Bayonetta

 Switch
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 274 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 218 out of 274
  2. Mixed: 39 out of 274
  3. Negative: 17 out of 274

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  1. Loo_oo
    May 4, 2018
    7
    The game has aged. Despite an upscaling, and some small bonuses, this is not enough to correct the flaws of the Wii version. But it's still a good and funny game. Humor, violence... and sexy !
    However, I prefer the second episode : less routine, more combos, better production
  2. huoc
    Mar 22, 2019
    5
    I really, really wanted to love this game. I waited for months to get it (I'm on a very tight budget).
    As a huge fan of GoW (1 and 2) I always wanted Nintendo to have its own Kratos. The 2 meters high chick with glasses, big breasts, weighing 40 kilos, wearing pistols on her shoes, seemed a perfect Kratos for Nintendo. I am rather disappointed.
    Graphics and setting: Graphics are fine, I    I really, really wanted to love this game. I waited for months to get it (I'm on a very tight budget).
    As a huge fan of GoW (1 and 2) I always wanted Nintendo to have its own Kratos. The 2 meters high chick with glasses, big breasts, weighing 40 kilos, wearing pistols on her shoes, seemed a perfect Kratos for Nintendo. I am rather disappointed.
    Graphics and setting: Graphics are fine, I mostly played handheld. It suits the genre. Stylish, good enough looking.
    Controls: I don't get this part. Why are most controls tied to the right hand? My right fingers were aching after half an hour while I barely used the left hand. At least the lock on target could be on the left hand trigger. It is just plain stupid to use three fingers simultaneously on the right hand while you barely touch the controller with the left.
    Story: as others mentioned it is really hard to understand. It should suit the genre (you should kill everyone you see in bloody action, the story is just some kind of background why you do that), but it is mostly confusing and not really comprehensible. English is not my native language, but usually I do not have problems with understanding game stories.
    Gameplay: Now this is what I do not get. I am not the guy to complain about hard games. If it is that hard I can't enjoy then I set it to a lower difficulty level. But this game fails big time in this aspect.
    I am definitely not the best player around. I am way over 15 so my reflexes are getting slower. However I played GoW 1 and 2 through at least 6-8 times each on Hard difficulty (not God and Titan mode, mind you, those were more frustration than fun for me). It was harder at first and almost a breeze after some playthroughs. I couldn't finish this game on normal. Enemies are hard to read, give really small and very fast signs of hits, it is hard to dodge or block. Somewhere roughly by the middle of the game I switched from normal to easy (shame! :)) Now this is where the real frustration starts. On easy all you have to do is keep pushing one button to win. The game will automatically decide what action to take on pushing that one button. Quick attack, strong attack, dodge, jump, etc. You can LITERALLY win most of the fights (non-boss fights) with eyes closed. Believe me, I tried. So there is no difficulty level I could enjoy this game on. I've read on forums that Bayonetta 2 is better in this regard. I hope for the best.    … Expand
  3. ket
    Jun 26, 2023
    6
    Bayonetta is a good, fun game with poor controls. I'm well versed with these types of games being a DMC and Tekken player the key to a game like this being a success is that it should be easy to pick up and play but require time and dedication to master. Bayonetta has gameplay much like DMC but requires the finger gymnastics of a Tekken master to truly enjoy which is a very poorBayonetta is a good, fun game with poor controls. I'm well versed with these types of games being a DMC and Tekken player the key to a game like this being a success is that it should be easy to pick up and play but require time and dedication to master. Bayonetta has gameplay much like DMC but requires the finger gymnastics of a Tekken master to truly enjoy which is a very poor combination given the speed at which gameplay flows you'll end up forgetting about half the moces you could do in favour of the ones that are quick to execute. Arenas in the game are mostly quite small not leaving you even any room to maneuver and begin building up a series of moves the closest you get to this is the very start of the game but the problem here is that you are just thrown into the game at 1000 miles an hour with no explanation as to the fighting mechanics, a problem compounded by the fact controls are not overly intuitive and needlessly complicated. There's a reason DMC is by far and away more popular, there controls are intuitive and require far less finger gymnastics to string together. Overall gameplay in Bayonetta is just very poorly balanced and the fact the developers even have items in the game you can make or buy for invincibility somewhat suggest they knew this was a problem so just applied a lazy bandaid fix rather than balancing properly.

    This game disappointed me immensely. I hope Bayonetta 2 is better when I come to play that after completing this.    … Expand
  4. bulger_paul
    Jul 28, 2018
    6
    I’m playingthis for the first time, on the Switch

    I feel the need to precede this by stating that I actually really really really liked parts of Bayonetta, a lot. There are many parts of this game I’d rank at a solid 10 on their own. But, as a whole, I was just a little disappointed, because of some other annoying things that were hard for me to ignore. For starters, the cut scenes    I’m playingthis for the first time, on the Switch

    I feel the need to precede this by stating that I actually really really really liked parts of Bayonetta, a lot. There are many parts of this game I’d rank at a solid 10 on their own. But, as a whole, I was just a little disappointed, because of some other annoying things that were hard for me to ignore.

    For starters, the cut scenes were incredibly frequent and gratuitously long, especially those exasperatingly long action cut scenes that never seemed to end. And throughout the duration, I always found myself wishing that I was the one controlling the action. And there are multiple lengthy cut scenes in every single chapter. You can skip them, but then you’d miss the story, and it’s a shame that a lot of the story is padded between excessively long action scenes.

    Secondly, in the same vein, many segments throughout this game are gratuitous. The developers just don’t seem to know when to quit. I really liked that there were a ton of levels that broke away from the basic core combat system, and extremely frequently you’ll be doing something different and exciting, but those initially exciting sequences overstay their welcome long before they’re over. The second worst offender is a level where you’ll be riding on a high speed motorcycle down the highway, and I’m not exaggerating when I say that level stretches on for longer than fifteen minutes. That’d be fine if they had you doing more interesting stuff during that level, but it’s a literal fifteen minutes of pushing forward continuously on the control stick, and jumping when they tell you to jump. It was fun at first, but it got old quickly and it never seemed to end. But the absolute worst is a level where you’re riding a missile to a tower across a large body of water Star Fox 64 style, only it’s not anywhere near as fun as that sounds. There is nothing interesting to do for longer than ten minutes, other than dodge some repetitive obstacles, and you just keep riding forward for what feels like an eternity. There are other levels that stretch on gratuitously, but those are the two absolute worst.

    Third, the time spent between combat segments in each level of the game are weak, and they are much longer than they need to be.

    And fourth, the story is very difficult to follow, and it’s all over the place. I like how crazy the story is, but it’s be nice if they made it a little more focused.

    And fifth, there’s a lot of little things, like invisible walls everywhere and somewhat often it’s unclear what you’re supposed to be doing to progress, or sometimes the camera angles are frustrating, etc. Just minor design issues that hampered my enjoyment of the game.

    That all being said, I really loved a lot of this game. When it’s good, it’s really bloody good. The bosses are spectacularly creative, the combat is fun, and you never know what’s coming next. I’ve heard Bayonetta 2 is a massive improvement, and that it improves upon the pacing and that it refined all of the things that were great about this game, so I’m eager to check it out soon.    … Expand
  5. guiletheguiles
    May 26, 2020
    5
    Bayonetta was on my backlog for ages, so I finally decided to try it out... Unfortunately, things did not go as expected.

    I'll get one thing out of the way: The combat is the saving grace of this game! It's flawless! Fast-paced, tight controls, good combo variety, nice weapon moves, a dedicated dodge button that's actually useful and a freedom for improvisation and style that rivals    Bayonetta was on my backlog for ages, so I finally decided to try it out... Unfortunately, things did not go as expected.

    I'll get one thing out of the way: The combat is the saving grace of this game! It's flawless!
    Fast-paced, tight controls, good combo variety, nice weapon moves, a dedicated dodge button that's actually useful and a freedom for improvisation and style that rivals the likes of Nier Automata and DMC 5. I don't even know how they'll improve on the second one, but people say they do.
    Other than that, the soundtrack is catchy, characters are well designed, the pacing of each level is good and the whole game just goes STRAIGHT to the point from the start, no BS.

    Unfortunately, this game felt like a mess to me. Everything is pretty unforgiving and recycled.
    The writing is horrible! There's a story going on, but it makes no sense and the result is a forgettable tale. Characters like Bayonetta, Jeanne and Rodin are great, but almost every other (like Cerezita) are obnoxious. And every woman in this game is VERY SEXUALIZED! Too unnecessary and disrespectful. It just seems like they tried to make everything as over the top as possible and, in the end, made something... childish?

    And while the combat is astonishing, there are huge flaws in the gameplay design.
    Bosses are EPIC, but just for the sake of it, making for long, confusing and tedious fights. Environments are bland, reused, with dull puzzles and clueless moments. Bosses are also recycled and you have to fight them over and over again, sometimes one after another. Bullet hell moments outstay their welcome. There are huge unbalanced difficulty spikes throughout the campaign. The rewarding system is punishing and requires perfection. Some enemies are not fun AT ALL to fight and Bayonetta is made of PAPER, since her health goes down TOO FAST!
    The game is fun, but very annoying. These flaws almost broke the experience for me. Everything is too uneven.

    I thought I was going to love Bayonetta like I love DMC, but I was wrong.
    While I loved the soundtrack, character design and the astounding combat system, the rest was very frustrating and I almost stopped playing it. But even if defective, there's a charm to it. Even if it tries to hard to find it.    … Expand
  6. dislexicpotato
    Dec 17, 2018
    6
    Bayonetta is possibly the best female protagonist of the past decade of the gaming industry, however there is only so much a good protagonist can do when the game suffers from clunky controls (that are exclusive to PC), an overall mixed story and gameplay that can get boring at times. The humour often doesn't land and some characters simply aren't likeable at all. Thankfully, Bayonetta 2Bayonetta is possibly the best female protagonist of the past decade of the gaming industry, however there is only so much a good protagonist can do when the game suffers from clunky controls (that are exclusive to PC), an overall mixed story and gameplay that can get boring at times. The humour often doesn't land and some characters simply aren't likeable at all. Thankfully, Bayonetta 2 is a significant improvement on the Switch and is well worth your money.… Expand
  7. ElleryHQ
    Jan 26, 2019
    7
    Определенно неплохая игра. Интересные боевые механики, веселые вставки между уровнями. Из минусов - быстро приедающийся саундтрек и не до конца раскрытый сюжет, так некоторым поступкам персонажей сложно найти объяснение.Определенно неплохая игра. Интересные боевые механики, веселые вставки между уровнями. Из минусов - быстро приедающийся саундтрек и не до конца раскрытый сюжет, так некоторым поступкам персонажей сложно найти объяснение.
  8. Thejodjeremie
    Jun 15, 2020
    7
    The game is a really fun action packed adventure. It was a bit challenging at times for me but still enjoyed it.
  9. realkinko
    Sep 22, 2022
    6
    There's a foundation in this game that I really hope it successors builds upon and improves, but calling this game perfect is absolutely ridiculous. This game is super annoying to play because it's basically fighting for 5 seconds, followed by a cutscene, followed by running for 5 seconds, followed by another cutscene (introducing the enemy you'll beat down in 5 seconds) and all of aThere's a foundation in this game that I really hope it successors builds upon and improves, but calling this game perfect is absolutely ridiculous. This game is super annoying to play because it's basically fighting for 5 seconds, followed by a cutscene, followed by running for 5 seconds, followed by another cutscene (introducing the enemy you'll beat down in 5 seconds) and all of a sudden an absolutely ridiculous puzzle appears. The story? Well, I'm only halfway through the game but so far I would say it's about as ridiculous as everything else in the game. The ONLY saving grace this game has is its combat which is actually very good.… Expand
  10. OpticalFred
    Aug 15, 2023
    7
    The story didnt got me that interest. The fight are fun but i feel are not my type completely

Awards & Rankings

41
#41 Best Switch Game of 2018
34
#34 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2018
87
#87 Most Shared Switch Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 23 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Feb 26, 2018
    90
    If you ever thought about playing either Bayonetta or Bayonetta 2, now is the time. [Issue #32 – March/April 2018, p. 67]
  2. NintendoWorldReport
    Feb 20, 2018
    90
    Having played Bayonetta for the first time on Switch, I had some concern it would feel dated, especially after playing through Bayonetta 2 on Wii U. However I found it difficult to believe this game is nearly a decade old. It has a sense of style and charm that many fail to achieve, all without sacrificing the most important element: fun and exciting gameplay. So while it’ll be easy to overlook this in favor of the sequel, in doing so you’d not only be doing a disservice to the game, but a disservice to yourself.
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  3. Impulsegamer
    Feb 20, 2018
    80
    Bayonetta on the Nintendo Switch is a very fun experience on this console and it feels like a bad 70’s action movie and the story, characters and quirkiness of the gameplay is pure ingenious. The combat is quite fluid and diverse and whether you’re shooting, kicking or summoning demons, everything comes together perfectly. For male gamers, it does help that the character is oozing with sex appeal and even though some of the close-ups or open leg shots may be a little too much for some, it dares to be different and proves that a game can not only be fun but sexy as well.
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