I had a very hard time reviewing Bayonetta 2, simply for the fact that I wanted to give the game a perfect score, but I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to (AT has a strict no 10/10 unwritten rule). So after I gushed about the game and everything it does right, I had to force myself to think of a few problems to knock down the score to a 9/10. But as you can tell from my intro alone to the official review, Bayonetta 2 did everything right:

Crazy action. Solid controls. Silliness galore. These are just a few of my favorite things when it comes to video games, and the first Bayonetta game delivered on all of these with definitive style. When Nintendo announced that they were publishing the sequel on the Wii U, I was quite hesitant. On the one hand, I was excited to have another Bayonetta game. On the other, how much would Bayonetta be played down for the super family-friendly Nintendo console? We’re talking about a game starring a woman whose clothing is made of her hair that flies off of her when she takes down a boss in a move called a climax. She swings around poles stripper-style when turning gears. Her compatriots drop f-bombs like they’re going out of style. This would be unlike anything Nintendo has put on the Wii U thus far, so how much would it be toned down?

Too my absolute delight, none of it was, and Bayonetta 2 was the over-the-top, crazy fun action game it needed to be.

Platinum Games took everything that was great from the first Bayonetta game and improved upon it. Everything that was awful, they tossed out. All of that zany humor was kept in and then some.

Also like the first game, Bayonetta is bursting with over-the-top humor. The hypersexualization of the character may make some uncomfortable, but it’s so ridiculous and overdone that it’s difficult to be offended by it. It’s funny in a I-can’t-believe-that-just-happened way, especially when it makes fun of itself. Just in case it wasn’t silly enough, Platinum Games threw in Nintendo-based costumes, including Star Fox, Samus, and Link. I only played with the Link costume because they are pricey, and it did more than just wrap Bayonetta in Link’s garb of green. All of the Halos became Rupees, complete with the Rupee sound when picked up. Even the sounds for opening chests and solving puzzles were changed to the classic Legend of Zelda tunes. The costume made it harder to take the game seriously, not that it should ever be taken seriously at all.

I used the weak story to drop the score from perfect to a 9/10. The story was pretty good for a Platinum Games game the first time around, but this time, it was incredibly weak.

All Wii U owners (with a sense of humor) should own this game. As much as I enjoy my Wii U, I am disappointed that so few people will be able to play this game since it’s a Wii U exclusive. It’s disheartening on many levels, especially for the fact that the Wii U hasn’t been as widely adopted by consumers, and therefore, not by more developers and publishers.