TEST Bayonetta 3: the witch of the Umbra is back on Switch, and she hurts!

2009, a brand new game was born, Bayonettaand was invited on the consoles playstation and Xbox. Following unsatisfactory sales, SEGA had decided to bury this frankness and to turn the page. Only here, another Japanese firm, nintendobelieved in the potential of this license and shook hands with PlatinumGames to release in 2014 a second episode exclusive to its machine, the Wii U. The giant therefore continued its partnership with the studio, which has embarked on the development of a new adventure for our beautiful Switches, Bayonetta 3. We were looking forward to this new production and we have just completed it. It is therefore time to give you our impressions.

The art direction is breathtaking.

In order not to change, let’s start with what is obvious, the graphics. In fashion Portable, there are a lot of little things that upset… Like? L’aliasing, which is omnipresent, whether on the outlines of the characters or in the sets. Then we saw the clipping, namely elements in the sets on the horizon that appear and disappear as we move. Finally, as we are playing on a 720p screen, the title is slightly blurry. In fashion TVBayonetta 3 is smoother and more pleasing to the eye. L’aliasing is less visible and the environments are much cleaner and flashier. Sincerely, we advise you to play it on a big screenbecause this third opus is very generous visually speaking.

And for good reason, although impurities are present, the developers merged their neurons to design masterful and completely spectacular worlds. Thus, we stroll through surprising and varied landscapes, which easily tickle the pupils. As you will have understood, the artistic direction is breathtaking. Another point and not the least, fluidity is at the rendezvous, the game does not row at all, which is important during intense combat phases. However, to get a frame rate constant and comfortable, the studio had to make some concessions on the right, on the left in terms of rendering. We feel that PlatinumGames is limited to the maximum to run this production on a platform like the Switch and that the developers would have liked to have a hardware much more powerful to give free rein to their imagination.

And the soundtrack in all this? The musical notes are still crazy and stick perfectly with the action in the image. The themes are slow and sweet as we drag our feet, panic and get excited during supercharged fights. The “sexy and glamorous” melodies are always there to satisfy our cravings. A real pleasure. Regarding the dubbing, they are very well made. The new English voice of cereza is very pleasant to listen to, but our heart leans more for the Japanese dubbing which sticks better to the skin of the witch. Otherwise, the French translation is a big, big disappointment, because it is based on the English text which has nothing to do with the Japanese dialogues. Indeed, in the language of Mishima, Bayonetta is much more classy and charismatic. What we hear in Japanese is the opposite of what we read in French. When the beauty provokes an enemy with raw and aggressive words, the translation is lighter and more flexible, less seditious. Sincerely, we would not have been against an adaptation based on Japanese, because we have here two different personalities for the same character; crazy, crazy and confident on one side, more composed, calm and modest on the other. Shame.

The grip is still as electric and relies a lot on the response. When several opponents get mad at our witch, we can slow down time by a few seconds by dodging at the right time. During these phases, we have the possibility of concentrating on a specific opponent in order to eliminate him quickly. In order not to change, you must not go back into the heap, head down, to progress. You have to analyze and adapt your gameplay depending on the type of enemy we have in front.

It’s completely delirious and crazy!

In case of real difficulty, and holding the trigger ZL, we can summon a huge demon that we control for a moment. His arrival lowers a magic bar, which then slowly fills up on its own, or quickly through chains. Very pleasant thing to avoid monotony, we have the choice of several creatures during our confrontations, and therefore switch from one monster to another in a snap of the fingers. The more we advance in our odyssey, the more our heroine evolves and becomes strong.

Via orbs, new skills and techniques can be unlocked. Our thumb then dances on the keys to initiate attacks that intensify and become more powerful over the combos. Weapons, based on the characteristics of a demon and obtained during our adventure, can be attributed to the witch. viola, a new lady, does her show in this episode. She is different from Bayonettabecause its gameplay constantly relies on the defensive. In short, to sum it all up in a few words, it’s completely delirious and crazy!

Bayonetta 3 is not just fighting. It is also phases of exploration where we must solve small puzzles to free a passage or obtain useful objects for our progress. In addition to all this, the studio has included totally offbeat chapters that make you smile a lot. As ? 2D levels of infiltration, phases of shoot ’em up totally burlesque or even battles of giants worthy of the biggest Japanese feature films. Boredom never rears its ugly head as the worlds are so varied and fun. What more ?

Biological weapons created by humans have appeared, Homunculiand sow discord on the Earth. Violaa new and young witch, bursts in to lend a hand to Bayonetta to avoid the apocalypse. To succeed, our two heroines will have to evolve through different worlds and cross several universes of the same reality. Welcome to the Multiverse !

The title not to be missed at the end of the year!

We won’t go into more details about the story, because we want to leave the pleasure of discovery to you. All we can tell you is that the pacing is so well thought out and the plot well-crafted that it’s hard to pick up and put down your controller. There are strong, surprising moments, with twists and striking passages that make the hairs rise. In addition, PlatinumGames pays homage to several works as the game includes references to popular movies, manga and video games; some made us smile. In other words, there’s a certain excitement in the air, especially as we approach the end.

Otherwise, count a good 8 hours to get to the end of the tunnel ; by skipping certain exploration phases and bonus levels. By completing the title, we can return to the worlds to unlock objectives and complete secondary missions. For the more adventurous, challenging levels of difficulty are available. Note that there is also a Online Ranking to share your achievements with other players. In short, enough to stay a few extra hours in front of his console.

Initially, we thought we would see a Bayonetta 2.5 without great novelties and however, the Japanese studio was able to bring a touch of freshness with this third part. An interesting development of our characters, a gripping story, a grip that changes over the course of our expeditions, comical, wacky and epic moments, how not to fall in love with this Bayonetta 3 ? So of course, everything is not perfect, but the title does not take itself seriously, PlatinumGames assume this quirky universe to captivate players and fans, and it works. If you have a Nintendo Switch at home, this is definitely the title not to miss at the end of the year!

You can pre-order Bayonetta 3 on Amazon for €44.99.