Platinum Games' Bayonetta is a high-octane, adrenaline-filled action game that, at least thematically, is in the same vein as Devil May Cry. This should come as no surprise since Hideki Kamiya, the creative force behind DMC, is the man directing Bayonetta, marking his return to action games after the remarkably artistic Okami.
Let's introduce you to Bayonetta. She's a witch, dressed in skin-tight leather, with her zipper pulled down impractically low. Her graceful movements leave colorful butterflies in her wake, much like the leaves left behind by the canine sun goddess Amaterasu in Okami. Her black hair is streaked with red, and flows with her movements in combat in a manner reminiscent of what we saw in Heavenly Sword. As a witch, Bayonetta can magically transform her hair into demonic forces, turning her ebon tresses into a weapon. She's not short on armaments, though, wielding pistols in her hands, as well as on her heels. Ever thought a kick to the groin was painful? Try getting kicked by a bullet.
What is Bayonetta's agenda, and who is she waging her war on? Angels, for one. These aren't pretty trumpet players, they're bestial claw-toed beasts with wings that look like they should have been cast out of heaven if it still had any standards. She kills them and collects their halos to unlock new moves. We're not sure whether she's good or bad, or somewhere in between, but she's definitely a fun character to watch in action. She comes across as a character that walks between the world of the living and the dead, if only because we've seen her walk with ghosts and fighting creatures that mortal man was not meant to see.
Bayonetta brings to bear moves and techniques that marry the stylish movements of Devil May Cry's Dante with the more humorous side of God Hand's Gene -- the developers' pedigree is clearly evident in her move set. However, you may have some trouble tracking down what she's doing at any given moment since the game is so incredibly fast-paced.
Some of Bayonetta's moves linger just long enough on-screen to leave an indelible impression. Take, for example, her torturer specials. With one technique, Bayonetta rolls behind an opponent and summons a guillotine, trapping her victim in the stocks. She then delivers a series of sharp blows to her victim's backside, causing the guillotine's blade to come down, bringing back the more entertaining side of the French Revolution.
A second torturer move summoned an iron maiden onto the battlefield, allowing Bayonetta to launch an enemy within, after which she'd magically slam the doors shut, creating a bloody mess and adding one more halo to her collection.
The Bayonetta character seems to do everything stylishly. When she's not moving at a mile a minute, and has more time to toy with an enemy, she can nonchalantly rest one hand on her hips and fire off a few rounds with the other. The impression is that just one enemy isn't worth her time or effort, and it'll take a serious challenge to actually get her rolling, dodging, and high-kicking bullets.
We had the chance to watch her take on a more challenging foe in a giant angel with the face of a cherubic baby statue. It was sort of unnerving, to be frank. This giant foe towered above her, easily a couple stories tall, and was wielding an enormous axe that frequently swept across the entire field of vision in wicked swipes. The trick to defeating this enemy appeared to be rolling beneath these strikes and unleashing a combo at the giant angel's vulnerable back. At one point the uber-angel was able to reach behind his back to grab her, initiating a stick-wiggling challenge that gave Bayonetta a chance to break free from his grip.
The end of this battle came when Bayonetta summoned the most impressive move we'd see in the presentation. By using the dark forces contained within her hair, our leather-clad heroine summoned an enormous black dragon demon. The beast was all jaws and snapping teeth, and it took the final bite out of the boss angel. Our presentation ended at this point, and we were left wondering if our heart rate would ever dip back to normal. Platinum Games' Bayonetta is coming to consoles some time in 2009, and seems to be shaping up very nicely.
