Bayonetta 3 (2022)

An issue a franchise like Bayonetta will always run into is how over the top it was out the gate. I haven't played Bayonetta 2, but Bayonetta 3 certainly checks most of the boxes that AAA sequels try to shoehorn in. I suppose the only exceptions are having a true open world and crafting mechanics. Fortunately both absent here. That said, Bayonetta tries to have much larger semi-open levels, but honestly this is more of a downside than a good thing. These larger semi-open levels still require you to mostly progress linearly and it often results in large and empty spaces that make getting to the next combat scenario artificially longer. That said it certainly is a spectacle.

When the game focuses on the spectacle is when it's both at its best and worst ironically. There are some really fun set pieces of cities being destroyed as you barrel forward and the bosses are creative. The downside to all of this is the visual clutter that often overwhelms the senses and makes it hard to even understand what the hell is happening. It often devolves into visual diarrhea. I found myself often losing track where I was. What compounds this clutter is the new mechanic of being able to summon your own Kaiju on command. This is both a good and bad thing. In Bayonetta 1, turning naked and summoning a giant Kaiju served as the climax of a fight. Now, at the push of a button, you can summon one of many giant Kaijus. At first this is cool, but it does really diminish the impact of these moves being able to basically summon them whenever. Removing the build up and thus impact.

Combat is fun, when you can see what is going on, but the plot is complete nonsense. Certainly an issue of needing to out-due the previous games resulting in the devs making the bad decision to introduce the multi-verse. I also found myself button mashing far more often than would have worked in Bayonetta 1 or any of the DMC games. So combat mostly felt easier with a far lower skill floor than other games in this genre.

I did have fun with this, but I got this game for Christmas a few years ago. I basically only played this while visiting family on my Switch and never felt compelled to continue playing when getting home. So that says a lot to me. It's fine when it's convenient to play or the only option, but it never really hooked me like Bayonetta 1 or basically any DMC entry.

The first Bayonetta game I didn't immediately start a second play through after finishing it. I actually haven't even bothered to go back and play it again.

Pretty much everything here feels like a step backwards from Bayonetta 1 and 2. Gameplay is like two steps sideways and one step backwards. Cut scenes, dialogue and characters are less entertaining. Story is meh. Some parts of the game don't look that great and it doesn't always run smoothly. It's bloated and feels like it drags on way too long.

Bayonetta 3 is worth playing through and it's still fun and engaging just nowhere near much as it was in the previous two games.

7.1/10

Dropped this game and picked it up several months later just because I didn't want to leave it unfinished. To be honest, I'm glad I did because this game has a lot of pleasant surprises.

Here's my slightly organized thoughts:

• Combat: While I prefer the dual weapon system (nothing beats feet chainsaws), there's an awful lot of depth here. You can way more demons than you'll ever use, all of which have a vast array of unlockable abilities. Demon summoning is interesting but, if you're like me, you just mashed buttons. Controlling them feels pretty awkward.

• Minigames: The Bayonetta series has always done a lot of random switch-ups in their games. While the majority of the game is straightforward combat, you'll occasionally encounter puzzles or sections that break from the norm. While they range in quality, the level where Jeanne rides a motorcycle is pretty great.

• Bosses: Bayonetta games have always had tons of great bossfights. This game is no different.

• Story: ???????????

• Style/Aesthetics: Bayo has always been really high on style. It's got an incredible amount of flair and "coolness" that most video games don't have. However, I do think the characters and enemies have a tendency to be overdesigned. The screen is often quote cluttered and hard to follow along with because of all the detail.

I was primed to think Bayonetta 3 as some type of disappointment but as a continuation of some of my favorite character action mechanics this game manages to reinvent the genre once more, expand the spectacle to astronomic heights and give me just the amount of challenge I needed to have the time of my life.

The plot is as gonzo as ever, with the human world split into many different realities and an AI entity known as Singularity threatening to destroy them and eventually conquer Paradiso and Inferno in the process. While Bayonetta is usually unstoppable in past games, this one deals with many different Bayonettas fighting and eventually failing, leaving one last Bayonetta, one last Jeanne, and a mysterious girl named Viola to find their way to Singularity's home universe. It's a story that's quite the handful and is a little more serious than past entries, but emotionally is one hell of a trip for our heroine as she gets in touch with herself and the people she loves.

As for the gameplay, the core mechanics of previous Bayonettas remain intact, with Witch Time and a variety of delicious weapons and combos at her disposal. Gone is Umbran Climax, replaced by a far superior mechanic with the Demon Slave and Demon Masquerade. Demon Slave allows Bayonetta to summon one of her demons in real-time during combat, moving from combat finishers to larger-than-life characters that can be chained with other demons and her weapons. Bayonetta can also transform into a demon form based on whichever weapon she equips, allowing different movement capabilities and super moves. Whether it's the feisty dragon Gomorrah, a rather talkative fire spider we know and love or a literal clock tower, the opportunities are even greater than past titles and rivals DMCV in terms of style. Along with Bayonetta is the opportunity to fight as Viola, who may seem less satisfying at first due to only one weapon/demon but has a risky/rewarding parry mechanic and different fighting styles that make her a surprisingly fun challenge. The only downside to the new mechanics is that the camera can have some trouble keeping up with the battle but eyes well adjusted to Bayonetta's visual chaos should have no problem keeping up.

Along with the main gameplay there are minigame segments interspersed throughout chapters, either featuring Jeanne in an Elevator Action Returns-inspired spy segment or massive chapter ending boss battles as Bayonetta summons her biggest demons of all. Neither feel like they're as out of place as a driving segment and are genuinely fun in their own way.

The spectacle and visuals on this game are only barely matched by Bayonetta 2, as the bright halls of Paradiso and peaks of Noatun are replaced with lush and sexy purples and blues, spanning different realities and set pieces. Cities are warped and obliterated by giant sky fish, volcanos spew lava over ancient China, massive sandy vistas await in Egypt, and an exciting chase over the gorgeous city of Paris adds to the action. For the Switch I was genuinely surprised to see the Demon Slave action perform so well, as this is subtly one of the most graphically advanced games on its sense of scale alone. Enemies mostly consist of the cloud-inspired Homunculi with strange alien design and intimidating variety, but some angels and demons pop back in to join the fun every now and then.

The music is easily some of the best this series has witnessed. With Moonlight Serenade and a surprisingly emotional tune "Al Fine" as the main battle themes the player will be kicking and punching to excellence but there's plenty of exciting, operatic, and downright nostalgic tracks throughout, including one of the better final boss themes I've heard.

As for the challenge itself, the game is somewhere between Bayonetta 1's unforgiving start and Bayonetta 2's too-smooth correction which strikes a good balance. Rodin is still an insane superboss and ridiculous challenges await on Infinite Climax mode but the general difficulties feel satisfying enough to reward players that want to learn and practice with each weapon.

As the previous two Bayonettas are some of my favorite games ever I came in carefully with expectations on the 3rd, but this game made it effortless to come back to a franchise I love. With new satisfying mechanics and that same level of cheeky spectacle I'll be more than excited to see what comes next.

La peor crítica que puedo hacerle es que me han entrado muchísimas ganas de jugar Bayonetta 2, en el mal sentido.

Todo se siente más concentrado y mejor empaquetado en su precuela, el sistema de combos con las mismas opciones pero sin tanto "maquillaje" que es lo que para mi acaban siendo los distintos tipos de armas. Al final el moveset de todas es prácticamente el mismo y en lo único que realmente se diferencia es en si el arma es de corta o larga distancia. Bayonetta 2 por su parte tenía el mismo sistema pero concentrado en apenas 5 armas, no en casi 15, por lo que las diferencias se hacían más tangibles.

Y Viola... Uff, es un caaaaasi pero no. Algo tienen que hacer con el parry si Viola va a ser la nueva protagonista de la saga, porque donde el tiempo brujo de Bayonetta es prácticamente un 90% del disfrute del gameplay el parry de Viola se siente torpe, demasiado ajustado en el tiempo. Y los combos están muy bien, solo una opción de arma aunque limitado lo veo un mejor acercamiento a la Bayonetta original.

No voy a hablar de la historia, es un Bayonetta, el juego no va de la historia y lo lleva sabiendo desde el original. Si diré que al menos me ha gustado el colofón final de celebración al personaje de Bayonetta, merecido totalmente. Aunque también diré que el tema multiversos iniciado por Marvel es un coñazo, aquí y en todas partes.

Y por último, los dichosos mechas. Desde el primer trailer real lo tenía en la cabeza, que pintaba genial pero que los monstruos gigantes no eran mi rollo. Y estaba esperando que fueran más opcionales de lo que lo son. Esto es plenamente gusto personal pero no me han gustado nunca las peleas de bichos gigantes. En el juego se sienten muy lentas, muy torpes. Haces tu pseudo-combo y pierdes todo el control del juego durante varios segundos. La velocidad de los personajes principales es mucho más divertida que la supuesta espectacularidad de los demonios gigantes, y por supuesto el sistema de los anteriores juegos en los que esos monstruos simplemente dan fuerza a tus combos apareciendo parcialmente me parece mil veces mejor que este experimento.

Sigue siendo un juego super disfrutable, sin ninguna duda, y me lo he pasado genial jugándolo. Pero me da un poco de pena el haber pensado constantemente durante el juego "ojala hacer esta misma pelea pero en Bayonetta 2".

Let's keep this review short, I don't want to get flowery or lengthy with my thoughts.

Bayonetta 3 attempts to expand off the previous title by including more exploration in their stages, more discoverables, and a variety of 'Demon Slaves' to control during combat. Obviously the goal was to help make combat more exciting, frantic, and offer more options to juggle enemies. When you learn the timings of demon slave attacks to keep them constantly commanded and acting on their own (thanks to being able to que up their next attack in advance) and keeping the pressure on with Bayonetta, combat feels incredible, and you feel very powerful. On this level, these extra mechanics feel excellent and test the player's ability to multitask. The skill ceiling is raised (but not as high as Bayonetta 1).

On the other hand, this game operates off of Bayonetta 2's biggest shortcoming, and with the inclusion of demon slaves, this flaw is exacerbated. Bayonetta 2 struggles from very poor enemy tells. A weak sound effect, attacks with very little wind up, but this issue can be worked with since you are only ever focusing on Bayonetta. The camera is not much of an issue in Bayonetta 2 either, but 3 seems to carry over Bayonetta 2's Camera and Enemy attack Tell system, where it finally becomes a glaring issue. With so much happening at once, a camera that has trouble keeping everything on screen, in addition to terrible enemy tells, there are more than a few times where being hit did NOT feel like my fault. Thankfully this game, like Bayonetta 2, is too forgiving with its items and a single hit is not a big deal. While overall Bayonetta 3 is a far more interesting and deep game than Bayonetta 2 in terms of combat (Do NOT get me started on how awful Umbran Climax is, and how abysmal the scoring system is in Bayonetta 2), but the moment to moment of Bayonetta 2 has far less hiccups and tends to feel better than 3.

I will also say briefly that Viola feels quite good if you attempt to parry while in the blocking position. Viola is very rewarding once you can get a grasp on the set up she requires vs Bayonetta. I do understand her playstyle, being more set-up focused and slow being less desirable than Bayonetta's gameplay. I will also say that she has very few missions where you play as her, Bayonetta is the primary focus, as expected.

The rest of Bayonetta 3 is far more down to preference. I enjoyed the vast majority of the risks taken with a secondary protagonist, Jeanne missions, and exploration sections. I am a little skeeved out by how many people complain about the Kaiju fights considering these are climactic 3~5 minute segments that appear once every 3 or so hours, I just do not understand this criticism. The biggest complaint aside from the aforementioned combat issue, is the story. I appreciate elements of it, how it attempts to set certain things up for Viola, but there is a lot of it to unpack that I'm not particularly interested in dissecting here. Especially since the story is obviously not over. Do you all REALLY think that Bayonetta isn't coming back?

Overall, I do like this game quite a bit, probably the most exciting game I played that came out this year. Do I like it more than Bayonetta 2? Maybe narrowly. Despite my criticisms of B2, there is still a lot about it I really enjoy. Bayonetta 1 is probably still my favorite at the end of the day. I do wonder how Bayonetta 4 will attempt to one-up this one.

Also as a quick note, using any item that isn't a green lollipop should incur some kind of penalty, it is unacceptable that I can make myself invincible with a yellow lollipop and eat hits with no penalty. Bayonetta 2 and 3 dropped the ball when it comes to items.

Edit: Cheshire has a nice design, I like it.

Bayonetta 3 is a wild ride. It takes everything Bayonetta 2 did and super-sizes it. The enemies are bigger and grosser, the cutscenes are crazier, the gameplay is more varied, the locations are grander, and the stakes are out of this universe. With all of these things being so big, it doesn’t always come together as neatly as Bayonetta 2 did. That was a game that I couldn’t put down from start to finish, but I had to force myself to power through some of Bayonetta 3’s weakest sections. Still, when the credits rolled, I felt satisfied and awestruck by the whole ride.

This game tasks itself with one-upping Bayonetta 2’s combat, which is one of the best combat systems in any game that I’ve played. It does so by introducing a new character, Viola, who mixes things up a little. Most importantly, it introduces the Demon Slave technique, a new ability that lets Bayonetta and Viola summon giant demons in the middle of battle. While it adds a lot of spectacle to the game, it does make the combat messier. Controlling the demons feels like trudging through molasses, and it’s never as satisfying as just fighting as your base character. I avoided the mechanic as much as possible, using the demons only when required by the game. Otherwise, the combat is as fun as ever, and I liked the selection of weapons we got this time around. The levels are also nicely packed with rewards and challenges to find hidden in almost every nook and cranny.

Bayonetta 3 loves to throw in completely off the wall moments where the gameplay completely shifts. Most of these are brief and fun—there’s a shoot-em-up section, some side view kaiju fight sections, and levels where you take control of your giant demons directly. Then there are the many required levels where you control Jeanne for a side view stealth level. These were the game at its worst, and since these levels are not skippable, they bring the pace of the game to a grinding halt.

Visually, Bayonetta 3 has a distinctly last-gen look to it. Environments are plain, and character animations can sometimes feel stiff. The art direction and 60fps gameplay make up for it though, and the visuals are certainly never boring during cutscenes. The music is great, and the story is a bunch of nonsense that I try not to take too seriously. Jennifer Hale does a terrific job as the witty and confident Bayonetta, and the goofy Viola ended up being pretty lovable by the end, earning her place as a central character beside the main lady herself.

While Bayonetta 3 may stumble more often than the previous game, its more ambitious scope makes it easy to appreciate. This is still a great action game, and more than worth the long wait.

Bayonetta 3:sta sai odottaa törkeän pitkään. Ellen ihan väärin muista, peliä tiisattiin Switchille ihan jo konsolin alkutaipaleella. Nyt Switchin pikkuhiljaa jo lähestyessä kuudetta ikävuottaan, Bayonetta 3 vihdoin on saatu ulos.

Ja onneksi peli on hyvin pitkälti odotuksen arvoinen. Kuten edellisetkin osat, Bayonetta 3 tarjoaa jälleen kerran jäätävästi erilaisia komboja, kikkoja, mekaniikkoja ja järjettömiä toimintapläjäyksiä. Isoimpana uutuutena ovat Bayonettan kutsumat ja ohjaamat isot summonit, joilla on omat liikkeensä ja temppunsa. Lisäksi pelissä on kaksi muuta pelattavaa hahmoa, uusi tulokas Viola ja vanha tuttu Jeanne. Violalla pelaaminen on pääosin samanlaista kuin Bayonettalla, tosin hänellä pelisarjalle tunnusmerkillinen Witch Time -ajanhidastus aktivoituu oikein ajoitetusta parrystä kun Bayonettalla se on lauennut tarkasta dodgesta. Jeannella pelaaminen on puolestaan pienimuotoinen 2D-tasohyppely, jota pelataan muutamaan otteeseen pelin keston aikana. Ihan hauskaa vaihtelua muttei mitään päräyttävää.

Audiopuolella peli myös tykittää tuttuun tapaan. Soundtrack on aika lailla kautta pelin kovaa tavaraa. Mainion musiikin kylkeen mukaan on mahtunut myös pari puskista tulevaa tanssikohtausta ja jopa pienimuotoinen rytmipelibossi. Bayonettan ääninäyttelijä myös vaihtui tätä osaa varten - skandaalien saattelemana - mutta lopputulos on niin lähellä vanhaa, että ääninäyttelijän vaihdosta ei oikein edes huomaa.

Bayonetta 3:n toimintamäärällä pelin visuaalisuuden tekeminen ei varmasti ollut heppo tehtävä - etenkään kun rautana on Switch. Tämä harmillisesti näkyy. Pääosin peli onneksi pyörii sulavasti lähellä 60 kuvaa sekunnissa ja osa pelin osioista on graafisesti jopa vakuuttavia Switchille. Vähän väliä pelissä kuitenkin silmiin pistää alhainen resoluutio, pop-in tai lyhykäiset frameraten pudotukset. Isompi ongelma grafiikoissa on sekavuus: ruudulla tapahtuu niin helvetisti, että on vaikea saada selvää mitä tapahtuu. Tämä etenkin hiersi pelin alkupuolella. Pelin 15 tuntisen kampanjan loppupuolella kaaosta oppi hallitsemaan paremmin.

Toinen kompastuskivi pelille on sen tarina. Vaikka en Bayonettoja ikinä tarinan takia ole pelannutkaan, tässä osassa tuntuu, että se vesittää kokonaisuutta. Tarina ei hirveästi herätä tunteita pelin alkupuolella ja loppupuolella se tuntuu vain oudolta, tökeröltä ja epäbayonettamaiselta. Onneksi pelissä on muuten niin hypeänostattavia toimintakohtauksia, että ne paikkaavat kompastelevaa tarinaa. Lisäksi voi myös olla, että peli paranee vielä läpipeluun jälkeen, kun tarinaa ei tarvitse enää katsoa ja voi keskittyä pelkästään toimintaan. Mukavan "old schoolisti" Bayonetta 3:ssa saa läpipeluun jälkeen uuden pelimoodin, vaikeusasteen ja mahdollisuuden pelata kaikkia kenttiä haluamallaan hahmolla. Jopa Jeannella voi tällöin hypätä Violan ja Bayonettan tasoihin.

Tarinan ja visujen sudenkuopat välttämällä Bayonetta 3 olisi selkeästi ollut pelisarjan paras osa. Nyt tuntuu, että Bayonetta 1 ja 2 ovat selkeydessään ja johdonmukaisuudessaan hieman laadukkaampia pelejä, mutta se kertoo paljolti vain siitä, kuinka kovatasoinen koko trilogia on. Bayonetta 3:n parissa viihtyi ja hyvin.

(Disclaimer: I cut my playthrough short about 2/3 through the game, because I still wasn't really having fun. What I've read online about the final chapters also does not sound particularly promising. I don't usually review games that I don't finish, but in this case I feel that I've seen enough and want to share what doesn't work for me.)

Many people will love Bayonetta 3, a game I looked forward to for a long time. I didn't personally enjoy the signature Bayonetta action here as much as I did years ago, but it's still got a lot going for it, with creative new weapons and abilities. Sadly, the game's attempts to add to the formula and take the series's absurd spectacle to new heights usually detracted from my experience more than they added.

Everything is bigger this time, with many encounters designed around a new "demon slave" mechanic. The player takes command of big demon summons mid-combat and occasionally while traversing levels. These summons generally feel sluggish and awkward to control, surprising for a game you'd expect to lean more into fast, fluid action. The camera also can't really keep up with all this giant stuff, to a point where I often could barely tell visually what was going on in the middle of a fight.

On paper, "demon slaves" are an addition to Bayonetta's combat possibilities that takes nothing away. But when encounters are designed and balanced for you to use it, it's hard to ignore and affects how everything else feels, too. Some boss battles are just straight-up kaiju vs. kaiju brawls with added gimmicks, which are some of the most awful-feeling moments in the game.

And these aren't the only new gameplay gimmicks that take time away from the main action. Short but mandatory side chapters are side-scrolling, timed missions with stealth that I really disliked. There are also plenty of annoying platforming sections, a boss fight where you're just stuck in a turret, little stuff like that which may look kinda cool but never really felt good. I don't mind this kind of thing occasionally if it's fun, but here it's everywhere. The game also has to frequently slow down to get you used to all its new little mechanics, which drags things down a bit.

Story has never been a real draw for this series, but I was especially not a fan of this game's writing. It's a multiverse story, because it's 2022 so of course it is. It was not a story I enjoyed at pretty much any point once it really got going. I let it play out in hopes it would improve, but exposition early on and anything involving the villain made me yearn to press the skip button.

On the character side, I found new co-main character Viola's personality and dialogue mostly annoying and her visual design lackluster. Even Bayonetta was once a pretty fresh and fun character, but years later in this game, I found a lot of her dialogue leaning into the whole "step on me mommy" thing to be tiresome. You also run into some alternate universe Bayonettas with nice visual designs, which sounds great, but they are so underutilized and forgettable that it feels like the story got reworked to drop scenes with them or something.

Some big moments in this game look really cool, like a big setpiece early on where NYC is getting flooded by a big wave, but it can struggle elsewhere. Some big bosses remind you that you're on the Switch, with noticeable performance issues. Environments can often look really bland, and lots of enemies have samey, forgettable designs. This stuff doesn't ruin the experience, but contributes to a feeling that it's lacking something and rough around the edges. It definitely feels held back by hardware and budget concerns.

I don't want to leave an impression that I think the game is all bad. It made me smile at points with its humor, it had fun bits of stylish action, it has a lot of creative ideas—it's still a Bayonetta game. But as it went on, I found it increasingly hard to enjoy the positives as it forced me into more and more things that I disliked. I expect this to be a somewhat divisive game, but mostly leaning on the side of people liking it. I encourage fans to try it out for themselves and not let the disappointment of me or others online cloud your experience.

You could say I'm just a tad excited for this one.

Actually, looking at the remaining major games coming to the Switch, I'm slowly realizing that most Nintendo IPs I don't think interest me anymore, as I'm very excited about this game and the other titles I'm "eh, I'll pass."

But when Nintendo does an IP I like such as Mario 3-D, Zelda, Metroid, Bayonetta...