First Level: Bayonetta
Hands on with the final version of SEGA's bewitching battler.Published 31/12/2009 at 10:30 by nofi
Sega Want Bayonetta Sequel [12]
Did Sony Create The Bayonetta Install Patch? [21]
PS3 Bayonetta Patch Now Live In Europe [16]
Those of you that follow TSA’s writers on Twitter (and assuming you’re following me, of course) will know that yesterday I splashed out fifty notes on a Japanese import of SEGA’s Bayonetta. Yep, that’s right – of all the imports floating around at the moment (God Of War Collection and Final Fantasy XIII the other biggies) I picked the PS3 version of the Platinum Games developed third person battler. I hadn’t really played the demo, I was aware that the PS3 port was inferior to the 360’s and knew that I probably wouldn’t enjoy it as much as Kratos’ latest, but that Edge 10 tempted me so along with a handful of second hand Wii games (I’d missed out on Madworld, Zack and Wiki etc) I picked it up.
Those of you that follow our regular features will also know, then, that we like to do what we call ‘First Level’ posts which are our personal impressions of a game after just a couple of hours – you can read more of them here. It’s hardly ever impressions of the actual first level, because that wouldn’t give our readers much to nibble on, and thankfully that’s not the case here as the first level (in fact, the first couple) of Bayonetta is truly dreadful. Playing out like a Japanese developer bending over backwards to satisfy a Western audience, your character is immortal, dancing around a tiny little platform kicking barely recognisable angelic baddies as the frame rate struggles to meet anything approaching 30fps.
Thankfully, what should probably have just been a cut-scene finally gives way to the game proper, and after some lengthy (but nicely done) cut-scenes themselves, the game is slowly drip fed to you via a series of instructionary tutorials on how to kick, punch, avoid and shoot your guns. It feels like a poor mans Devil May Cry at this stage, to be perfectly honest, but it’s worth plugging on – once Bayonetta gets her groove on and the massive amount of combos finally give way it’s more obvious what Platinum were aiming for. The guns are an integral part of the gameplay: you can aim and fire, of course, but you can string them into combos and even end a combo with a fist or foot powered roundhouse shooting spree.
The special moves continue right through the opening chapters of the game, with Bayonetta’s hair also coming into play with certain combos, unleashing all manner of witchcraft based weaponry. Along with the cool Torture Moves and the slowing down of time when you do a skillful evade, the possibilities are endless. As are the loading times, apparently – there’s lengthly load breaks between levels, mid levels and even when you pick up an item, staggeringly, and should you die then you’ll need to sit through another loading pause whilst you tackle the same checkpoint again. This, coupled with the poor frame rate means I probably should have just waited for that mythical super-patch for the European release, or just got the 360 version.
But I didn’t, so I’m stuck with it. That means, over new year I’ll continue plugging through the game, because despite its shortcomings it does have its moments. Visually some of the environments can be pretty stunning, and whilst the animation won’t be worrying Naughty Dog there’s a certain amount of badass charm to be garnered from the way Bayonetta struts about the place, and her moves can be impressively strung together if you know what you’re doing. If you don’t, the game’s likely to be labeled as another button masher but you won’t last long just hammering triangle on the harder levels. Let’s hope the action hots up towards the end of the game’s 14 or so levels and the set pieces continue to impress, because this could be good…
Comments
Please note that all comments are the opinion of the individual author and not TheSixthAxis.
oMega-W | 31/12/2009 10:58
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2447 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
I’m not a patient man, so those loading times sound deadly. Not sure if I’m even going to rent this at the moment. Let us know how the fun/frustration balance pans out, please.
Tuffcub | 31/12/2009 11:11
Team TSA: Writer
4075 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
Think I’ll be buying Dante instead.
carlosfilippsen | 31/12/2009 13:25
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1316 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Me too.
skibadee | 31/12/2009 18:30
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3924 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2009
army of two comes out on the same day I will maybe get that.
skibadee | 05/01/2010 02:42
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3924 TSA Points | Member since: Oct 2009
dam is not out till 15th Darksiders it is.
mads2194 | 31/12/2009 23:47
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368 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
I will buy Dante`s Inferno and GoW3
hairfreax | 01/01/2010 09:09
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867 TSA Points | Member since: Jun 2009
Im going to buy all 3…at some point…if i can afford it….give me a year
Alex_Assassin_08 | 31/12/2009 11:27
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749 TSA Points | Member since: Feb 2009
I seriously don’t understand how this game is attracting so much attention.
It’s a Devil May Cry rip-off except with a shit story line and a sexy female character.
Hormones FTW. :/
TheSabreman | 31/12/2009 11:28
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370 TSA Points | Member since: Jul 2009
I don’t think Bayonetta will sell that well on the PS3 for 2 reasons, other games in genre that are superior and the unnecessarily weak conversion to PS3.
I doubt there will be patch of any significance, if they bother then it will be minor like the Ghostbusters patch.
After playing the demo the framerate and poor responsiveness killed the game, this game will be £17.99 in a month so if you really need to spend money on lazy ports hang on and get it for the budget price it deserves.
By all means get it on the 360 just don’t back the weak PS3 version with your hard earned money.
TSBonyman | 31/12/2009 11:52
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1017 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2009
I still can’t believe Edge gave it 10, i played the demo and thought it was just a devil may cry knock-off with elements of god of war thrown in. I’d give it 8 out of 10 if the framerate was better.
colmshan1990 | 31/12/2009 16:23
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1111 TSA Points | Member since: Apr 2009
Maybe that’s because you only played the demo, but Edge played the whole game?
Michael | 31/12/2009 11:53
Team TSA: Development
2217 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Not going anywhere near this. It sounds absolutely dreadful.
hannes_truce | 31/12/2009 12:01
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2920 TSA Points | Member since: Sep 2008
you and me both, staying well clear.
aerobes | 31/12/2009 12:10
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710 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
I wasn’t overly interested in this as it was but the demo put me off completely.
Darksiders is looking a better bet for me in early Jan, Hope it turns out as well as the last game I bought that I knew very little about (Borderlands).
ScottW-1976 | 31/12/2009 13:41
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430 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2009
Darksiders definately sounds like a better bet. Just been reading the IGN UK review and it sounds like an interesting challenge (if you up the difficulty from default). A friend of mine keeps saying I should pick up Borderlands as its great fun, just can’t seem to work up the interest in it though. Is it really that good?
aerobes | 31/12/2009 14:10
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710 TSA Points | Member since: Aug 2009
It was in my top 5 of last year, It is good fun to play co-op but its a strong single player game in its own right.
Since all the hullabaloo about it though I feel people may be a little disappointed, It was such an exciting title for me because it was all a surprise unlike a lot of games where you feel like you have already seen the closing credits before it hits the shelves.
Since you are unsure though I would wait until the inevitable price drop.
http://www.thesixthaxis.com/2009/12/14/tsa-staff-game-of-the-year-5/
cc_star | 31/12/2009 13:14
Team TSA: Writer
7891 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
The demo was one of my worst ever gaming experiences, even if I overlook the game’s huge technical shortcomings which wouldn’t matter if it was minor stuff like seems to happen in most 360 to Ps3 ports (you know a shadow missing on the back of a rock you fly past at 200mph) but the fact even the pause menu has a little loading bar is a little too much, along with the shocking framerate its limitations really do get in the way of the game, not that I actually found the game any better.
The gameplay seemed a clusterf#ck of button mashing, far more than in God Of War (or Dante’s Inferno) and featured none of the subtleness of those two either, stuff which happens on-screen just gets in the way of the gameplay.
I know you shouldn’t judge stuff by a demo, but the content of the demo was handpicked to show the game in its best light, and that being the case I wouldn’t go within a lightyear of this crap (all just IMO, of course)
MUKARKAR | 31/12/2009 13:24
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1225 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
my friend got the game yesterday and GOW collection i cant wait to try it, lol going now.
happy new year to TSA staff and everyone.
midnite_blaze | 31/12/2009 13:25
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80 TSA Points | Member since: Dec 2008
I was really looking forward to this game, and was ready to pre-order my copy in time for the release date, but then I did some last minute reading up on the PS3 port which really put me off! The game literally runs at half the 360 version’s frame rate on PS3 and this lead me to the decision that I shouldn’t have to pay the same cost as 360 gamers for a sub-standard rushed port job. If SEGA can’t be arsed to do a decent port, then I can’t be arsed to buy their game.
sesameseed | 31/12/2009 13:25
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352 TSA Points | Member since: Mar 2009
Hmmm, I am/was looking forward to this. Maybe a rental is the way to go. Better safe than sorry! But why the extremely high review scores? I’m confused (easily done for me)
cc_star | 31/12/2009 13:35
Team TSA: Writer
7891 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
Famitsu’s 40/40 (and maybe Edge’s 10) was the 360 version, I don’t know if they’ve made any effort to do a re-review for the PS3 version or if they’re happy for the unmissable scores to stand for both versions.
djhsecondnature | 31/12/2009 16:03
Team TSA: Media
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Famitsu gave the PS3 version 38/40.
MUKARKAR | 31/12/2009 14:01
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1225 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
this game worth every penny, try the demo.
Dave | 31/12/2009 16:36
* Banned *
-18 TSA Points | Member since: Jun 2009
Listen you bunch of whinge bags. It’s not the game’s fault you’re no good at it. It’s an absolutely ridiculous arcade slash-em-up that does everything right. It’s a perfect genre game, nothing more. I guess all your games are about the budgets these days, hope this site stays to the purer form of the art than hankering for the next BLOCKBUSTER release all the time.
Lord_Gremlin | 31/12/2009 16:38
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139 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
I also have Japanese version (from play-asia.com) but I haven’t noticed any frame rate problems, it holds just well above 30 FPS (I have 80 GB PS3, it’s 1 year old).
Game’s really nice, and well worth $71 I paid for it, the only issue is loading times – they’re close to Killzone 2 loading times in length, but I’m sure this game could load faster with a hardware install.
If someone is in doubts, I’ll tell you that: PS3 version is all good, but loading times are pretty lengthy. So – make your decision.
Gaultar | 31/12/2009 18:30
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76 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2008
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the near full-frontal nudity when Bayonetta preforms a special move involving her hair. The poses she goes through are just ridiculous and must have been designed by a stripper.
Lord_Gremlin | 31/12/2009 19:04
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139 TSA Points | Member since: Nov 2009
2Gaultar: A stripper? Well, there will be even a dance around a pole. But those poses actually are casting summon spells.
funkyellowmonkey(ps3 id) | 31/12/2009 21:01
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368 TSA Points | Member since: Forever
i’m wait and see wot happens to the euro version, no rush as got loads of other games to keep me busy!