Review for Bayonetta 2. Game for Nintendo Switch and Wii U, the video game was released on 20/09/2014 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 16/02/2018
The WiiU was certainly an unfortunate console, due to a myriad of reasons the last Nintendo home console was snubbed by many, and with it all its exclusive games. It is therefore not a bad move for Nintendo to bring some of the best WiiU titles back to its new, and much luckier, flagship. One of the first titles to receive this porting treatment is Bayonetta 2, a title developed by Platinum Games as a Nintendo exclusive.
But after 4 years from the original release, is it worth giving Bayonetta 2 a chance?
An eventful Christmas
Bayonetta 2 is a hack'n slash that focuses heavily on speed and the epic of the events, as well as on the charisma of the characters that we are going to meet during the adventure. Once the game is turned on, in fact, within 20 minutes, the title shows up immediately showing all his style, starting with a prologue with which we will go to fight dozens of enemies in incredibly absurd situations, with orchestral music to accompany the action, and continuing with a cutscene in which the protagonists of the game are presented briefly but with great effectiveness, so much so that it will be difficult not to immediately become attached to Rodin, Bayonetta or Enzo even without knowing the first chapter.
The story begins at Christmas, Bayonetta is shopping with poor Enzo when her friend Jeanne warns her that the balance of the world is out of harmony: this just before the angels attack our witch so that she immediately catapulted us into the gameplay. While the gameplay is the focus of the game and the events of the plot are tamarri beyond belief, this is by no means neglected and while it is simple it is very well thorough from the documents that will be found scattered around the levels. This is to underline how in the title Platinum Games nothing has been overlooked, everything is taken care of to the maximum potential of the talented studio.
The art of gameplay making
With a great deal of attention also paid to the history of the game, something totally secondary in a title of this genre, one cannot fail to mention how the gameplay has been designed with maniacal precision. Basically Bayonetta 2 seems to add little to the combat system of the former, if not for the new Apotheosis Mode which will allow you to activate a temporary "Super Mode" that will increase the damage and range of each of our attacks by combining them with unique animations. Although there is no real evolution compared to Bayonetta it cannot be defined that the gameplay is retrograde or boring, fighting in Bayonetta 2 is fun, fast-paced, satisfying and also complex if you play Hard or Infinite Apotheosis.
Platinum games, however, has not limited itself to "only" offering excellent gameplay with new creatures, stories and settings, rather it has implemented a game design studio dedicated to fostering the hype that the title brings to the player also enormously increasing the variety of situations we are going to face. When a boss can appear too long, or a level can give the impression of becoming monotonous, the developers they change the cards by creating levels in flight, underwater levels, unique gameplay for certain sections of the game, gravity changes or simple frame changes that play with the player's senses, making each verse of each Chapter fun and always fresh. It will even be possible to face a bossfight that features 3 or more types of arenas and different gameplay variants. If to this variety and to an excellent combat system it adds the possibility of having many weapons, equipable both to the arms and to the legs creating new combos, and also many different costumes of which provide active bonuses able to change the style of play to be adopted, then you have an extremely fun title in your hands. But Bayonetta 2 does not just offer great gameplay, but also brings with it a masterful technical sector.
When the technical sector is in harmony with the Gameplay
Bayonetta 2 features a tiered structure, each of which is set in a different location with designs that change based on the theme of the level. The settings are not only very varied but also very beautiful to see and explore. Numerous secrets are hidden around the map and never fail to reward the player who finds them by increasing the maximum life of our witch, her magic bar or simply by donating healing and non-healing items that can help during the most difficult battles.
As explained previously, many levels are built to always look different, favoring variety and fun, but the care for the settings is not limited to how they are built but also to how they are detailed. Based on our position in the 3 realms (Heaven, Hell and World of Chaos) and our enemies what surrounds us will be different, the barriers that prevent the passage will have different shapes, colors and breaking animations and even the enemy drops will change based on their origin.
Attention to detail at the level visual then continues as regards the animations of all the characters, each of which has its own way of moving, fighting or even talking. It ranges from the sensual animations of Bayonetta, always provocative with whatever costume you play her, to the rough punches of Rodin that give a very good idea of his strength, to the fast but often awkward fight of Loki. It is impressive how much attention has been paid to details that are very often lost during the fight, such as the animations of Loki who will often fight alongside Bayonetta simply trying to protect himself.
This attention to detail on a visual level is accompanied by a spectacular soundtrack management. Depending on what's going on at the plot level, or the simple power level of the enemy to face, different music tracks will be used ranging from orchestral choruses to emphasize the epic of combat to remixes of songs like Moon River used to accent the sensuality of our protagonist. As for performance, the title presents Granite 60 fps in both interfaces (fixed and portable) and has no resolution issues when played on a laptop.
Great ideas with minimal smudging
The game has a duration of about 12 hours, which however increase disproportionately in case you try to unlock all the content or try to finish the game in Infinite Apotheosis. Bayonetta 2 features a lot of optional content that can be unlocked through purchase in Rodin's bar or behind some objectives. There are 5 playable characters, including 2 exclusive to the Double Apotheosis mode, online multiplayer mode that is fun and with exclusive content, such as additional bossfights and more complex modes. It would have been nice to be able to play the entire campaign in multiplayer but also the system proposed by Bayonetta 2 (which consists of arenas with selectable enemies by choosing their corresponding card) is functional and fun.
The only recognizable smudges in the game are bad lipsync if you play with Japanese audio (it is possible that the sentences start earlier or end later) and some cutscene that seems to be made on a budget. In fact, pseudo "slideshows" with dialogues in the background are also used as a narrative medium, and although they are stylistically very beautiful to see, in some cases it was preferable to have classic videos, however present in other instances, especially in a couple of cases in which action scenes have been reduced to two static images.
Bayonetta 2 is a masterpiece and knows it is, the care taken in every detail and the courage to insert some game sections can only derive from a great trust that Platinum Games has placed in this work. With its charisma and action as epic as ever weighed down by unnecessary seriousness, it stands as one of the best titles available on Switch. An obligatory purchase for those who have not played it on WiiU, a welcome and better performing return for those who want to replay it on Nintendo Switch
► Bayonetta 2 is an Action-Hack and Slash-Shooter type game developed by PlatinumGames and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Switch and Wii U, the video game was released on 20/09/2014 The version for Nintendo Switch came out on 16/02/2018
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