An ambitious step forward for the series is let down by Switch’s technical limitations.
However, projects with lofty ambitions often fall short and that too is true of PlatinumGames' latest.
After playing the latest game, I’ve been thinking of its beginnings.
The originalBayonettais fast, fluid and bursting with ideas.
It was never a technical masterpiece but, for its day, it was a beautiful game.
Years later, we were treated to the majesty ofBayonetta 2- first on Wii U then on Nintendo Switch.
Bayonetta 2 feels like a logical next step both gameplay-wise and visually.
Again, it’s not cutting-edge, but it feels well situated within the context of its target platform.
Combine this with the stunning soundtrack and there’s no doubt that there is something special here.
However, then we get to the visuals.
Equally, I love seeing developers work within the constraints of the Nintendo Switch hardware.
I suppose the best way to describe the presentation is simply - inconsistent.
The visuals range from beautiful to downright ugly depending on the chapter you find yourself in.
Sometimes these take place within walled-off arenas while other battles occur organically along the main path.
They’re often several times larger than Bayonetta herself and help spice up the level design.
The average battle takes place at a larger scale instead while mammoth-scale bosses appear regularly as well.
This results in two big changes - firstly, environments are scaled up.
Arenas are much larger than prior games in the series and feature less granular detail as a result.
You’ll see it constantly during fights and even just within the environment and it never looks very good.
Overall image quality is fairly limited as well - the series isn’t exactly known for high resolutions.
Bayonetta 2, in fact, was limited to 720p even on Switch.
Bayonetta 3 does improve upon this slightly with an increase in pixel count to 810p.
The environments, though, are the weirdest thing to me - the game is often surprisingly drab.
The entire Tokyo section is slathered in monochromatic textures and non-existent lighting.
This is equally true of the cutscenes - at least for the most part.
As is tradition for the series, cut-scenes drop the frame-rate to 30fps and ramp up the visual quality.
This remains the case in Bayonetta 3.
At least the transition between video and real-time is seamless.
That’s understandable but standard gameplay rarely touches the 60fps threshold and that’s a real problem.
As a result, it winds up feeling sloppier than I had hoped.
For my tastes though, it’s just not good enough.
My feeling is that Platinum’s technology really needs a full revamp.
