‘Bayonetta 3’ Review: Really Rather Fabulous

Games ‘Bayonetta 3’ Review: Really Rather Fabulous Ollie Barder Contributor Forbes Games Reviews Contributor Group Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. Oct 27, 2022, 09:37pm EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin The multiverse plays a key part in ‘Bayonetta 3’s’ narrative. Nintendo After a long wait, Bayonetta 3 is finally here and it’s definitely as good as I hoped.

With a finely tuned combat system, the variety comes from a crazy multiverse imbued narrative. To be honest, the story as with all Bayonetta games is utterly insane. Starting with Bayonetta getting beaten to a pulp by a new mysterious antagonist.

It’s not long after that we meet a new Bayonetta from another dimension residing in New York, before it is laid waste to by the new antagonist’s forces. The multiverse aspect is laid on thick and there is plenty of Doctor Strange -esque reality bending madness from the off. We are introduced to the new character Viola and not long after that her companion, a giant and somewhat surreal cat called Chesire, because of course that makes sense in this setting.

The game then takes you at a breakneck pace from massive set piece to massive set piece, with fantastic bosses littered throughout. However, as fun and intense as that may be, the beating heart of this game remains its nearly peerless combat system. If you are new to Bayonetta series, the entirety of the combat system relies upon reading enemy animations and/or hearing attack prompts.

That may sound somewhat generic, but it’s how you react that makes these games special. In most other games of this type, you normally read an attack, block and counter. In Bayonetta you instead dodge, enter slow motion Witch Time and then unleash hell.

MORE FOR YOU Meet The Unknown Immigrant Billionaire Betting Her Fortune To Take On Musk In Space Musk Takes Over Twitter And Fires CEO—Here’s What It Could Mean Shepard Fairey: Portrait Of The Artist The latter “unleashing hell” bit is when you avail yourself of the immense menu of combo carnage. Linking attacks into demon summons as well as changing your weapon sets on the fly. The variety of options at your disposal, from what initially appears as a simple setup, is vast.

This is because the Bayonetta games follow the cardinal rule of game design; make each layer of gameplay simple but layer them up for complexity. Bayonetta 3 is all about those layers and how you move between them at speed. The result is still a uniquely exhilarating ride, but only once you’ve understood and mastered how the game works.

Summoning demons is now a big part of the combo setup. Nintendo While we are at the third game in the series by this point, it’s fair that this game is being targeted at those who are familiar with how the whole combat setup works. There is very little in the way of guidance on how to really excel or even learn how the game operates.

It just expects you to know. In that regard, Bayonetta 3 more than ever feels like a game made by game designers for other game designers. That is certainly no bad thing, but if you are new to the Bayonetta games then I strongly suggest you watch Saurian’s system guide for the first Bayonetta .

Much of that will hold you in good stead for this game, and when the layers are added on you will at least understand what is being built upon. The latter is an important point; Bayonetta 3 is most certainly a functional extension of the games that have preceded it and not entirely new. In that regard, I still hold the first game as being the best, as it really did break new ground in a game design sense.

This is a very good continuation of that though, and builds out on what we’ve had before. However, if you are expecting a graphical powerhouse, then Bayonetta 3 may disappoint. It’s most certainly a visually imaginative game and even rather sumptuous in parts, but it’s not a massive step up from the previous games or compared to other titles in recent years.

To be honest though, the graphical side of things are entirely moot. Games like Bayonetta 3 are all about its amazing combat system and in that this game delivers from the first moment you start it up. My only fear is that I feel that much of what Bayonetta 3 has to offer will be overlooked or missed entirely.

It’s a wonderful a game but its true functional delights are complex and subtle. Put simply, these kinds of games are a real rarity and should be cherished when they come along. The only thing I will add here is the whole debacle in how Bayonetta’s voice actress, Hellena Taylor , has been treated.

While she expressed her anger in a rather clumsy and inconsistent way , the fees she was offered still remain below what should be paid for a role in a game such as this. It’s a shame to see how she has been treated and I hope that at least the games industry will learn from this episode and try to do right by voice actors in the future. Overall, Bayonetta 3 delivers a frantically intense approach to “stylish combat”, with a complex and multi-layered combat system that has remained remarkably robust across each game in the series.

While the presentation is hugely over the top, Bayonetta 3’s real worth is in how it plays and as such comes thoroughly recommended to anyone that can keep up. Bayonetta 3 Platform: Nintendo Switch Developer: PlatinumGames Publisher: Nintendo Released: 28th October 2022 Price: $59. 99 Score: 9/10 Disclosure: I was sent a copy of this game for the purposes of this review.

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