On The Ball: Pimping Bayonetta

[GloatingSwine]

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])?

Ironically, the UK ad for Dead or Alive 3 was quite the opposite, since it featured a bloke dressed as Christie, trying to do her moves and eventually limping off screen after doing himself a mischief.

That was back when the UK Xbox ads used to be imaginative (and get banned).

 

[Sebenko]

Also, revolver... heels? I could understand stiletto knives, but revolver heels?

Good job we didn't tell you about the rocket launcher heels then. Your head would probably explode. (Oh wait, oops.. Well I'm not cleaning that up.)
[/quote]

Oh god what.

What is that I don't even

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?

DMC is GoW with coats, GoW is DMC with greek mythology, Beyonetta is either of those with boobs.

 

[mightybozz]

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

And why does her clothing have to be form fitting to be demon posessed?
Also, revolver... heels? I could understand stiletto knives, but revolver heels?

Not God of War with boobs. Not Devil May Cry with boobs. It's Viewtiful Joe with boobs and even more style.
Great article - Bayonetta is the only character to know and realise she's sexy, and use it to take the mick out of the situation. It's fantastic design and the marketing people who focused on pointless exploitation of a female figure make us and themselves look bad.

 

[The_State]

Great article Jordan, really echoes with Leigh Alexander's article [http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/213466/bayonetta-empowering-or-exploitative/].

I think that a lot of gamers have issues with sexuality and games like Bayonetta makes them uncomfortable. I'm not saying it's the case for everyone not liking the game, but technical considerations aside, there is something to be analyzed in this game.

I find bayonetta to be so shamelessly about sex that it's just flat out creepy.

See, you find the over-sexuality creepy but I find it bold. She is to sex what Kratos is to violence. Bayonetta cannot be anything else than a female. Lara Croft is a female Indiana Jones (and retro-actively Nathan Drake), Samus could be a male space bounty hunter and no one would notice, but no men could do what Bayonetta does. There is a certain brand of feminism around her. She is sexy, she won't hide it, she will use it to go forward, and she kicks ass. I also find amusing how everyone is glancing over the maternal side of her character. It's not perfectly developed but it's there and I think it is a major part of her.

That maternal nature is something I wish more people did pay attention to, because I think it more clearly defines the character in a lot of ways. At first I thought she was just a badass action chick with a strong awareness of her own sexuality, but when I saw the way she reacted to and cared for the little girl it made me realize that it was a bit deeper than all that. I honestly see Bayonetta as an expression of femininity itself, in all its aspects.

Bayonetta is sexual, but she owns that sexuality. She's not being sexual for anyone else's pleasure but her own. She doesn't give anything up, she doesn't advertise herself, she isn't looking to gain anything at all by being so sexual. She's just doing it because it's fun for her. There's no exploitation of sexuality here at all, which is part of why I like it. I don't roll my eyes like I do with games like Rumble Roses or DoA, both of which I hate for their exploitative natures. Well, I do roll my eyes, but not for the same reasons. Hell, if anything I find the character pretty admirable for being able to be so confident in not just her image but also her personality to flaunt them both so freely. She's completely unrestrained in her self-image. She's the sort of woman that even Glamour magazine couldn't make feel ugly.

This next bit might be have a sprinkling of what some consider spoilers, so if you're really intensely interested in keeping the generally clumsy and mostly unimportant story a surprise then be warned.

Her maternal side is something I wish they would have gone just a bit deeper with. One thing I like about it is that it's not conscious on her part, but literally an instinct. The first scenes with the little girl, Cereza, are probably my favorite in the game because they show how this totally confident, absolutely bullet-proof woman is brought low by a four-year-old little girl who calls her "mummy." As if on autopilot, Bayonetta does all those motherly things that just come naturally to most women. (I say most because I have met a few women who genuinely don't care for kids.) This is one of those scenes that turns Bayonetta from a caricature of a person to a person. And it feels like a natural part of the character, just as natural as the emphatic sexuality. None of it feels forced or uncanny, as is often the case with women who are written by men.

I'd go further, but this is way too long as it is. In short I'll just take your analogy between Kratos and Bayonetta a bit further. Bayonetta is to femininity what Kratos is to Masculinity. She is a celebration of what it is to be feminine; and I for one enjoy the show.

 

[StriderShinryu]

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 a 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.

That's the problem though. Bayonetta is all about Bayonetta, from her "awareness of her own sexuality" to her crotch in slo mo camera pans. It's not really an action adventure game starring Bayonetta, as was the case with Tomb Raider and Lara Croft or a movie with more going on like Ghost in the Shell and Major Kusanagi. If you don't like the character Bayonetta, whether you take her seriously or not, you won't like the game Bayonetta no matter how good of a game it is gameplay wise. You could conceivably like Tomb Raider even if you didn't like Lara Croft. Heck, you could even conceivably like the DOA fighting games even if you didn't like the DOA girls. Right or wrong, I can't see that being the case with Bayonetta.

 

[GloatingSwine]

DMC is GoW with coats,

DMC is GoW four years before GoW was GoW

 

[wooty]

To be very frank, I barely realised the sexual suggestions on the first play through. I was more focused on the over the top slaughter and mad combo's to think of virtual clunge.

 

[BlueInkAlchemist]

Nice introductory column, Jordan. Well done!

I do like the fact that Bayonetta is in on her exploitation and actually enjoys it. From everything I've seen, heard and read, it contributes to the overall fun factor of the game.

 

[Julianking93]

Its a sad truth that people will pay this much for something you can get at much better quality for free on the internet.

I think I was actually one of the few who didn't know this game had gratuitous sexual content and just bought it for the gameplay because I loved the first DMC.

 

[hyperdrachen]

I was gonna glance right over this game when the Devs reduced the games pitch to Sexy Devil May Cry, however, I'm glad some of my friends are less jaded, and that a demo came out. The gameplay here is top quality finish. The story, garbage. However I don't think Bayonetta sexiness is the problem for the game, but laser focusing on it for advertising is. Much like game adaptations of movies, when I see one feature plugged this hard I am prone to assume nothing else exists. This is actually a top notch beat em up with a fluid system and alot to do. You owe yourself a play of the demo at least.

On the ps3 note maybe they should have done what alot of Devs did, just skip it. Sony designed it for first party blockbusters and megabudget sponsored 3rd party entries. Companies that don't have the budget to properly port games to your blue ray player should just skip it to avoid offending you with slow load times and mandatory installs. Look on the bright side, Think a new maddens coming out next year, I heard on the PS3 version you can see the players crotch sweat dampen thier uniforms in REAL TIME, WOW!

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

This is why I like Bayonetta. It's honest.

Evony is just as stupid as the new Leisure Suit Larry's and Playboy's shenanigans.

Dark Willow (Buffy), Malcom Reynolds and Legolas have sent more nerd pulses racing than a whole troupe of Centrefolds; so it's not just about the heaving bits, but of the person behind that.

Bayonetta may exude BDSM fantasies, but she was always meant to. Unlike Mai Shiranui, her clothes are practical for what she does.

 

[UnravThreads]

Bayonetta doesn't interest me, much. From all the reviews it does just sound like a game that focuses on the naughty and not-so-naughty bits of the protagonist. Whether or not it's a good game is actually irrelevant for once, because the game seems so squarely focused on Bayonetta and not the gameplay. At least with a lot of games you can ignore the character, but Bayonetta seems to be very In-Your-Face with it.

By the way, is the character a lesbian? Not quite sure if "Bayonetta is aware of her sexuality" means she's a lesbian or she walks around in stupidly tight clothes leaving very, very little to the imagination.

 

[Snork Maiden]

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.

I totally second everything here. Intentionally or not the games sexuality comes across as very tongue in cheek, almost a parody of sexuality in games. And yes, the cutscenes are brilliantly camp.

By the way, is the character a lesbian? Not quite sure if "Bayonetta is aware of her sexuality" means she's a lesbian or she walks around in stupidly tight clothes leaving very, very little to the imagination.

Latter. Couple of things Bayonetta says ("I like making babies" or something) suggest she isn't a lesbian.

 

[ckeymel]

Great article Jordan, really echoes with Leigh Alexander's article [http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/213466/bayonetta-empowering-or-exploitative/].

I think that a lot of gamers have issues with sexuality and games like Bayonetta makes them uncomfortable. I'm not saying it's the case for everyone not liking the game, but technical considerations aside, there is something to be analyzed in this game.

I find bayonetta to be so shamelessly about sex that it's just flat out creepy.

See, you find the over-sexuality creepy but I find it bold. She is to sex what Kratos is to violence. Bayonetta cannot be anything else than a female. Lara Croft is a female Indiana Jones (and retro-actively Nathan Drake), Samus could be a male space bounty hunter and no one would notice, but no men could do what Bayonetta does. There is a certain brand of feminism around her. She is sexy, she won't hide it, she will use it to go forward, and she kicks ass. I also find amusing how everyone is glancing over the maternal side of her character. It's not perfectly developed but it's there and I think it is a major part of her.

That maternal nature is something I wish more people did pay attention to, because I think it more clearly defines the character in a lot of ways. At first I thought she was just a badass action chick with a strong awareness of her own sexuality, but when I saw the way she reacted to and cared for the little girl it made me realize that it was a bit deeper than all that. I honestly see Bayonetta as an expression of femininity itself, in all its aspects.

Bayonetta is sexual, but she owns that sexuality. She's not being sexual for anyone else's pleasure but her own. She doesn't give anything up, she doesn't advertise herself, she isn't looking to gain anything at all by being so sexual. She's just doing it because it's fun for her. There's no exploitation of sexuality here at all, which is part of why I like it. I don't roll my eyes like I do with games like Rumble Roses or DoA, both of which I hate for their exploitative natures. Well, I do roll my eyes, but not for the same reasons. Hell, if anything I find the character pretty admirable for being able to be so confident in not just her image but also her personality to flaunt them both so freely. She's completely unrestrained in her self-image. She's the sort of woman that even Glamour magazine couldn't make feel ugly.

This next bit might be have a sprinkling of what some consider spoilers, so if you're really intensely interested in keeping the generally clumsy and mostly unimportant story a surprise then be warned.

Her maternal side is something I wish they would have gone just a bit deeper with. One thing I like about it is that it's not conscious on her part, but literally an instinct. The first scenes with the little girl, Cereza, are probably my favorite in the game because they show how this totally confident, absolutely bullet-proof woman is brought low by a four-year-old little girl who calls her "mummy." As if on autopilot, Bayonetta does all those motherly things that just come naturally to most women. (I say most because I have met a few women who genuinely don't care for kids.) This is one of those scenes that turns Bayonetta from a caricature of a person to a person. And it feels like a natural part of the character, just as natural as the emphatic sexuality. None of it feels forced or uncanny, as is often the case with women who are written by men.

I'd go further, but this is way too long as it is. In short I'll just take your analogy between Kratos and Bayonetta a bit further. Bayonetta is to femininity what Kratos is to Masculinity. She is a celebration of what it is to be feminine; and I for one enjoy the show.

I agree with your post 100% and this is why I adore playing Bayonetta and hope that game developers in the future take a few pages from Bayonetta's book when creating female characters in their games. I actually aspire to be as confident as Bayonetta. Granted if I was a seven foot tall waspish dominatrix, I supposed it wouldn't as be much of a problem! Still, I find her sexy and refreshing - I really wish there were more female characters out there like her.

 

[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 a 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.

That's the problem though. Bayonetta is all about Bayonetta, from her "awareness of her own sexuality" to her crotch in slo mo camera pans. It's not really an action adventure game starring Bayonetta, as was the case with Tomb Raider and Lara Croft or a movie with more going on like Ghost in the Shell and Major Kusanagi. If you don't like the character Bayonetta, whether you take her seriously or not, you won't like the game Bayonetta no matter how good of a game it is gameplay wise. You could conceivably like Tomb Raider even if you didn't like Lara Croft. Heck, you could even conceivably like the DOA fighting games even if you didn't like the DOA girls. Right or wrong, I can't see that being the case with Bayonetta.

That's true and I agree, but that can be said for many games and entertainment media in general.

After I played the first 3 hours of Uncharted 2 I hated Nathan Drake and couldn't enjoy the game's predictable story. A self righteous, mass murdering, pacifist just doesn't appeal to me.

If you don't like the character Bayonetta you may very well not like the game but just because there is a theme of sexuality isn't a good a reason to dismiss both outright. That would be akin to dismissing the movie Avatar and it's characters just because it has a environmentalist theme before even watching the movie.

 

[ShadowKirby]

Great article Jordan, really echoes with Leigh Alexander's article [http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/213466/bayonetta-empowering-or-exploitative/].

I think that a lot of gamers have issues with sexuality and games like Bayonetta makes them uncomfortable. I'm not saying it's the case for everyone not liking the game, but technical considerations aside, there is something to be analyzed in this game.

I find bayonetta to be so shamelessly about sex that it's just flat out creepy.

See, you find the over-sexuality creepy but I find it bold. She is to sex what Kratos is to violence. Bayonetta cannot be anything else than a female. Lara Croft is a female Indiana Jones (and retro-actively Nathan Drake), Samus could be a male space bounty hunter and no one would notice, but no men could do what Bayonetta does. There is a certain brand of feminism around her. She is sexy, she won't hide it, she will use it to go forward, and she kicks ass. I also find amusing how everyone is glancing over the maternal side of her character. It's not perfectly developed but it's there and I think it is a major part of her.

That maternal nature is something I wish more people did pay attention to, because I think it more clearly defines the character in a lot of ways. At first I thought she was just a badass action chick with a strong awareness of her own sexuality, but when I saw the way she reacted to and cared for the little girl it made me realize that it was a bit deeper than all that. I honestly see Bayonetta as an expression of femininity itself, in all its aspects.

Bayonetta is sexual, but she owns that sexuality. She's not being sexual for anyone else's pleasure but her own. She doesn't give anything up, she doesn't advertise herself, she isn't looking to gain anything at all by being so sexual. She's just doing it because it's fun for her. There's no exploitation of sexuality here at all, which is part of why I like it. I don't roll my eyes like I do with games like Rumble Roses or DoA, both of which I hate for their exploitative natures. Well, I do roll my eyes, but not for the same reasons. Hell, if anything I find the character pretty admirable for being able to be so confident in not just her image but also her personality to flaunt them both so freely. She's completely unrestrained in her self-image. She's the sort of woman that even Glamour magazine couldn't make feel ugly.

This next bit might be have a sprinkling of what some consider spoilers, so if you're really intensely interested in keeping the generally clumsy and mostly unimportant story a surprise then be warned.

Her maternal side is something I wish they would have gone just a bit deeper with. One thing I like about it is that it's not conscious on her part, but literally an instinct. The first scenes with the little girl, Cereza, are probably my favorite in the game because they show how this totally confident, absolutely bullet-proof woman is brought low by a four-year-old little girl who calls her "mummy." As if on autopilot, Bayonetta does all those motherly things that just come naturally to most women. (I say most because I have met a few women who genuinely don't care for kids.) This is one of those scenes that turns Bayonetta from a caricature of a person to a person. And it feels like a natural part of the character, just as natural as the emphatic sexuality. None of it feels forced or uncanny, as is often the case with women who are written by men.

I'd go further, but this is way too long as it is. In short I'll just take your analogy between Kratos and Bayonetta a bit further. Bayonetta is to femininity what Kratos is to Masculinity. She is a celebration of what it is to be feminine; and I for one enjoy the show.

Dude, you totally resumed my thought about Bayonetta'a maternal side. She is an empowerment of the modern woman, kind of like what Kratos is to the man.

Another scene later in the game also paints also a pretty powerful image of feminism and I'm putting it in spoiler:

Spoiler

How can it not be feminism when Bayonetta shoots the strict and manipulative father figure in the head with lipstick, an object representing femininity. That scene is purely a metaphor of the power of femininity over some kind of paternal/male control.

Then there's also Luka who serves, always in correlation to the game's gender reversal play, as not much more than eye-candy. He's here to look cute as a side-kick and help her when she needs to. He basically fills a role that would be left to a sexy girl in any other kind of game.

I'd also like to add that this game was not made to please everyone. That's why I told it was so bold. The game is all about its protagonist, and if you don't like her, of course the game is gonna loose its appeal to you. That's the risk the game is taking.

 

[NamesAreHardToPick]

So much talk about Bayonetta. Manufacturing some controversy about the game was a brilliant move, it would be too easy for a new action game to get skipped over as an "also-ran" with earlier titles in the genre like Ninja Gaiden, DMC, and GOW.

Sex videogames fall into the same "why don't you go out and play that?" category that swallows up a lot of would-be purchases, sometimes even in genres I enjoy. Also her proportions are really unattractive to me... I never thought about it before, but pin-headed giantesses aren't hot even if they dress like the Baroness from GI Joe... which makes the emphasis on sexiness even less pleasant.

Also: if Kratos is "masculinity" I'm going to start filling out gender as "robot" from now on. Seriously that guy can go die in a fire, I want nothing to do with him. Big Boss/Solid Snake... now there's a man. Tough, resourceful, disciplined, bonus points for not killing anyone you don't have to.

 

[Plurralbles]

now see, that's the impression I got from the game and why I didn't want to play it.

 

[Monshroud]

I am going to start off to tell Jordan, I think you wrote a really nice article. I agree that the marketing for Bayonetta focused more on the 'sexy girl' and not as much on the 'sexy combat' The thing is that we still live in a society where sex sells. I don't agree with using it as the main selling point, but I accept it and move on.

Random comments to various posters (I'm a bit to lazy today to quote them all.

> Because revolvers in shoes is a damn brilliant idea. When I saw that I actually stopped and said 'Why didn't I think of that' This is better than the gun leg from Planet Terror.

> Being one of the older people on the forums here, I like to believe that I can handle the concept of a woman using her sexuality as a weapon. Heck, I've seen it in Corporate America.

> I don't play games because I want a realistic experience. Let's be honest, the vast majority of gamers don't either. I mean how realistic is it to get shot multiple times on a battlefield, but duck behind some cover for a few seconds and then be fine? How is it realistic that a woman fighting in a bikini top can jump over someone, get thrown into a wall, do a roundhouse kick and a somersault and not have a breast fall out of said bikini top? We don't play because it's realistic, we play because it's fun.

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Awesome game.

I just don't care about the sex.