Japan in the buff

by ERIK LEIJON

Eons ago, when I was pursuing post-secondary studies in the United States, a particularly fascinating class pertained to race and racial identity and was instructed by a brash, 30-something Japanese-Hawaiian surfer. The introductory salvo into his rigidly segmented world of ethnic make-ups, dichotomies and diaspora was a piece on the slow, inevitable decline of Japan. The author surmised that, due to the Japanese’s poor record with cultural assimilation and low birth rates, an ethnically homogenous aged Japanese population simply could not maintain their economic and cultural might in a 21st century where the rest of the world was mingling at the singles bar.

That being said, Japan has had a great run since the Nara epoch. They brought us martial arts and Genji, and although the 20th century introduced Mario and karaoke, the aughts have felt like a decade-long depression. Economically they’re about to be passed by the Chinese. Wacky Asian cinema? The Koreans. Gaming? That’s the Yanks’ domain now. Bayonetta (X360, PS3/Sega, Platinum) feels like a referendum on modern Japan, because it’s so perfectly representative of the dizzying mash-up of all that is Western-perceived Nippon circa 2010. It’s gaudy, hyper-sexualized, wildly inventive pop art and campy to post-ironic levels.

Gazing at a few pics of the title’s titillating titular witch protagonist is about all you’ll need to formulate an opinion on whether or not you’ll enjoy this latest project from Devil May Cry/Okami creator Hideki Kamiya; a long-legged, catwalk-strutting, bespectacled hell-spawned vixen with guns strapped to her stilettos. The developers spared no expense in making Bayonetta the constant centre of attention, from her provocative, curvaceous posture to the behind the ass crack camera angles during cutscenes. Even her attack combos, where she’s slashing or blasting away at all the angels the heavens can muster (she is a witch, after all), result in her skin-tight bodysuit slipping off her body and becoming its own weapon.

The third-person button mashing combat is not unlike Devil May Cry, albeit based mainly on the timing-specific dodge button. Press the dodge button precisely before an attack, Bayonetta will slip into slowed-down “witch time,” giving her the valuable seconds needed to place her monster foe in a guillotine, spiky coffin or a myriad of other magically appearing torture devices. The enemies are your standard fictitious Japanese creatures, such as angelic gargoyles with trumpets, floating medusas with upside-down baby heads and whip-snapping chicks with glowing vaginas. Unfortunately, the monsters do repeat themselves in the later chapters. The in-game environments are quite restricted and not particularly nice looking, although, when the Victorian architecture gives way to meteor showers and other sci-fi arenas, the game picks up visually quite a bit. The localization is terrible, as all the human-looking characters sport cheesy British accents, and the dialogue sticks to mixed metaphors and ill-suited one-liners.

Bayonetta has its issues, and considering it’s the brainchild of one of Japanese gaming’s premier designers, it’s a shame that, stylistically, Bayonetta is entirely pop-eating-itself absurdity. The absence of a block button in lieu of the dodge actually makes for some pretty graceful and seamless combat that only gets tiresome when they start recycling enemies.

It’s a decent action game, and the fight scenes are so quick and furious, your eyes likely won’t process all the visual stimulation, but it’s a tad disheartening the creator of Viewtiful Joe and Okami would strive to create something so meretricious and ugly. I’d say the Japanese should look to Western gaming innovation for inspiration, but if that racial identity class piece on the Yamato people is to be believed, we’re more likely to see Japanese gaming seek to create an even flashier Bayonetta in the future.