SEGA was nice enough to send us over a copy of its latest action title, Bayonetta, and whoa. We played over the new game for the past week, which has its similarities to Devil May Cry (because it's made by the same creator), and we were thoroughly impressed with its fluid-ness, and the overall fun it gave us. As always, we did our usual review to let you guys know the deal, and whether or not you should pick it up. Read on to see our verdict.

From the beginning of Bayonetta, you know immediately that things are gonna be crazy and you're in for one hell of a ride. As your character, named after title, battles Heaven's armies on the face of a clock tower as it falls from a mountain top, you realize you're in a very different world.

Bayonetta is an action game, and probably one of our favorites at present day. At the heart of the title, you have a classic battle between light and darkness.

As explained by Wikipedia: "Bayonetta takes place in Vigrid, a fictional city in Europe. The titular character is a witch who shapeshifts and uses various firearms, along with magical attacks she performs with her own hair, to dispatch her foes. She awakens after a 500 year sleep, and finds herself in an unfamiliar area with no memories of who or what she is. Over time, she begins to remember what caused her current predicament. 500 years before the incident that caused Bayonetta's memory loss, there were two factions of warriors -- the Umbra Witches, who are followers of darkness and their counterparts, the Lumen Sages, are followers of light. Both factions mysteriously disappeared from Vigrid under unknown circumstances."

The Umbra drew their power from the demons of Inferno and watched over the darkness, while the Lumen -- aligned with the god of Paradiso -- controlled the power of light. Both previously had respect for each other and maintained the balance of the universe, but a tragic event caused the two clans to engage in a devastating war. At the end, one Umbra Witch remained: Bayonetta.

It's quite a story, which can boggle your mind and push your imagination with its insane creatures, angels, and over-the-top visuals -- such as depictions of Heaven and Hell, to close-ups of cleavage and asses. It can even make you feel like you're experiencing an acid trip. But, it plays out beautifully, with each cut scene surpassing the previous with insane visuals. You have to play it to really experience what I'm talking about. While the narrative of Bayonetta is coherent, for the most part, it does take you on detours at times and steers you all over the place, which can get a little confusing. And while depicting past events, you are left a little lost sometimes, not knowing why or what is going on because it isn't clearly explained. But once the game is completed, you get a better understanding.

Beneath all the crazy back story and wild narrative, it is a very deep action game, that allows seasoned or novice gamers to unleash impressive combo attacks to violently terminate your enemies and fight your way to the finish. The combat is Bayonetta's main draw anyway, not its storytelling, and the foremost reason you should pick it up.

The title character is a powerful witch with awesome powers and abilities. Bayonetta is armed with a unique set of four guns, two of which are attached to her stiletto hells. She is mortal enemies with the angels of Paradiso, who pop up at almost every moment of the game, and you must kick, punch and shoot your way through them, using multiple-hit combos. Besides the basic attacks, Bayonetta has a number of special attacks also, such as conjuring a guillotine and beheading an angel, or a massive spiked wheel, or even a coffin. And ... aside from the four pistols you start with in the beginning, countless weapons can be discovered along your journey, adding to your repertoire.

The combat system is pretty easy to pick up in Bayonetta, and offers a large amount of depth. The face buttons are used to punch, kick, fire Bayonetta's handguns, and jump. But, probably the most important move is done by pulling the right trigger, which allows you to dodge any attack at any moment, activating "Witch Time." If you pull the trigger just before an attack hits you, Bayonetta will leap out of the way -- in slow motion -- allowing her to move at super speeds while enemies are trapped in a "slo-mo" state. The "Witch Time" element was implemented wonderfully, and helps in defeating some of the game's tougher enemies. If you can master it, you can tear through countless enemies with ease.

With each kill, you earn halos, which can be used to buy things in Bayonetta, such as weapons, battle accessories, or extra techniques to add to your normal set of combos. This ups the game's replay value, as you reply missions over and over, you can earn those halos.

Those are some of the game's praises. Here is some of the complaints. At moments in the game, you can get lost in all the chaos on the screen, especially when battling its bosses in enclosed areas. Some of the bosses are soooo HUGE, when in a confined area, that you can't seem to find your character on the screen in the midst of all the madness and explosions, which can literally block all view of Bayonetta. It leaves you mashing buttons with hopes putting in enough damage to pass the stage. It isn't something to keep you from playing though, by any means.

In the end, Bayonetta is a great action game. It's stylish, and very unique in plot, narrative, characters, and most importantly, gameplay.

If you're into action games like Ninja Gaiden or the previously mentioned Devil May Cry, Bayonetta is a title you can't miss.

Our Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0