Back when SEGA and Platinum Games announced a four game publishing deal in 2008, two of the first three titles instantly gained attention, as if they needed any more. Along with MadWorld, a black and white ultraviolent slash-em-up on the Wii and Infinite Space, a DS RPG, there was Bayonetta.
Directed by Hideki Kamiya, who's previous game was the brilliant PS2 title Devil May Cry, Bayonetta was a hack and slash game that played pretty much exactly the same, only it was a whole lot more. The action was a lot faster than DMC could offer, with challenging. screen filling bosses and absurd special moves, made possible by Bayonetta's shape shifting costume (which did seem to be made of her hair..)
The gothic look of DMC was gone as well, replaced by a serene European-lite architecture that helped to compliment the story, which in itself wasn't bad either and played out with a sexy edge unlike anything else in the genre.
There are other aspects to Bayonetta that made it the game it is: The brilliant combat which we've touched upon already, and the soundtrack. Oh, the soundtrack. In my opinion, Bayonetta stands out as arguably one of SEGA's greatest offerings, with a fantastic blend of campy battle themes, ambient background lovliness, fantastic remixes from classic SEGA titles OutRun and After Burner, and two stunning versions of Fly Me to the Moon. If you can find it, the 150-track, 5 disc soundtrack is an essentual buy.
Bayonetta launched in 2010 on Xbox 360 and PS3, and unfortunately the PS3 version did come off a lot worse due to a rather poor port by Nex Entertainment. Because of this, we would strongly suggest the 360 version, however if PS3 is your only option, it's still worth a look, with most online retailers now stocking the game in the £10-15 price bracket. We promise you won't regret it!
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