She even walks with an exaggerated femininity, like a catwalk model doing everything she can to accentiate her body. She’s a character whose most powerful attacks requires that she become naked (her clothes are actually her hair and those attacks require using her hair to summon legions from hell). It’s immediately obvious why some circles of feminism are offended by this game – every camera angle in every cut scene lingers on the sexual parts of Bayonetta’s anatomy. As I’ve already noted in a separate opinion piece, there are schools of feminism that are going to find the character offensive, and while I won’t go into that discussion again in this review, as a quick summary: The same could be said about Bayonetta’s character herself. And that’s a pity, because taken with a critical eye Bayonetta 2 could be the focus point of some interesting discussions around the interpretations of good and evil and how they relate to religion. This is going to offend some people – I can’t imagine church groups approving of this game, to but it bluntly. Naturally such a theme then comes across as a criticism of religion, and Bayonetta 2 certainly continues its predecessor’s thesis that religion sits on the wrong side of righteousness. The morality of Bayonetta 2’s world is far less certain that should be the case for a game in the “brainless” button masher, and while the game’s concluding chapter, as with its precessor, opts to be too explicit for the game’s otherwise subtle and nuanced investigation of the play between good and evil, it’s mentally engaging stuff getting to that point. Their visages are monstorous, and not the beauty winged creatures that pure good should be. Bayonetta is a witch that summons all kinds of demonic horrors to deal with her foes, but beneath that she has a sardonic sense of morality which seems to be more noble than the angels that she’s fighting.ĭespite being clad all in white and shining with all the glory and fury of the heavens, Bayonetta’s opponents, the angels, are uncomfortable to be exposed to from the outset. This broader genre is characterised by morally questionable “heroes” – Kratos isn’t exactly a nice guy, and neither are the likes of Dante from Dante’s Inferno, while Gabriel from Castlevania: Lord of Shadows, is Dracula himself, but rarely is it done with the nuance that we see in Bayonetta 2. No, what makes Bayonetta 2 so impressive is that it actually has a theme and narrative worth paying attention to.Īs mentioned, it’s a battle between heaven and hell, as told through the eyes of someone who is, in fact, aligned with hell. Bayonetta certainly moves with greater fluidity than Kratos and his macho compatriots (despite hitting every bit as hard), but that’s not what really puts her game apart. It would be easy to look at a screenshot or short video of Bayonetta 2 and dismiss it as yet another button-masher action game in the vein of God of War or the recent Castlevania efforts. This game makes the Wii U an essential console if you haven’t got one yet. They’re fitting themes, because as high as the stakes of these battles are, our hero is a witty woman who has a solid grasp of just how silly the world is, and she takes this in her stride. Bright, bubbly renditions of Moon River or Tomorrow Is Mine play in the background and set the mood for the dance. This is a bullet ballet in the purest sense a dance of death between beings of incredible power to determine the fate of the plane. The size of these creatures is irrelevant as giants try to swing at her, but she’s never where the weapon comes down, so agile is this woman that she’s already circled behind them to hit them where it hurts. With guns in both hands and the heels of her shoes, she is a whirling dervish of death, tearing apart the angels with impunity. A tall, beautiful woman stands in the middle of a circle of angelic beings.
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