Bayonetta

http://www.gamepro.com/article/features/213466/bayonetta-empowering-or-exploitative/

In this article, author Leigh Alexander attempts to claim that Bayonetta's focus upon sexuality is empowering for women, and a step in the correct direction for female gamers.

Bayonetta is as far away from female empowerment as she is from a Nobel Peace Prize. She is sex on a stick- an image of a woman, hypersexualized and stylized, that is intentionally designed to be ogled by men, and then discarded once she is no longer needed. She represents only the sexual aspects of femininity; there is no depth to her thoughts or emotions, and by not including a deeper level to her personality the developers have relegated her to barely-concealed porn star status. She, like so many of her predecessors, is the videogame equivalent of the one night stand- no emotional investment, no uncomfortable reality, just a good time, a few romps around the game console, and then you're done. You never have to call. You never have to consider the greater character of who she might be as an individual. You never have to think of her, and if you do, those thoughts are as disposable as the wad of tissue that goes in the trash.

I will admit, I played the demo and had a blast. I'm not saying Bayonetta isn't an enjoyable romp through levels of stylized and beautiful destruction with all of the elegant gameplay we've grown to love from the Devil May Cry series. But don't piss on my leg and tell me it's raining- and don't hand me the videogame equivalent to a Penthouse and tell me it's liberating.

Now, I am potentially falling prey to the Fox News Fallacy- reporting on a game without playing it through. I acknowledge that I understand that my opinions expressed here could be proved completely and utterly false and my complaints be baseless if later in the game Bayonetta redeems herself as a deep, powerful icon of femininity. I doubt that she will, and I'm not willing to pay $60 to find out anytime soon- but I'll rent or borrow, and then see if I'm right.