Bayonetta

Sexy, sleek, and stylish, the Bayonetta demo was released to a lucky 40,000 people last week. We were fortunate enough to grab the demo early and now offer our impressions to you, our humble viewers.

Familiarity – Bayonetta was created by Hideki Kamiya, the same guy who created Devil May Cry. It took less than 30 seconds to realize that all the influences from DMC have been brought over. This isn’t a bad thing by any stretch. Fans of DMC will feel right at home. Conversely, those who can’t stomach the type of pace, button mashing, and style these type of games bring will probably avoid it. There’s plenty of attacks and combos to witness and each type of weapon brings upon a whole new arsenal of moves. Whether you’re slicing and dicing with the sword or switch over to the guns to shoot angels out of the sky, both modes offered plenty of diversity and stylish action. Fans of grading systems (a la DMC and RE5) will be happy to know that after each level you’re graded on your performance. Those trying to get the highest level will no doubt feel right at home with Bayonetta.

The Witch’s brew – Since Bayonetta is a witch she’ll have all sorts of crazy abilities. Giant stiletto heels kicking enemies in the face, throwing people into a guillotine, and turning her hair into some type of huge beast, name just a few of the things you’ll see. More importantly, however, is the ability to stop time for a few seconds after successfully evading an attack. This rewards players for being just as conscientious about defense as they are in offense. So while the exterior of this title oozes multiple hit combos, different types of weapons, and insane attacks, being defensively minded will reap huge benefits.

Using your ASSets – With a character like this, it’s tough not to giggle like a 12 year old. Even though my lack of maturity is well known, I tried to play Bayonetta with an open mind. So what if she has a great butt and a nice rack, I’m sure she’s a respectable witch in her social circles…or maybe Platinum Games just likes using the “sex sells” method. Watching some of the moves and dialogue she pulls when “taunting” will make even the most devout Catholic school boy wince…in his pants. Fortunately, the entire demo looked great and it’s good to see that even if they are focusing on particular body parts, they didn’t slack off in other areas. There’s a good amount of color on the 2nd level of the demo and hopefully the entire game follows in comparison.The frame rate was steady and didn’t dip at all even during some of the more chaotic parts of the demo which has been a standard for many of Kamiya’s games.

The Piano Man – I’m not sure what it is about fast paced action and weird piano/jazz/j-pop music, but they seem to oddly go together. It’s so over the top that it just seems to work. My take on it is that the game doesn’t take itself too seriously and just enjoys what it does best: action, action, action.

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Watching the video you should get a great idea of what to expect. Fans of the DMC (and Ninja Gaiden) series will no doubt be the first one to grab this action packed title. Bayonetta has already received stellar scores from Famitsu and Edge Magazine as it’s currently out in the East (Japan, not New York City). Normally games of this caliber skimp on any type of real story and are accompanied by cheesy dialogue (again not taking itself themselves seriously). After watching some of the cut scenes this might just be the case with Bayonetta. However, if that kind of stuff doesn’t effect your purchase, make sure you’ve saved some money come January 5th, as that’s the date Bayonetta will be hitting US stores.

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1. Bayonetta – MMOMFG Review
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3. Battlefield Bad Company 2 Demo – MMOMFG Preview
4. Bayonetta rises in the east, dated for the west
5. Dante’s Inferno – MMOMFG PS3 Preview