As the new game from Hideki Kamiya, the creator of the Devil May Cry games, Bayonetta was designed from the ground up to be action-packed, stylish, over-the-top, smooth, and sexy.
You play as Bayonetta, a gun-toting witch who wears a suit made of her own hair who is under attack by angels. And yes, you read that right: the skin-tight black bodysuit she wears is in fact her hair. Bayonetta can use her hair for special attacks as well, shifting its shape into things like a giant boot or a monster that can devour enemies.
The action in the Devil May Cry games was nonstop, challenging, and incredibly stylish. The action in Bayonetta exceeds this level of action and adds a “sexy” factor to it. In the demo, you had two choices of main weapons (dual handguns or a katana) which you could switch out with the touch of a button, allowing for all kinds of combos. In addition, by dodging enemy attacks, you activate “Witch Time”, which slows down time, giving you more time to hit an enemy with attacks before they counterattack. But what was most fun/amazing/over-the-top was the “Torture Attacks”. By stringing together attacks, a gauge underneath the health bar fills up. Once it’s filled, you can unleash a crazy finishing move in which Bayonetta summons a magical iron maiden or guillotine to finish off the enemy in an extremely bloody fashion. A youtube video showcasing some of the torture attacks can be seen here:
From the beginning, there were concerns about quality issues between the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the game. The PS3 version is a port that was handled by Sega, and the demo makes sure the player knows this. The demo that I played did in fact have framerate issues at times, and the graphics weren’t as crisp as what I have seen in screenshots and videos of the Xbox 360 version. Still, I really didn’t see any affect on the gameplay, as the demo was still tons of fun.
Given how much fun I had with the demo, Bayonetta is a definite day one purchase for me.
Bayonetta has been rated M by the ESRB. The game is currently out in Japan and is headed stateside on January 5, 2010.
Tags: Bayonetta
