Title image by ~molybdenumgp03 via deviantart

It was inevitable that I was going to mention something about Famitsu awarding Bayonetta a perfect score - on the 360, anyway. After all, this has only happened eleven times before and, any way you slice it, as far as Famitsu scores are concerned, the girl is now on the same shelf as Ocarina of Time and Windwaker. But relax, I’m not here to compare them. Hell I don’t put any faith in review scores - but it’s interesting, at least, that this seems to acknowledge that for its time and place, Bayonetta is being seen to be as significant as those other cherished titles.

A fair amount of people have advised me not to read too much into all of this - and they are certainly right. Thinking back to the Nintendo Briefing at E3 though, I remember catching sight of those mysterious Famitsu dudes, their chain-smoking faces heavy with the burden of governing all of gaming land. That must count for something, right?

What I sincerely dig about all of this is that it probably bothers the hell out of some people that a stripper-bulletwitch has gotten the same score as Nintendo’s wholesome hero for the ages. I’m not slighting Link, I love that guy, but commence throwing vegetables if you’d like.

I also love that Platinum Games can create titles that are competent design achievements at the same time that they are so often impossible for mainstream media consumption. I love that the deep and complex system at work behind God Hand is entirely summed up by the number 3 where IGN is concerned. I can’t help loving it even if it folded Clover - and why not? Platinum loves it enough to keep doing it.

If there is a problem with that Famitsu score, it feels like that’s the source, that Bayonetta is just too much sex up in all of our faces.

I don’t so much love the idea that any coverage I might give Bayonetta is purely about the sex, even if that accounts for 99% of the coverage on it. Bayonetta does cut some sexy curves, but she’s not quite strutting in like some bubblegum flavored pop-tart. And we’re never going to get anyway with the whole maturity in gaming idea if female characters can’t exhibit sexual energy. There’s an overdue conversation actually - hooray for pulling in another endless real world debate to our gaming party!

Keep in mind that Bayonetta does gives me a sizable erection, but it’s important to keep perspective on the fact that there’s a controller riding the end of it. There is a game to be played, after all.

There’s a deep combat system at work, the kind of thing you can’t sell easy to people unless you can get them to invest the time in discovering it for themselves. So maybe that’s why Platinum is playing up the sex of it all as well. Or, maybe, they just like messing with us.

With all of that said though, let me ask you, is this image sexually suggestive?