Bayonetta, A first look.

So I got back from London's MCM Expo yesterday, getting in free of another journalists Press Pass is awesome, by the way.

There was a lot of cool stuff on offer around the hall, but probably the coolest thing that I had a hands on play of was Bayonetta (they had L4D:2 there, but the queue was so long that they wouldn't even let press skip the queue).

But Bayonetta was pretty cool. Lets start with the gameplay. The game plays just like Devil May Cry or God Hand (if any of you have played God Hand, that is). You kill demons and the ilk by stacking up stupid combos of attacks by hitting Y to punch, B to kick and X to shoot guns, you can also jump hitting A. The game is basically about kicking as much ass as possible before there is no more ass to kick, or you die. The main point of the combat is learning what combos work well with each other though. I found that using a Punchy combo that mutates into a Kicky combo will deal with single enemies extremely effectively, but against a horde I just get the shit kicked out of me. Although, I then found out that spinning the Left stick in a circle in any direction and pressing ether Y or B will cause the character to spin around and shoot everything around her. The fighting is fast and fun, and causes you to mess about just for the sake of working out what combos well with what, and then what that combos well into. There is also the Torture system. Once you've dealt out enough of an ass-kicking, you get the choice to hit both Y and B to go into a torture mode, where you will grab a single enemy and have to mash a button (for me it was B) to deal more megatons of pain to the enemy, making them die instantly.

The game looks amazing. If you haven't looked at any trailers or screen shots, I suggest you do, because the visuals are beautiful. The character design is, as always, unpractical, but you can't really argue with how awesome the lead character looks, and how the game seems to be a mix between awesomely cool cinematics (like jumping down a clock tower that is also falling down a cliff) and insane fighting fun.

I'll be looking forward for the release of Bayonetta, which is expected for January 2010 in North America and the first quarter of 2010 for Europe.

i watched the first 15 minutes of this, and although the characters look absurd, the gameplay seems fun. don't know if i'll get it or not.

I wonder if this could beat DMC. How many fans of the genre will pick this up, I wonder...

at least its 2010 release will give it a bit more of a chance. if released now it would have no chance. I dont like this type of game anymore but there are plenty of people looking forward to it.

DMC is good for a pre-owned pick-up if I want cool cutscenes and want to watch a cocky pseudo alpha male run around kicking the shit out of everything.

Plus, Trish is hot.