Bayonetta is nearly 8 years old, but if recent remasters have shown us anything, it’s that sometimes a classic game needs revisiting.
Sega and PlatinumGames’ witch-based action game first saw the light of day on the Xbox 360 and PS3 back in 2009 with a more recent follow up appearing alongside the Wii U exclusive Bayonetta 2. It contained some very Japanese stylings, especially for the main character, whose only clothing is her hair.
Back then it was a pretty well received title with a few issues around fluidity, thanks in part to the lower power of the consoles at the time, but that’s where the latest PC port comes in and shows us exactly what the game should look and feel like on a modern piece of hardware.
The remaster itself is stunning, even on lower end hardware. At 1080p it runs flawlessly at 60fps on the last generation of cards and even those before that, but on a GTX 1070 it hands in a beautiful smooth 4K experience, too, which really helps to show off some of the blisteringly fast and fantastic looking fight sequences, especially the boss battles.
Fast fingers and combo combinations are required to excel in Bayonetta. It’s a game about not just fighting your opponents, both holy and unholy, but how you do it, using all the different techniques learnt in the beginning of the game and during loading sequences to unlock finishing moves and special powers. Bayonetta herself has pistols strapped to her shoes as well as her hands and can pull off some crafty manoeuvres between this and the more close up melee moves. First, though, you’ll need to get used to the plethora of enemies, flashes of magic and just plain madness that obscure half the screen every time you fight because otherwise you’ll just get lost in the madness of it all.
So it may well be an old game but Bayonetta’s design and gameplay haven’t aged one bit. For those new to the game, it’s well worth picking up if you’re a fan of Devil May Cry and similar melee combat games, but even if you’ve played this before, the beautiful remaster is enough to warrant a return.
Bayonetta
Pros
- Smooth 60fps gameplay
- Excellent combo system
- Plenty of action
Cons
- It's still the same 7 year old game
