"You Want to Touch Me???" Hands-On with Bayonetta

Today, I finally decided to create a Japanese Playstation Store account more specifically to play a demo for a game I have been waiting for ever since it was announced which is Bayonetta by Sega and Platinum Games. Bayonetta is a Japanese stylized 3rd person action game and the man behind the first Devil May Cry, Mr. Kamiya. Right away, you can tell that it is pretty much Devil May Cry with a chick that looks like Sarah Palin (or maybe more MILF?). However, this game is more than just some DMC clone as Bayonetta hopes to blow away the competition the genre offers now (DMC4, Dante's Inferno, Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, God of War III). So far from playing the demo, this is way up my alley being one of my favorite genres of gaming, but playing as Bayonetta herself, you just feel like you want to kill things with style.

Bayonetta's gameplay is simple if you ever played something like Devil May Cry. Enemies show up and she has to do crazy things to defeat them. Her signature guns (that come out of her heels - this is true) are her primary weapons being sexy, stylish, and awesome all at the same time. If you time your dodging against enemy attacks, you will automatically activate witch time, which causes the enemies to go on slowmo while you keep being a badass. Melee attacks can be "mashed" by the square and circle buttons (Y and B on 360) while firing your twin pistols can be held by those same two buttons. Just like Devil May Cry, the combat system is more than just simple attacks and dodging as the depth is indeed there to do some crazy stuff (more on that on the last video below). Bayonetta is just filled with style all the time and if the demo is just the beginning, who knows what crazy business could be in the final game especially if you have seen the latest trailers.



The demo itself is not that long (usually around 20 minutes) as it exists of some enemy encounters and two boss battles (actually three if you have the PS3 demo as the last one in the demo is against your rival-like character that the experience itself reminds me of all those Dante/Vergil battles in Devil May Cry 3 - in the storyline). There are two difficulties to choose from the standard Normal difficulty and the easier "automatic" one where Bayonetta turns into an one button game of doing everything, which seems okay for novice players. The music is truly amazing especially the main battle theme when against normal enemies. The most controversial thing, however, that has the game angering some folks especially on PS3 is the handling of the versions. On the Xbox 360, the demo right now runs at a smooth and consistent 60 frames per second. The PS3 on the other hand, in which Platinum Games is not developing the port and Sega themselves are doing it, has some framerate issues being between 30 and 60 frames per second. Also with the PS3 version of this demo is some other technical issues like tearing, and bad aliasing, but it didn't affect me that much as I was focusing on the awesomeness. We'll see in the final game if both the 360 and PS3 versions will be identical as early word on the streets say so meaning perhaps this demo is just some early build of the game.

I had a great time with the Bayonetta demo on PS3 despite its technical issues. I'm a fan of the Devil May Cry-style game and this game almost makes them a joke in terms of the style and insanity especially Bayonetta herself being "risque" at times the videos will prove that). I can't wait for the final game to come out this Winter (more like Q1 2010 in the States) even though Japan will get it at the end of this month region locked. If you're ever into those stylish action games, give Bayonetta a shot when it comes out next year. In the meantime, enjoy this combo video from the superior running 360 demo and witness the amazing (Also check out this dude's DMC franchise combo videos too if you like this).