As my quick-and-dirty impressions of the PS3 version of Bayonetta from a recent event in Tokyo has been generating a lot of heat on the net over the past couple days, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret. Not because the piece I wrote was inaccurate in any way--I saw what I saw--but because I didn’t really include my opinion on -the game itself-. The graphical hiccups I noticed became a football in the ever-raging console wars, without the larger context of how Bayonetta was looking in total. Today I want to add that context.
Maybe the simplest way to sum it up: I’m sold. After getting my first hands on with the game (I played both the 360 and the PS3 versions), I was impressed enough to know this is a game I will be buying at launch (and unlike many games journos, spending my own money on). As a hardcore fan of Devil May Cry, the game hit pretty much every single one of my sweet spots: Being able to change weapons on the fly, and now being able to pick up the weapons of fallen enemies, leads to all sorts of fun combo situations; the new Witch Timer (which is like a 30-second slow-mo badass-time that activates when you evade an enemy’s attack, just before it’s about to hit you) adds an extra bit of risk-reward to the defensive side of the game; the cinematic witch attacks (two story tall boss gets chomped in half by a BIGGER giant evil-dog-thing?!), which really punctuate the end of action sequences; the way you could actually bully around these super-huge enemies, punching them across the screen with your giant witch fist… I didn’t want to leave my chair when my 15 minute demo was up. (In fact, when I was offered another play after the first demo, I pretty much ran to the demo station. Because I’m a total nerd I even started the demo early the second time--they had this countdown so everyone would start the demo at the same time--just so I could start figuring out more efficient ways to keep enemies in the air. It was a total fanboy moment that I’m not too proud of, but needless to say that’s how much the demo impressed me.)
The kicker, and perhaps most ironic part of any of the console-war hubbub around all this: I personally plan on buying the PS3 version. Even if none of the problems I saw are ironed out (and to be fair, with the game not hitting in NA until early next year, who knows), I’ll take the Dual-Shock controls, thank you very much.
I guess all I am saying, console fanboys, is give peace (and Bayonetta) a chance.
![:]](/styles/ctec/images/smilies/default/sm_B-].gif ":] :]")
Nimm ihn generell nicht ernst. 
Soll mir so oder so recht sein. Zum Jahresende hin hab ich eh noch genug Möglichkeiten, mein Bankkonto brutal in den Arsch zu vergewaltigen. .gif "%) %)")
