Posts Tagged ‘Bayonetta’

I am not that familiar with the third person fighting genre. It may be my own fault, a lack of commitment to learn the complex mechanics. But even with that caveat Bayonetta depressed me; proving mashing buttons was enough to reach the finale, offering no incentive to hone my skills.

So it may be my fault that I didn’t enjoy Bayonetta, my own lack compulsion to submerge myself in the experience. It’s stylish environments and exuberant moves initially drew me in, but I quickly discovered that smashing my palm on the controller was enough to reveal everything the game had to offer.

Even the frantic gameplay and titillating lead character were not enough to hold my interest.

Unfortunately its appearance could only carry it so far, and with no discernable story, there was only the combat to hold my attention, which it rarely did. Even bosses, who proved spectacular on the first meeting, had their impact muted by multiple encounters.

Part of my ease of progress through the game came from the generous checkpoint system that allowed repeated failure. I was happy it was included but it left me able to brute force my way through the game only mastering the dodge ability. Not wanting to dismiss the game I tried again on ‘hard’, but ‘hard’ translated to ‘insurmountable’, so gave up disillusioned at my skills.

Everything about Bayonetta screams style. Yet despite the skilled execution it failed to hold my attention beyond the initial wow. Set pieces and boss fights were the clear highlights, but simply didn’t offer enough of a draw for me.

On the occasions my posts fall below one a week here on DoFuss, I start to feel guilty. I have so many ideas for articles littering my desktop that wish I had more time to realise them. One will be going up later today, and already have three more on the go, but whether I finish the next piece on time invariably does not fall to my passion but my schedule. Reviewing games, articles for other sites and life all to frequently obstruct me.

When the feeling of guilt becomes too great I put together these ‘DoFuss Link’ posts, which provides a handy list of my recent work on other sites where you see a little more of my writing if you so choose. These posts serve three purposes, inform you of my work, keep DoFuss a bit more up-to-date and most importantly make me feel better about it taking me ten days between posts.

Below are a list of reviews and articles that have been posted since my last update. Each site has more in the wings ready to go (Heavy Rain reviews in particular on both Game People and Play Devil should be interesting), so if you are eager to stay up to date with my writing keep an eye out there. If you are less inclined to keep on top of my work then I will of course have another one of these updates in April so you can just check back here, or just ignore these posts completely.

As always if you do pay theses a visit I would much appreciate you leave any thoughts or feedback on respective site.

Scared Gamer -

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, Valkyria Chronicles, Valkyria Chronicles 2, Alien Breed: Evolution, Bayonetta (revisited), Mass Effect: Galaxy and Pitfall: The Big Adventure.

Haiku Gamer -

Valkyria Chronicles.

Sports Gamer -

Little League World Series Baseball 2008. (Yes, I did review the 2009 one last month).

Mass Effect 2, Polar Panic, Matt Hazard: Blood Bath and Beyond, Alien Breed: Evolution and South Park: Let’s Go Tower Defense!

Post Natal Depression.

I have to listen to every show through again while I edit. Because of this I have started to notice a very different tone (and length) depending on my cohort for the episode. My conclusion is that I am failing in my roll as a host. Not that this is necessarily bad, but next time (whoever is with me) I am wrestling back some control and giving this show some consistence.

Maybe.

This episode underwent a number of late changes. Our special guest (Blokey from the UUDD forums) was unfortunately unable to make it at the last moment, so will be joining us next time. Darren was also unavailable so it fell to Dan to pick up the mantel of the second spot.

DAMN YOU BLOKEY!

We touch on numerous topics, courtesy of Dan’s impeccable planning. It was fortunate his outline was so thorough too, otherwise there wouldn’t have been a show because the plan was to revolve everything around forums and Blokey… YOU HEAR THAT BLOKEY.

Ahem… I am sure he will be able make it next time along with Darren, so keep an eye on the site for that. Enjoy the show.

Sleepy Improv Edition. Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Darren is missing again this show, but frankly I can’t wait for him any longer so Dan has kindly stepped in to cover.

It has been sometime since the last show, thanks to everyone’s hectic jobs and Darren’s trip to Japan we have been either too busy or to drunk to put out anything for nearly a month. We do have a video (kind of) in the works that should go up on the site soon, and the show should be getting back to its normal format and schedule soon.

Until then please enjoy Dan and I discussing some of the bigger news and releases of the last month as well as some prolonged discussion about just what ‘grinding’ is. We also talk about Disney’s Ultimate Band a Wii game for wanking to, literally (see the image). Top this off with the proverbial cherry, better known as Darren’s Old Games and you have yourself a show.

Enjoy.

See Dan’s show notes here.

Darren has gone AWOL. [ 1:23:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download