Bayonetta (0 comments)
Mel and I have been playing Bayonetta as of late. The titular character is the last in a race of ancient witches fighting against the forces of light for reasons that she's mostly forgotten. Her magical powers flow through her hair, which lashes out at her foes in the form of oversized fists or boots.
In the game's opening scene, a bunch of angels manage to slice off all of Bayonetta's clothing. She reacts by immediately creating new clothes for herself from that same magical hair. They look normal for the most part, but as she gets deeper into advanced combo moves, she needs more magic, and sensibly, turns her clothing back into hair.
There's a lot of ridiculous sexualization in the game, but for me, the first encounter with Joy takes the cake. Joy is a shapeshifter, impersonating Bayonetta to kidnap an annoying little girl. When Bayonetta catches up with them, she shoots Joy in the head, which naturally triggers a dance-off. After a brief Bayonetta vs. Fake Bayonetta fight, Joy takes a break to masturbate herself back into her true form:
Bayonetta shows a lot of parallels to Shoot 'Em Up, and I like it for many of the same reasons. It's all ridiculous fun, whether I'm strapping grenade launchers to every limb, tossing a baddie in a guillotine, or ice-skating through the holy hordes dishing out pain from my demon katana.
I'm not sure if we'll make it through the game at "hard" difficulty to qualify for the Penny Arcade Bayonetta contest, but we'll probably end up trying.