capcom though, they make their games pretty timeless. Doesn’t matter if you pick up a game a decade old for the first time, it stays as fun and furious as it did back then. I will most certainly be making my way on through the sequel and am very excited to hear that a third one is in the works. I’m not quite sure what the whole thing is about, but I had a blast playing it and I’m sure you will too!
Make sure you pre-order the Bayonetta/Vanquish 10th Anniversary 2-pack HERE.
*DFAT was provided a review code for the PS4
