Comments on: 300 Word Review – Bayonetta (Normal, Durga/Kilgore & Shuruba/Onyx Rose)

By: Simon Ferrari

Simon Ferrari — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 23:05:24 +0000

Thanks for stopping by! I think you’re touching on an idea that’s widely applicable to the possible future of the episodic game. I haven’t played too many of these… there’s all the adventure games by Telltale, then the new Siren series from one or two years ago. I only encountered the idea through the newest Alone in the Dark, which lets you play all but the final mission completely out of order. It’s set up to play like an interactive television season. But in order for that kind of idea to fully make this kind of thing ludic, it’d be cool for players to be able to find out new information with each playthrough.

I mean I guess that’s kind of the cliched thing to say, that each time you rewatch a show you see more. And even if a game doesn’t change, you learn more about it each time… but it seems like a lost opportunity if replay of this nature doesn’t reveal new encounters, information, etc. One thing Bayonetta does do toward this is that some of the golden discs can only be unlocked on higher difficulties. That’s kind of cool, but they’re not exactly game-changing.

By: Yu-Chung Chen

Yu-Chung Chen — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 10:41:19 +0000

Nice writing!

I can’t say the mid-combo nudity distracted me much. I only gawk when the gameplay fades back: when triggering Climax. So, the “perfect extension of the sexual frustration metaphor” is a very clever interpretation of yours, but I’m not sure that makes Platinum Games especially clever to me.

The weapon pairs and switching are nice in principle, but I find the logic and effects not predictable enough (maybe I’m just too stupid) which takes away the on-the-fly combinatorics and shifts back to memorization.

SPOILER
I do see a missed opportunity for cleverness:
the design for repeated play would have been perfect for a less conventional telling of a story that involves time paradox. Doing away with pretentious flashbacks, repeated plays showing different threads of the plot would actually offer more on each revisit that goes beyond the mechanical (which is fun but we’re talking cleverness here, right?).

By: Simon Ferrari

Simon Ferrari — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:48:59 +0000

Great point. That actually might have made a better third paragraph, because it relates to the actual play a bit more. I like it because you really feel stupid when you miss a combo once her clothes have begun to recede. It’s a perfect extension of the sexual frustration metaphor. It really can’t get any more clever than that, can it?

By: Charles

Charles — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 21:53:37 +0000

I’m flattered Simon!

At some point I’m going to have to get my hands on a copy of this game because it seems like all the smart kids are enjoying it.

The one thing I did notice from the demo that no one has commented on is that when you’re executing a combo her clothes begin to disappear. I thought this was really clever because at the exact point where you want to pay attention to it the least your avatar is the MOST distracting (whether you find it appealing or repulsive). What I like about this is that, to some extent, in order to do well you have learn to ignore what your avatar looks like and simply treat it as a game piece.

Is there anything else that clever in the rest of the game?

By: L.B. Jeffries

L.B. Jeffries — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 18:24:54 +0000

Laura Mulvey would be proud.