Bayonetta you're mystery
Jerky cutscenes tell a bad story
The camera lags on the battlefield, I can't tell where you are
Bayonetta you're DMC
With your long hair and nudity
Your combos are long, witch time drags on, it's mashing, it's mashing
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Seriously, though...
I pretty much thought that Bayonetta would be like Devil May Cry 3 before I played it. But now that I played it, it's pretty much confirmed.
The gimmick to Bayonetta is Witch Time, which triggers when you dodge an enemy attack at the last moment. When it's triggered, enemies will move in slow-mo temporarily, allowing you to pummel them. The concept is good, and I always believe that the element of timing adds a bit of depth that this type of game typically lacks.
The only thing is, it's not really anything new. Devil May Cry 3 does a similar thing with the Royal Guard playstyle where you time a block at the moment of impact in order to do a counter. The difference is, Bayonetta is more of a manual counter. Witch time activates and gives you an opportunity to "counter" by unleashing whatever arsenal of attacks you want to. If you enjoy the combo process, Bayonetta's implementation of timing-based defense is better.
Another difference is that Devil May Cry 3 has a "free form" combo system in which every move more or less chains into another move if you time it correctly, so you can presumeably combo infinitely if you're good enough. By contrast, Bayonetta has preset combos. In execution, though, the two games are roughly the same. Bayonetta has preset combos but they are in such abundance that there's quite a lot of variety in what you can do.
So that brings us to the focal point - Bayonetta is a combo game. Bayonetta is a combo game just as DMC3 is a combo game. And I cannot stand them. I find the design of such a game, low-brow. Most people disagree, judging by DMC3's sales and popularity, and judging by DMC3 and Bayonetta's critical reception. But I absolutely believe that these games cater to smug individuals who get off on watching themselves kick ass. The problem is the game doesn't even require much attention to have you kick ass. You just mash a few buttons and that just translates to some awesome visuals on-screen. It's incredibly superficial. And to me, incredibly boring. I'm not saying that it requires no skill to maintain a combo. But juggle-based gameplay is not about the game challenging you with situations as much as it is you challenging yourself to sustain your erection longer.
The music is pretty awesome though.
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