Being a big fan of Devil May Cry since the first installment, I was somewhat disappointed (see: downright depressed) by the lack of content in the latest installment, Devil May Cry 4. So, when I heard the news that Hideki Kamiya, the original director of Devil May Cry, had a new title in the works, I was intrigued straight away.
Published by SEGA, Bayonetta is instantly recognisable as a title that takes it’s inspiration from the DMC series, in character, visuals, and even the layout of the HUD and controls – Kamiya even stating “Of course, if there hadn’t have been DMC, there wouldn’t be Bayonetta, which has evolved from DMC.”
One thing that differentiates Bayonetta from Devil May Cry is it’s protagonist – this time a female, a futuristic witch with a strong, outlandish personality. The game’s trailers gave a very perverse tone to the game, with lots of innuendo that was perhaps almost a little too over the top for my liking, and she has a costume to match – actually formed out of her hair, which can also double as a magical weapon, leaving her coincidentally naked while she does so (albeit hidden by camera angles and such, so don’t get too excited). So, this week I managed to get hold of the official demo, released on the Japanese PSN, named “First Climax” in true Bayonetta form. Be prepared – as an avid DMC fan, I’m going to cover this in every detail.
The demo features two sections, a tutorial mode and a proper level, presumably the first. The tutorial covers some of the basic combos and techniques, which were alright to practise via the recognisable icons, but I couldn’t read the details due to it all being in Japanese – so it was very much a case of pressing buttons and seeing what works.
On booting the demo, the game introduces you to an area reminiscent of Fortuna City from Devil May Cry 4, a very open, picturesque city with gothic buildings and monuments, although with a strange futuristic touch – with a few screens and signs here and there. The level of detail doesn’t disappoint, however, and it looks good.
After a short run, testing a few of the buttons to find regular features such as a double jump, lock-on etc, I shortly find myself getting attacked by some demon-like creatures with halos. These appear to be the game’s basic grunts, offering some punching bags to have some fun with, although still enough to wear you down in numbers.
In true DMC form, Bayonetta has access to both long and short range attacks – guns being used for weaker attacks for tactical advantage and slow damage, and melee attacks with her equipped weapon for heavier hitting moves. Unlike DMC, though, the Circle button (or B in the case of Xbox users) can be pressed to execute kick attacks, as well as the regular gun and weapon attacks. This allows you to combine combos of weapons and kicks, which adds some nice variation along the way. The game plays fluidly, and alongside other weapons it seems that it will offer plenty of variation (which was one of my main issues of DMC4, giving us a new protagonist with only a single firearm and sword). Utilising her magical powers, Bayonetta uses her hair attacks in combos which feel much like hand-to-hand fighting, albeit with some ludicrously cinematic blows, such as a giant fist attack, or a spinning attack with her guns blazing in every direction.
As well as regular combos (which were already more than I could count), Bayonetta also has access to some extra tricks. Firstly, she can rapid fire her guns by holding any of the attack buttons – depending on which button is pressed designates which gun she will use – the regular shoot button will rapid fire continuously until you let go, while the other two attack buttons perform bursts of shots using either of her guns attached to her feet. By spinning the left analogue, and pressing shoot, she can also enter a sort of shooting mode, where she does a strange handstand, bends her legs back in a flexible fashion and begins to fire at enemies with her feet, allowing you to aim manually while she does so. Next, we have “Witch Time.” Bayonetta has a dodge button (activated with R2 on the PS3) which allows you to perform backflips and evasive manoeuvres. If you dodge an attack perfectly, Bayonetta will go into a slow-motion mode temporarily, allowing you to gain an advantage and deliver a quick strike on the slowed enemy.
Last but not least there are “Torture attacks”, special one-hit execution moves, which can be used to deliver the most cinematic moves of them all – by pressing both attack buttons she will grab an enemy that is vulnerable, and perform moves where she summons various devices, such as an iron maiden or guillotine, and proceeds to execute the enemy with it. These seem to be linked to a gauge under Bayonetta’s HP, although my lack of Japanese understanding meant I was unable to understand it exactly.
But it doesn’t end there, oh no – there’s even more. The demo also allows Bayonetta to switch her equipped weapon to a katana, replacing her regular hair attacks with a more DMC-esque moveset, although just as crazy – with super fast attacks an inhuman lunges. There’s even a Dante-esque rising attack that’s performed in the same was as DMC, by locking-on and pressing the attack button whilst holding backwards. And also – enemies may drop weapons, from large axes to ball and chains, which Bayonetta may pick up and use herself, replacing her weapon. The combos seem to be very limited to these weapons, but on top of everything else that doesn’t seem to be a big problem. As you proceed through the demo, there are a few items that can be used by tapping certain directions on the D-pad, such as healing items. Collecting ring-like halos dropped by enemies and hidden in destructible objects appear to act as currency displayed at the top right corner (yes, like DMC), which will be used for purchasing new weapons and upgrades in the full game.
There are even a couple of bosses in the demo, which appear to be larger demons in a similar style to the regular ‘angels’. The first of the two is a large golem of a boss, wielding a giant axe and sporting a creepy face. This can be taken down fairly easily, by avoiding its large, heavy hitting swings, and pummeling at it with whatever attack you like – the guns are safer, of course, but take much longer. Once it’s health has been depleted, the boss is stunned, and you must press the two attack buttons to execute a finishing blow (much like God of War). Once you have done so, Bayonetta summons a giant dragon head (made from her hair) and crushes it in its jaws, while you mash the shoot button to make it munch faster, a score rising the more you do it (perhaps related to how much it drops, or affecting your end-of level ranking).
The second boss was much more cinematic, however, attacking in a few stages. Firstly it ambushes Bayonetta on a bridge, breaking the section she’s standing on clean off, and you must attack the creature’s hand as it smashes the bit of bridge against the cliff side. This section was quite a nice idea, although I found it looked a bit strange – seeing as when you jump, Bayonetta follows the moving platform, always staying in line with where she jumped off. Obviously this is more of a gameplay mechanic, and we could always attribute this to ‘magic’, but it did look a bit odd. Once you’ve hurt his hand enough, there is a short ‘Quicktime Event’ type sequence which asks you to press left and jump at the right time to get to safety as the bridge is dropped from his grip, ending with a rather silly photo-snap moment as she lands in a suggestive position. However, the boss doesn’t end there – he then leaps up and tries to smash the ground you stand on. I was not prepared, and found myself being dragged to an instant death, which was a little annoying – but the second time I was ready, and running was fairly simple. I then had to attack him as he hung from the ledge I stood on, and took him down with a finisher while he attempted to smash the ground to bits, resulting in another dragon-feeding. The end of stage offered a familiar ranking system which judged my performance and graded me accordingly, presumably for some replay value.
Now, I would have expected the demo to end there – but it doesn’t. There’s a second section, where Bayonetta is pitted against a rival Witch named Jeanne – and in this scene she does not have the Katana, and she is also sporting a more gothic looking witch outfit. This section resulted in a one-on-one gunfight with her rival, where you can actually walk on the walls or ceilings by pressing the jump button to attach to any surface, while your rival does the same – with some strange wall to wall gunfire. This is interesting, but seemed to be a tutorial of sorts, which I felt I didn’t fully understand – so there could have been more to it than I realised.
The demo looked great, as I said, but I’m not sure about the music. With the game’s general tone and craziness, the soundtrack features some very upbeat almost J-pop style music, which could grate after a while. Hopefully this won’t be the case. Overall the demo is fantastic, and even shows that there’s much more in the full game, with clips of Bayonetta wielding other weapons, such as a whip, and facing other interesting opponents. To me, it offers everything a DMC game offers, and looks like it will top DMC4 in continuing Kamiya’s legacy. Bayonetta could become a little annoying with her crazy dominatrix-like personality, but I really think the gameplay will shine through and leave us with something incredible.
I’ll be checking out the game at Eurogamer next weekend, so look out for more news soon!
-Leon
