Game Day: Dangerous curves and heads
Bayonetta is a witch with a memory problem. Awakened from a long slumber 20 years ago, she remembers little of her past life, but she knows how to fight and wield magic against legions of angels in a continuation of an ancient war between her line, the Umbra Witches, and the Lumen Sages.
"Bayonetta," the game, is ridiculously over-the-top. The action is amped up, the sound is loud, and the graphics are flashy. Bayonetta, the character, is equally ridiculous – her exaggerated figure makes a Barbie doll's look natural.
The game's Mature rating applies not only to the violence but to the numerous suggestive elements of the character and how she's presented. She wears a tight leather catsuit, sucks on lollipops, carries a quartet of guns (two by hand, two strapped to her legs as stiletto heels) and morphs herself, her hair and her clothing into various forms for powerful attacks.
The angels also take on monstrous forms – some huge, some small, one a giant upside-down head with dragon heads sprouting from it.
"Bayonetta's" highly polished guns-and-melee game play owes an obvious debt to the "Devil May Cry" series. The resemblance is no accident; the game was directed by Hideki Kamiya, the man responsible for the first game in the "DMC" series.
The bulk of the game is dedicated to combat, as Bayonetta makes her way through various gorgeous locations packed with angelic enemies. The witch has a wide repertoire of fighting moves to start with, and she can buy more as she progresses through the game.
Bayonetta's moves include attack combos that vary depending on which weapons she has equipped; she can switch between two sets of weapons at will. Dodging attacks at the last moment activates Witch Time, which slows down enemy movement for a few moments.
Special golden records can be traded in for new weapons, such as a pair of shotguns or a sword. Bayonetta can also craft her own power-up and restorative items from components she finds.
Chaining together long strings of attacks activates Wicked Weave, powerful moves that use the witch's shape-changing hair. And with enough magic power, Bayonetta can summon infernal torture devices from the underworld to cause massive damage to her foes.
Defeated angels drop halos that Bayonetta can use as currency for new moves, items and upgrades. Sometimes angels leave behind their own weapons, which don't last long in Bayonetta's hands but are quite powerful as long as they do.