Bayonetta Preview

When she uses her hair as a weapon she ends up wearing very little

It's not just the rank and file troops who get this treatment either. At one point in the demo I watched as Bayonetta took on what appeared to be a massive stone giant, tinged with gold. After dashing around and weakening this chap (who was apparently only a sub-boss) by attacking a vulnerable spot on his back, the demonstrator followed a QTE prompt that initiated a stupendous-looking finisher: Bayonetta's hair transformed into an enormous canine head that proceeded to decapitate the giant with a bloody chomp of its jaws. This was followed by what appeared be some kind of button-mashing challenge that can yield some form of reward - the SEGA rep wouldn't say what though.

While the plot of the game remains a complete mystery, one thing was made slightly clearer by my recent visit to SEGA. We've heard before that Bayonetta herself inhabits "a different dimension," but what is now apparent is that this world exists in conjunction with our own. While you explore levels you'll see human beings walking around, but they'll look like ghosts - all transparent and ethereal. The humans, meanwhile will be able to hear you even though they cannot see you, so if you walk up to one and start firing your weapons they'll get scared and run away. It's a clever idea, a concept that further fuels my hunger for more story details.

All the same, even without any plot details there was plenty to like about what I was shown. Hideki Kamiya is claiming that he's going to set new standards for action gaming, and it's clear that grand spectacle is going to play a large role in this attempt. While the brunt of my demo took place in a large, leafy courtyard, a second section found Bayonetta fighting another stone giant as he attempted to destroy the stone walkway she was standing on. The ensuing battle saw the witch leaping back and forth over huge stone fists that tried to grab her, until she eventually found herself leaping to the attack from an entire chunk or walkway that the giant had pulled free.

An even stranger and more epic fight took place during the last section of my demo. Here Bayonetta and a mysterious red-suited companion were blasting away at demons as they fell through space atop a chunk of a broken clock tower. All hell broke loose as the pair were attacked by flying serpents and strange angel-like enemies with halos and wings. As the fight raged the camera seemed to swirl around the pair while bad guys and chunks of stone scenery flew in all directions. It looked utterly chaotic and a little bit mad, and yet achingly stylish. Indeed, the same could be said for the game as a whole. Bayonetta looks like it will marry a few familiar elements with a whole lot of fresh chic, and with E3 just around the corner it's surely just a matter of time before we get a few more juicy details. Watch this space.

Bayonetta will be out at some point later this year on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.