On The Ball: Pimping Bayonetta

[docbox1567]

Selling a game or movie for its sex appeal means that the people promoting it feel that sex is the only thing good about it. Think of porn. Do they display their ?creativity?, ?story? or ?talent? outside of panting and big Jim and the twins? This means that the promoters of Bayonetta feel that its audience are earth shattering sexual repressed and will buy anything if there is sex in it. It?s too bad that they think so low of themselves and their audience.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

I'm just gonna live a simple:

"I liked it."

Because I did. The combat worked well and I'm not gonna deny that Bayonetta did her job and did it pretty sexily, and I enjoyed it.

 

[J234]

I kinda thought Bayonetta purposely exaggerates and satirizes sex (and to a secondary extent, violence) in a parodic way much like Pulp Fiction exaggerates and satirizes violence, and also of course, in a way many Japanese....err..ummm..."more sexually focused" animes do as well, because apparently sex is funny.

Bayonetta doesn't use sex to make her character appeal to people so much as sex IS a part of her character, and she kinda seems to be in on the whole "let's parody sex, guys" theme the developers seem to be exploiting.

Rad article, by the way.

 

[Galad]

Just popping in to say "thank you for bashing on evony, since that game deserves it"

Thank you.

 

[_Nocturnal]

I have a problem with The Escapist's reviews from the beginning.
Essentially, I'd like to read this kind of content in them, but they seem much more sterile and by-the-books.
Needless to say, I love the article and hope to see more. Thanks!

 

[SageRuffin]

Please. Some of you act like this is first game to presented to the masses in such a fashion. Anybody remember the infamous commercial to Dead or Alive 3 with the 2 guys chilling on the couch ("...She kicks high." [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Jfzh2s3jlE])?

I think Bayonetta is a refreshing change to the usual femme fatale formula in that she's one of the few if not the only female lead character who's sexually aware of herself: she knows what she has, and knows how to use it to her advantage. C'mon now... the various so-called soldiers of heaven go nothing short of ballistic when Bayonetta says "You want to touch me?" Too bad that there are people reading this post and are resenting the game even more due to phrases like that featured in-game.

[sighs] Unpleasable fanbase indeed.

 

[ucciolord1]

Sex and violence are both baser instincts, so it makes sense that they might work together, though that doesn't mean they should.
Sometimes I feel, however, that you overestimate us. Many would buy Bayonetta regardless of weather it was good or not; the fact that it's a quality game is just icing on the cake.

 

[snow]

I was REALLY afraid to see why the words "Masturbation Mode" were linked...

Now that I did however... Wow that is just wrong, but thankfully not as wrong as I first thought.

 

[BlindChance]

Excellent article. It seems to be a good day for people willing to defend the highly unpopular, with you defending Bayonetta and Stephanie Zacharek defending The Rock over at Salon.com. If all your articles are this good, I look forward to On The Ball!

 

[John Funk]

I have a problem with The Escapist's reviews from the beginning.
Essentially, I'd like to read this kind of content in them, but they seem much more sterile and by-the-books.
Needless to say, I love the article and hope to see more. Thanks!

Well, therein lies the difference between a review and an Op-Ed.

Review: "Should you buy this game / is it any good?"

Op-Ed: "This game is interesting for X/Y/Z; this game was mismarketed, etc."

 

[Tharticus]

Great article Mr. Deam. It goes nicely with Leigh Alexander's view on Bayonetta in which she praises that game too.

 

[ma55ter_fett]

The pole danceing attack was one of my favorite moves in any fighting game ever. It is just so over the top awesome.

 

[Callate]

I'm kind of sorry it probably won't come to the PC. It looks fantastic, and the author's description of the sensibility makes it sound downright refreshing.

 

[VGFreak1225]

The sad thing is, I've seen so many reviews of the game that fail to realize this. They always say that its all too weird and bizarre and its trying too hard. The whole point of it is comedy; its one thing to say that the game may take the humor too far (which it doesn't IMHO) but it another thing entirely to say its just trying too hard to be sexy. THIS is why Bayonetta is able to rise above the Lara Crofts and the DOAs. The game knows what it is and does everything it can to exploit that, pure and simple.

 

[_Nocturnal]

Well, therein lies the difference between a review and an Op-Ed.

Review: "Should you buy this game / is it any good?"

Op-Ed: "This game is interesting for X/Y/Z; this game was mismarketed, etc."

It's a useful clarification, thank you.

Still, maybe I'm spoiled, but I'd like to think the perfect review is a combination of both examples. It could be that I'm expecting fullfilment for my interests from a piece that's not supposed to be about them. Though I think there's something to be said about the differences between tech and art reviews in this context (the former being more closely related to the first example and the latter - to the second, in my opinion).

Fortunately, you guys have all kinds of pieces that make me happy. Keep up the good work!

 

[CouchPirate]

Not going to pretend that I didn't spend extended periods zooming in on Lara Croft's tits. I say, bring on the fan service!

 

[Graham_LRR]

Great article.
When I saw the marketing for the game, I completely wrote it off as just trying to get by on the basis of boobs, but after we picked it up for possible use in Unskippable, I decided to play it.

It's a fantastically made game, and you're being silly if you don't play it based on the "sex".

A couple things:

Meh, I'm still going to call it God of War with boobs.

No. It's not God of War at all. It is Devil May Cry, with boobs, if anything. Made by the same guy who made Devil May Cry. Why are all action games now held up against God of War?

The pole danceing attack was one of my favorite moves in any fighting game ever. It is just so over the top awesome.

THIS is what the game is about. It's not trying to be serious, not even slightly.
It is a very, very silly game that knows it's being silly. And since it takes ownership of its goofy-ness, it's hilarious to play and everything that might seem stupid in another game completely works here because it's done in a very conscious way.

My only objection to The Escapist review was the small comment suggesting players should skip the cinematics. They're hilarious!
Definitely watch the cut scenes. And that's coming from me.

 

[VGFreak1225]

When I saw the marketing for the game, I completely wrote it off as just trying to get by on the basis of boobs, but after we picked it up for possible use in Unskippable, I decided to play it.

If you make an episode on Bayonetta, its gonna be hard. Bayonetta is one of the best games in recent memory that is so content taking the piss out of itself. I'm not sure its pretentious enough to be exploitable.

But considering the success you guys had with Left 4 Dead, I imagine you guys could find a way to take the piss out of almost anything. I wish you luck.

 

[Negatempest]

Whoa, some of you guys are taking the game a little TOO seriously. Sure the sexuality may be over the top but it doesn't try to hide it in any way shape or form. Have you seen how many video game women have been walking around in pants and sports bras to just bikinis? Yet all these women tried to push the "I may be alone, but i'm hardcore" personality. Sorry but that is not really convincing considering what they wear. Lets go back to some of my favorite games in the past.

Streets of Rage 2(Genesis)
Double Dragon 2 (NES)
Golden Axe 2(Genesis)
TMNT: Turtles in Time(SNES)

These games had subpar stories (Admit it, TMNT didn't have a great story), but that is NOT why we played these Beat-em up/Action games. We looked at the story second and considered the gameplay 1st. So in all fairness Bayonetta has VERY smooth gameplay that is responsive and really fun doing all that insane looking attacks. Remember action games are about the gameplay WAY before the story. GOW would never be as fun as it is now without the gameplay.

 

[Lex Darko]

I think this clip from the prologue [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JMj5mikJ98] chapter of Bayonetta is a good example of both the theme of the game and it's protagonist.

When I first heard about Bayonetta I too thought it was just another action game trying to use tits to make me buy it. But after playing the demo and realizing there was a great combat system there I decided to try it. And after buying and playing the first hour or so I realized that sex is merely a theme in the game and not something meant to be a distraction from the game but a integrated part of the game itself.

For example there's often mention of Bayo's use of a staff as a pole which she pins around on, or her pole dance attack [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9A3cgKkyyhY]. I fail to see how that can offend any reasonable person by being overly-sexual in nature.

What I really fail to understand about Bayonetta is why it seems so many people don't like a female protagonist that's smart, bad ass, attractive and aware of it. It's not like Bayo has DD cup breast and 40inch hips just to be eye candy like Ms. Lara (take me seriously even though my character design makes me look like a joke) Croft.

The way I see it if you've ever watched or read anything from the Ghost in the Shell series and weren't offended by the way the Major dressed in revealing apparel then the sexual themes and undertones in Bayonetta probably won't bother you.