Wonder Club world wonders pyramid logo
×

Video Game Vintage Title: Bayonetta

XBOX360 | PS3 | ATARI | XBOX | PS2
Bayonetta

Bayonetta

Bayonetta is a third-person action video game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, developed by Platinum Games in cooperation with publisher Sega. The game centers on its title character, Bayonetta, who uses her four pistols and magical attacks to defeat enemies. The game's developers designed its characters with modern style and fashion in mind, and is composed with a largely upbeat soundtrack.

Development of the game started around January 2007, and it was released in Japan in late October 2009, with a U.S. release following in January 2010. It has been promoted through a television commercial with music by Japanese pop singer MiChi, look-alike searches, a theme for the Google Chrome web browser, a photo book, and soundtracks.

Reviews praised Bayonetta for its easily-learned yet deep combat, fast pace, boss battles, time slowdown or "Witch Time" mechanic, and character and stage designs. The game has sold 1.35 million units worldwide by March 31, 2010. A sequel, Bayonetta 2, was announced exclusively for the Wii U, to be published by Nintendo.

Plot
Setting and characters
Bayonetta takes place in Vigrid, a fictional city in Europe. The title character (voiced by Hellena Taylor) is a witch who shapeshifts and uses various firearms, along with magical attacks she performs with her own hair, to dispatch her foes. She awakens after a 500-year sleep and finds herself in an unfamiliar area with no memories of who or what she is. Over time, she begins to remember what caused her current predicament. 500 years before the incident that caused Bayonetta's memory loss, there were two factions preserving the balance between darkness and light in the world: the Umbra Witches, who are followers of darkness, and their counterparts, the Lumen Sages, who are followers of light. The factions shared two distinct treasures, the 'Eyes of the World' (separately named the 'Left Eye' and the 'Right Eye') which they used to oversee the just passage of time. Both factions mysteriously disappeared from Vigrid under unknown circumstances. Bayonetta still has an ornate piece of jewelry which contains a small red gem, and believes this gem is the Left Eye of the Eyes of the World. While searching for the Right Eye, she often receives flashbacks that make her remember what caused her current predicament.

A male character known as Luka (voiced by Yuri Lowenthal) had met Bayonetta as a child, and is now a possible love interest for her. Other characters include Bayonetta's rival and fellow Umbra Witch Jeanne (voiced by Grey DeLisle), who wields four guns like Bayonetta; Rodin (voiced by Dave Fennoy), the owner of a bar called the Gates Of Hell where Bayonetta can buy various weapons and items; an informant named Enzo (voiced by Chick Vennera) who looks and sounds similar to actor Joe Pesci, and provides comic relief; a young girl named Cereza (voiced by Stephanie Sheh) whom Bayonetta meets early in the game; and the main antagonist Balder (voiced by Grant Albrecht).

The dimensions Bayonetta inhabits are the game's different settings, which borrow from Dante's Divine Comedy: Paradiso (heaven), which generally takes the form of a heavenly yellow or golden valley or palace and is the home of the "Angel" enemies she faces; Purgatorio (purgatory), a metarealm that functions as an "in between" for metaphysical beings and stands alongside yet outside of the plane humans exist on (all beings in and outside of Purgatorio take on a transparent, watery appearance); and Inferno (hell), which is the game's hellish realm that contains infernal demons of the sort that Bayonetta herself occasionally summons with her Witch powers. Further research uncovers that the Witches actually drew most of their power from the Demons that exist in Inferno.

Story
In the present day, an informant named Enzo has joined up with Bayonetta, a witch who was revived twenty years ago from the bottom of a lake and has no memories of her past. Owning one half of the "Eyes of the World", Bayonetta leaves for Vigrid when Enzo informs her of rumors the other half is there.

After a confrontation with another Umbra Witch named Jeanne, as well as a young man named Luka; the former seemingly has ties to Bayonetta's past, while the latter blames Bayonetta for his father's death. Bayonetta then battles through Vigrid before encountering Fortitudo, one of the four Cardinal Virtues, and defeats him.

Making her way through the Crescent and Sunrise Valleys, Bayonetta finds Jeanne conversing with Temperantia, the second of the Cardinal Virtues; after defeating Jeanne, she then meets a lost child named Cereza. Much to Bayonetta's frustration, the child believes she's her mother and follows her; after eventually returning to the human world, Bayonetta leaves Cereza with Luka and confronts Temperantia, who she defeats. Continuing her search for the Right Eye, Bayonetta follows Luka and Cereza down Prominence Bridge in an attempt to reach the island known as Isla del Sol; she is attacked by Justitia, the third Cardinal Virtue, and defeats him.

The trio board a Valkyrie jet headed for Isla Del Sol, only for Cereza to become lost. After finding her and fighting Jeanne again, Sapientia, the final Cardinal Virtue attacks and downs the jet, and Bayonetta defeats him. The three then head for Isla del Sol by helicopter, and then by missile. When they reach the island, Bayonetta is confronted again by Jeanne, who explains Bayonetta was a child born from an Umbra Witch and a Lumen Sage, which was forbidden and resulted in Bayonetta being ostracized. Bayonetta defeats Jeanne, who reveals the reason Bayonetta possesses the Left Eye is because she has accepted her fate. Bayonetta hands Jeanne the gem she had been carrying, making her remember she is Cereza, and that Jeanne was once her friend; it was Jeanne who sealed her away, giving Bayonetta the gem to protect her and the Left Eye. After Jeanne then sacrifices herself to save Bayonetta, she continues through the tower with Luka and Cereza.

Upon reaching the top, Bayonetta finally meets Father Balder, the last of the Lumen Sages. Balder reveals he is Bayonetta's father, and that he plans to reunite the three universes by resurrecting Jubileus, the Creator; however, since Bayonetta could not remember her past, Cereza was sent back to her to help her remember, allowing Balder to use her as the "left-eye". After revealing he was responsible for the death of Luka's father, Balder throws him to his death, before fighting Bayonetta among rubble falling from the tower. Bayonetta ultimately manages to defeat Balder, before saving a falling Luka and Cereza.

After making a time portal to return her younger self home, Bayonetta returns to the present, only to collapse after regaining her memory; seemingly unharmed, Balder transports himself and the unconscious Bayonetta towards the statue on top of the tower, beginning the resurrection of Jubileus. As the statue launches into space, Jeanne reappears after earlier escaping both death and Balder's control narrowly. She ascends the launching statue on her motorcycle by riding along the surface; after reaching Bayonetta, she saves her, only for Jubileus to come alive. Jeanne floats away from the statue, leaving Bayonetta alone to fight the deity, which concludes with her summoning Queen Shiba, who punches Jubileus into the sun. As the statue left behind by Jubileus plummets towards Earth, Jeanne is revealed to be alive, and after destroying the last of the Jubileus statue, Bayonetta and Jeanne end up in a free-fall towards Earth; after surviving the descent, the epilogue shows them continuing to battle against the Angels.


Login

  |  

Complaints

  |  

Blog

  |  

Games

  |  

Digital Media

  |  

Souls

  |  

Obituary

  |  

Contact Us

  |  

FAQ

CAN'T FIND WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR? CLICK HERE!!!