This game is very retro--like one of those old-school Sega games in which some frenetic fighting is interspersed with wacky cut scenes of strangely over-dramatic dialog. I know there is a type of gamer out there who just eats this stuff up. But I'm not that type...if you are anything like me (someone who thinks Mass Effect and Dragon Age are the best games), don't expect much more than to blow off some steam beating the tar out of various creatures and enjoying the lush graphics.

Bayonetta has some incredible production values, superb art direction, plentiful voice acting, and a pretty deep combat system...all of which looks like it took quite a bit of effort to come up with. Unfortunately, that doesn't really add up to much more than a few afternoons of finger exercise for me, so I can't help but feel that this game was not worth the effort it took to make, and probably not worth my money to buy...a good rental, perhaps.

That being said, the graphics, fight mechanics, and overall design, all completely over-the-top, is very well done.

Taking in the imaginative scenery and insane character designs is one of the hight points of the game and my main reason for playing it longer than the time it took to master the controls

The fighting is a nice balance-- if you have skills you can really make an art of it. If you don't, you can basically go crazy on the button pad and muddle through enough to enjoy yourself.

Look, if you want any sort of depth, or anything to remember a game by, other than thoughts of Bayonetta's animated rear end, you better look elsewhere. This is basically the kind of game it is ok to have on at a party-- anyone can pick it up and enjoy, there's good eye candy, but no one is going to get so involved in it that they forget to socialize, or so wrapped up in it that they won't pass the controller on to another guest after a while.

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Bayonetta. The name seems to bring me to my knees. I think of the scantly clad witch and her awesome moves. The little mole under the corner of her mouth. The way she sucks on lollipops. Bayonetta is a bad girl. And being bad is good. As I say again and again, too many wimpy protagonists these days. Its nice to see a main character that could stand side by side with Conan. This witch... she's got all the right moves and right curves in the right places.

Now that I've gotten that off my chest how about we move along to the game play (settle down boy). I would want to say this game plays like Devil May Cry, but since I've never played Devil May Cry I cannot say that with 100% certainty. So let me say this: Bayonetta plays like a hack 'em and slash 'em beat down game. It plays like that because it is one. But if you think you are going to get through this game button mashin' your dead wrong. A lot of the game requires timing for when you dodge an enemy attack with perfect timing you go into this "witch time" mode where everything is slow, but you.

The camera view of the game present a lovely third person point of view that you can rotate with the right thumb stick to get a good look at Bayonetta from all angles.

Though Bayonetta doesn't level up, there are pieces of items that when collected form a full item and boost mana or life depending on which item you get. Of course you could just go to the shop and spend your hard earned cash on life upgrades, but who wants to do that?

There isn't a HUGE variety of weapons. You have Bayonetta's trademark pistols, a katana, some shot guns, and I think there are like some claws? I don't think the small amount of weapons is a bad thing because it isn't one of those gather-up-all-the-weapons kind of games and too many equitable items would steel time from the game's massively fun game play.

Bayonetta can also take the shape of a few animals and summon fourth torture devices, a very nice touch if I do say so myself.

Through out the game you get to play a few mini-games too! Like a motorcycle chase, flying around on a fired missile, and the in between level arcade game called "Angel Attack."

The music is fast beat and has this jazzy feel to things that really fits the mood of the game. A sexy feel. Sexy game. One interesting track is the remake of "Fly me to the moon" which is the game's main theme.

Bayonetta is great because it is over the top, but it doesn't care. Violence and sex appeal galore, this game delivers on pretty much all fronts.

With that said if I were to have any complaint with Bayonetta, it is that she is not real. Haha! Just kidding. When compared to a game let's say, Mass Effect, this game doesn't nearly have as much replay value. But who knows these days with DLC there are endless possibilities. Also, if you want a challenge, try this game on the hardest difficulty, that will keep you playin' it for a while. There are also loads of achievements to be had with the game and unlock able content. A damn solid game. 4 out of 5. Not for the faint of heart.

And yes I named my car Bayonetta.

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Dear Sega : Why does this game have a female protagonist? Women shouldn't do anything outside of cooking and shopping. In this day and age you'd think people would understand by now. Bayonetta shouldn't even be fighting. She should be at home looking pretty and making babies. Marella understands that the gaming is not meant to be taken seriously but Bayonettta is reprehensible.

Marella think it's time for the SEGA to move back to the 90s, where they were still relevant.

Marella gives this game 1/5.

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First things first, the corny music gets shut off. Why am I being subjected to ridiculous music? The game seems to have no meaningful structure, and when fighting enemies it's a button-masher. Just whack lots of buttons fast and they'll die... it doesn't really matter what buttons you push, or when.

If you like that sort of game--all the enemies look the same... they just pop up out of nowhere over and over until you "clear a wave" by mashing enough buttons, then you'll like the game. I didn't get very far in before I quit honestly--this game is not for someone like me. It's not a thinking-person's action game IMO. This is more like yet-another arcade-style fighting game with floppy boobies and perky butt physics. That's entertaining for about 5 minutes but it doesn't merit the $50 purchase price.

If you want a game with a hot chick in it that doesn't suck terribly, go play BloodRayne or BloodRayne II.

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Don't believe the hype...Bayonetta is fun but it's completely overrated and annoying as hell. I've ready very little about the difficulty but you need to know that unless you are an elite hardcore gamer, you are going to get pissed at this garbage as you fight certain bosses over and over again. I'm trying to beat the final boss and have attempted this over 30 times (and have still not beaten it). Furthermore, even though every other boss in the game has a mid "save" point in the middle of the battle, the final boss doesn't. How convenient. This is the type of bull **** that would get the AVGN upset. Why change the rules just at the end to punish gamers? Unless you are hardcore and enjoy games that can be annoying and cheap as hell (pretty much everything in this genre -- Ninja Gaiden etc.), then avoid this trash.

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After reading the positive reviews of this game, and a friend suggesting it to me (thanks), I decided to buy it.. and well, it sucks.

-Spoiler free-

Graphics and Presentation: 2/10

Bayonetta's graphics are as bland and boring as DMC4 (and that game was horrendous). I admit that the cutscenes are pretty awesome and "stylish", but that doesn't save the boring character designs and boring ugly stages.

The enemies honestly, look like they were re-used from Devil May Cry.. same bland demons, well, angels in this case, yeah, you fight ANGELS, which would probably offend any Christian. During the 4th or 5th level nearly every basic character makes there "debut" in the game.. which leads to there be little to no variety in the enemies you fight towards the end of the game, with the exception of boss-fights(which are also bland and boring).

Voice acting: 6/10

This game has decent, but stereotypical voice acting, it's pretty understandable for a Japanese game. Bayonetta(the character) is your typical J-RPG loser with an english accent. Luka, Bayonetta's love interest(yeah), is an obnoxious American. Theres Rodin some demon guy that uses "Jazzy" lines. Enzo(Joe Pesci-wannabe)is probably my favorite character in the game, and thats pretty unfortunate.. because he has a minor role in the story.

All of these characters resemble God Hand rejects.. and almost have similarities to characters from that game.

Music: 1/10

The music is BAD pop-based garbage, so bad I had to mute it.

Controls: 7/10

The basic controls are copied directly from the Devil May Cry series. The same double jump, wall jump, etc..

The combat controls isn't much different from Devil May Cry(suprised?); One weapon button(Y), one "gun-button"(B), and a shoot button(X). theres a few different command motions for "special moves", but overall it's all DMC, which was a huge let-down for me.. as I hated that series. It would also be nice to have "less anti climatic" interactive finishers, (God of War/God Hand), to keep the combat from getting repetitive.. but that isn't the case in this game, theres only FEW torture moves.. it's mainly button mashing or spinning the joystick with boring results. Most of the fights are pointless and just keep you mashing the same buttons repeatly. There are a FEW moments in the game where the gameplay changes completetly.. but those are only for a short period of time.

There doesn't seem to be a block/defense button in the game, instead you rely on dodging attacks and using "witch-time" which gets repetitive and tedious during boss battles.

Gameplay: 0/10

Cutscene - Battle - Cutscene - Boss - Cutscene - Results = Boring.

Occasionally, you run around these stupid towns.. I'll just be blatant and say that theres really no reason for these towns to exist.

Story: 1/10

I really have no idea, it seems like the typical J-RPG(or J-Action game, in this case) plot.. a main character that suffers from memory loss, and is forced to deal with "wacky" obstacles. Way to be original Platinum games.

Replay Value: 8/10

This is a game has ALOT of replay value, but I wouldn't want to sit through this mindless button mashing garbage again.

Overall: 1/10

Bayonetta is a boring OVERRATED copy of Devil May Cry with sex-appeal thrown in, it's all flash and no substance. I reccomend not buying this game(thought there doesn't seem to be many people buying it anyway), unless you're a HUGE fan of DMC.. or haven't played the DMC games at all. I suggest buying Darksiders, Dante's inferno, No more Heroes 2.. ANYTHING BUT THIS GAME.

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Let me start out by saying we are not 'hard core' gamers. Often times on the xbox 360, we have trouble finding games that seemed to be aimed toward us (not the little kid games, but not the hard core, extremely difficult games either).

With that said, this is probably the best xbox 360 game we have. The graphics are great. It is exciting to watch. And while the controlls seem to allow players with much more talent then us to probably do much better in the game...you can get by without being a novice to intermediate gamer.

I'm sure as other reviewers have said, there are some things you can complain about...but for us..it is just plain fun. Fun to watch..and fun to play.

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