Reloading: Bayonetta 2 - Messing WIth the Best

I said it was coming and I did not lie. Here is our review of Bayonetta 2. 

The reason I bought Bayonetta 1 on my PS3 two years ago was because I heard Bayonetta 2 would be a Wii U exclusive. I knew I would be getting a Wii U, but I knew nothing of Bayonetta at the time. But it looked interesting and certainly a bizarre choice of exclusive titles for the Wii U. I figured I’d try the first to see if I liked it because Bayonetta 2 interested me enough that I wanted to support it if the first enticed me enough. Obviously it did or I wouldn’t be here talking about the sequel today. What I can say is I went into Bayonetta 2 with adjusted expectations. The first game had a bizarre story that wasn’t necessarily easy to digest, visuals that (while pretty) made it difficult to tell what was going on at times, and combat that was basically flawless except for the fact you have A LOT of different combos but will only rely on a small handful that you can remember.

And while there are many things that Bayonetta 2 does that is exactly the same as Bayonetta 1, the sequel actually does manage to make a few significant (though subtle) changes that actually make Bayonetta 2 feel like the stronger of the two titles and was something I actually had more fun with.

The plot follows our title character, Bayonetta, shortly after the events of the first game. It’s almost the holidays and she’s out shopping with Enzo when angels attack. She, along with her friend Jeanne from the first game, fight them off as per usual until she summons one of her demons via the Climax Move. One the demon eats the angel, it turns on Bayonetta. Jeanne sacrifices herself to save Bayonetta, damning her soul to the Infero (Hell). Bayonetta punishers her rogue demon and then goes on a quest to save Jeanne from eternal damnation for her heroic act.

Along the way, we meet Loki (not Marvel’s Loki). He’s a young man who doesn’t have any memories (great, this plot point again) and is also trying to go to the same place Bayonetta is (sorta). They need to reach a mountain that is capable of taking people to either the Inferno or Paradiso (apparently). He doesn't remember why and that's also part of the mystery. The two work together to go to Hell. Things aren’t easy, however, as a Lumen Sage is hunting them down to try and kill one of them at the request of something called the “Prophetic One”. No one said the road to hell would be a cake walk.

The enemy types have a little more diversity as you’ll fight a new slew of angels that weren’t in the first game and, eventually, you do get to see some of the old angels from the previous game (but I won’t spoil when or how they get back into the mix). The appearance of Infernals (demons) is also a nice change of pace, giving a good assortment of enemies that not only physically look different, but offer new challenges that make the fights more varied and fun. One of my personal favorites was Resentment, Swindler of Progress. He has a special ability to turn Bayonetta into the child-Bayonetta from the first game, allowing him a one-hit kill if he catches you in that form.

In addition to new enemies, you have new environments. Not only do we have many new environments to explore, but the aesthetics of the game are in great favor of throwing buckets of color EVERYWHERE. The WiiU is a host of very pretty looking games like Smash Bros, Mario Kart, and even Mario 3D World. But Bayonetta 2 takes it to another level by showing us a non-cartoony game with the same level of great looking colors, smooth animations at 60FPS, and graphical output of 1080p. Visually, it’s spectacular and makes many of the releases on other consoles look dated and bland by comparison. There are even some spectacular underwater segments of the game and I absolutely hate underwater segments of most games. But this was done well so it didn’t feel long or boring and you could still do most of your normal moves under the sea.

Combat is mostly unchanged from before. You have a long list of combos to pick from. Of which, you’ll likely rotate through your favorite three or four and leave it at that. The good part is that the new weapons introduced add a lot more flavor to that combat. Of the new weapons I have managed to unlock thus far, you have dual-swords, a bow-n-arrow, and a scythe. The swords can be quad-wielded to have swords on both your hands and feet. And while that’s fucking absurd as shit, it looks amazing and makes your combos interesting when you’re balancing on your sword tips for certain moves.

Meanwhile the bow-n-arrow is strictly for long range combat and picks off damage rather than shaving off tons of health with each hit. I didn’t use it much for the main missions, but the optional objectives showed how useful it could be when you weren’t allowed to take damage or couldn’t touch the ground, or you didn’t want to lose your combo. Then there’s the scythe. It’s big, attacks are slower, and it can be difficult to adjust the speed of your game to make it work right away. But it also gets multi-hits and hits HARD so it’s something worth trying out. There's a lot of variety and many different combinations to play around with. 

The previous game also had “Wicked Weaves” which were partial demon-summons allowing the player to do more damage when reaching the end of a combo. These have been weakened slightly in favor of a new mechanic, “Umbran Climax”. By getting your magic-gauge up to a certain point, you can initiate an Umbran Climax which does lots more damage and has incredible range, capable of hitting all enemies in a nearby area with the right weapon. This subtle change actually does offer quite a lot to the combat to make it not only more enjoyable, but to keep it from just being a copy-paste job from the first game. Small tweaks like this allow something old to feel new, even if there are many general similarities.

As with Bayonetta 1 on the Wii U, you also get special costumes, but they must be bought in this game as they aren’t available from the start. That said, there’s a fun level near the end that, if you’re in the optional Fox McCloud costume, you’ll be in for a treat. They have other costumes too, such as all the ones from the first game (Peach, Daisy, Link, and Samus) and all do the same tricks as before. There are other outfits too that are fun to play with but the detail that went into the Fox McCloud and the other Nintendo-themed ones continue to show the level of detail Platinum takes with their games and it’s nice to see such effort paying off in the final product.

But I can’t spend a whole review praising a game for being perfect when there are flaws we should point out anyway. For starters, the game either feels easier or I just got better at playing a Bayonetta game. I’m assuming the former because I’m determined to believe I am actually terrible at video games. And while this didn’t kill the experience for me (it actually felt nice to get gold and platinum medals for a change), I can imagine most players from the first game will want to bump that difficult to the max at the start for the optimum experience.

Likewise, the plot revolving around Loki is frustrating familiar to the amnesia plot of the first game. I have nothing against it in this game though because it actually helps enhance the story of the first game in ways I won’t explain here. But while the end result is still good, it’s sad that we’re just reusing a same plot-mechanic from the previous game instead of trying something different. And I’m not a huge fan of Loki, though his interactions with Luka were kind of funny.

Getting money seems easier to do in this game, but things are still overpriced to an extent. Many of the accessories may add an ability, but they also have some kind of drawback to them, which makes me wonder why so many require so many halos to purchase. That said, I’ve spent my money on alt-weapons and clothes, so perhaps I’m doing it wrong anyway. I bet there’s a way to farm rings more efficiently that makes these prices irrelevant, but since I was just playing to get through the game and experience the content instead of cheating the system, I can’t say for sure.

The lack of an ending dance-number like with the first game was also kind of a bummer. I know it adds nothing to the game and is just a silly way for the developer to goof off. But it was still fun to see. Instead, we get bonus “Witch trial” levels in which you get no healing items and fight through waves of enemies. It gets progressively harder to stay alive but it’s all still a cool way to keep playing the game if you enjoy the combat as much as I did.

So to sum things up, if you liked Bayonetta 1, then Bayonetta 2 is just more of it but more colorful, smoother, and a little more coherent. It takes an already fun game and just polishes it up a bit more to show us just how far Platinum Games have come in four years, and that’s a pretty amazing thing to see. I appreciate the fact this isn’t a series that’s been done to death or had yearly-sequels at the insistence of a stupid publisher that doesn’t understand how such a rushed production schedule will kill future titles from having the same level of quality as a properly developed title like Bayonetta 2 would have. But luckily Platinum isn’t working under Activision (often) or Ubisoft.

Glad to finally have caught up on my planned reviews. Now I have to find new games or movies to take on. While I’m not promising anything, I’m going to try and at least get Hyrule Warriors or Sonic Boom completed before the years end. And, if we’re lucky, I’ll start Dark Souls II as well. On top of that, I know The Hobbit Part 3 is coming soon, so expect a review on that. And with the time freed up, I can FINALLY catch up on shows I’ve been falling behind on. Expect some mid-season reviews for Walking Dead, Agents of Shield, Flash, and Gotham before New Year’s.

As always, if you liked the content above and want to see more, please be sure to like, comment, share, and subscribe. We love writing reviews, commentaries, and top 12 lists and want to keep doing it. The bigger an audience we can get, the more focus we can put into this blog and, hopefully soon, video content. Until then, see ya next time!