PSX Extreme: Bayonetta Preview

Fast paced action games such as Devil May Cry have become all the rage in gaming today. If your game's got guns and/or swords set in a fantasy world, it better damn well play like Capcom's Devil May Cry. Bayonetta is one game in development that has all three aforementioned qualities that made DMC so popular...no, scratch that, it has four. The fourth quality being Hideki Kamiya, the creator of the first Devil May Cry game.

So if you've heard and seen Bayonetta and you thought to yourself "wow, what a rip-off of Devil May Cry", you now know why. Granted, it's unfair to call Bayonetta a rip-off, considering that the creator of Capcom's title is behind this game. But Bayonetta takes things a few steps further to differentiate itself from DMC. For starters, as opposed to a demon, you take on the role of a female witch who goes by the name of Bayonetta. As Bayonetta, you'll hunt down mutated incarnations of angels, an unusual approach, but at the same time one we're excited to see pan out.

Instead of just being equipped with weapons in her hands, Bayonetta has them equipped all over her body. You've seen knives slide out of shoes in action movies, right? Well how about pistols firing from shoes? Didn't think so. Bayonetta has pistols equipped in her shoes, allowing her to fire bullets from her ankles and hands simultaneously...utterly insane. Moreover, that wickedly long hair of hers isn't just there for show, as it can be used to attack, as well. Her hair can take on various shapes, such as super-sized fists or a dragon, and pummel the enemy to death. If that isn't kick-ass, I don't know what is.

As you'd expect, the action is lightning fast, and features potential for combo strings greater than that of Devil May Cry. You'll be able to easily rack up dozens of hits in one combo string simply by utilizing all of Bayonetta's combat abilities, such as magic, melee, and weaponry. Now, some of the moves you'll pull off will deal more than one hit by default, such as a number of Bayonetta's melee attacks where she furiously punches or stomps her opponent, showing that the game's action is even more over-the-top than its soul-predecessor at Capcom.

To further prove just how over-the-top this game is, Bayonetta can summon various objects out of thin air as a means of killing an enemy with a special finish. We saw a guillotine appear and watched the blade fall onto a helpless enemy's head...needless to say the room oooh'd and awed. While we don't know what magic spells will consist of, we do know that the status quo ability of slowing down time is here, as we saw it with our own eyes back at E3.

Bayonetta is still some ways off, and there's a lot we don't know about it still. But do keep your eyes peeled for more info. In the meantime, expect to see the game arrive some in the third quarter of 2009.