Kotaku's Lisa Foiles takes a look at Bayonetta from a female gamer's point of view: Why the game was both a pleasant surprise and a migraine-inducing confusion, the lack of sex appeal Bayonetta herself seems to have despite her appearance and hypersexualization, and why the plot seemed "too serious" for a game that prides itself on over-the-top silliness.

That being said, my approval of Bayonetta in context doesn't mean the game is without flaws that take away from how hilarious the character could be. While it's easy to wrap up Bayonetta's body, power moves, weapons, and dialogue into a neat little package of nonsense, there's one major weakness that detracts from this cohesion: the storyline. The game's gaping plot holes and poor storytelling are what truly make it worthy of the term "mind-numbingly absurd."

Bayonetta seems to be another case of a game not entirely knowing what it wants to be. Is it a tongue-in-cheek comedy with a horrible, confusing storyline? Or is it complex, intelligent fiction with a preposterous heroine? The plot ends up taking itself a bit too seriously, and this hinders what could be hilarious satire. When you allow your main character to be flattened Looney Tunes-style by a falling object, you've just obliterated any hope of being taken seriously.

Take the "machine gun leg" in Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror. It was hysterical because the story surrounding it was completely over-the-top; nothing needed to be explained. But Bayonetta's cast spends a painfully long time trying to explain the mystical prophecy of the "Left Eye," and it still never quite makes sense. With such a weighty storyline, Bayonetta at least needed more character development. She has solely two dimensions: magical ability and forced sexuality. It's disheartening that, in a world where video games are considered art, we're still getting shafted with shallow characters that would be rejected in any other medium.

Miss Razz via kotaku.com »