The bulk of the game takes place in the fictional European city of Vigrid, shortly after arrival in the city you'll meet the Witch you met in the prologue who after a short battle is revealed as Jeannie, an Umbra who has allied herself with the Angels, from here the story lead on as other characters are introduced who know of Bayonetta and either seek her death or have reason to stop her from finding out her past. Interaction with Vigrid's inhabitants is kept to a minimum as Bayonetta is able to exist in a different plane of existence where the humans that live in the city are only vaguely aware of her presence. Bayonetta is free to do as she desires for the most part, the humans do acknowledge she exists on some level when there surroundings suddenly explode, though this is mostly just running off like scared little lambs. The exception to this rule is a character known as Luka, or, Cheshire as Bayonetta calls him, who has known of Bayonetta since he was a young boy. He's chased her down to various parts of the world in order to prove her existence, he's able to sense her presence but when the pair meets he is unable to completely detect her, at least in the beginning.
The whole plot is typically a Japanese affair. Bayonetta herself is English and the typical Femme Fatale you might expect from a manga inspired tale, she doesn't actually have clothes as such, her hair makes up the bulk of her costume. Unfortunately her hair is also one of her weapons, many of her special attacks are demons seemingly summoned into her hair which then detach themselves and pummel the enemy in flamboyant and extravagant ways, so, while the special attack takes place you'll find Bayonetta naked for the most part. Sometimes the game takes things a little too far, many of her moves and actions are more revealing than they need to be, to the point of embarrassment for the more mature gamers. It's certainly not everyone's taste and is probably more detrimental to the gaming industry than anything else, it certainly hinders the chances of Bayonetta being seen as a role model rather than a sex object to be ogled over. To be fair this is reflected within the age rating, it is also full of blood, swearing and violence as well so it's not all about getting the lead character to pose proactively while playing with the analogue sticks and bashing buttons.
The visual style is good, but not outstanding, many of the cut scenes dispense with such things as lip syncing and animation choosing to appear as more of a cartoon in motion, this is probably down to the art style and story telling methods than a lack of ability from the developers but it's not something that is going to be to everybody's tastes. The crux of the action is the fighting which is all done pretty well, as mentioned earlier it's all very flashy with Bayonetta kicking, punching, and shooting her way through battles, Angels attack from all angles and the action is reasonably easy to keep abreast of (excuse the pun) as the camera switches between fixed position angles and a more free roaming affair. At times it can all seem a bit manic with the special effects firing from seemingly all directions but you soon get used to it, and when you do, you'll notice some of the detail that has been lavished on the character animations is actually quite good. The sound and music in particular is very feminine in its approach, perfectly suited to Bayonetta of course, but it's hard to judge the voice acting overall, this is really down to personal taste, those that enjoy the style of story telling, which as mentioned earlier is similar to a Japanese Manga will no doubt lap up the sexy accents of the women and the cool attitudes of the men that litter the characters dialogue; for those that prefer a more western approach then of course it is all going to seem a bit overblown and unnecessary.
The game can come across as a little full on in the early stages; the difficulty level at normal, while never too hard, can easily become an annoyance. That said however the game does come equipped with five levels of difficulty which range from Very Easy to, Non-Stop Climax (Very Hard). You're either going to love or hate Bayonetta depending on your tastes; the chances are that if you're a fan of the Devil May Cry series and are looking for the next evolution then you're not going to go far wrong with Bayonetta, it's a fast paced sexy action-adventure. If however you like your action a little less manic and a little more western then you may want to give this one a miss, it's certainly not a game everyone will like, though no doubt more will than those that don't.
