I got early access to the Bayonetta demo for the Xbox 360 today. I’m not really a fan of this style of combo driven fighting game (think Devil May Cry – which was not really my thing), but I can’t turn down the chance to try a game early.  I started the Bayonetta: First Climax demo and the first few minutes really impressed me.  Graphically the game looks really sweet and the game start with a very deep tutorial that lets you try all the different combos you want before getting into the game. It even has a whole list of the combos available off to the right that dynamically updates as you start attacking.  After spending like 5 minutes trying out various combos and getting a feel for the controls I started into the rest of the demo.

I chose to play it on the Normal difficulty at first since it was the default setting.  After about 2 minutes I was dead and looking at the continue screen.  Not being use to this type of game I am having a lot of trouble recognizing when I need to dodge and when it is safe to attack. Plus the initial camera angle is back and pretty wide so there is a lot going on across the screen to try and keep track of. So, I decided not to continue and to drop down to the Easy setting.  When I did I noticed there was a Very Easy difficulty there that is not available in the demo. Once I was on the Easy setting I had no trouble playing through the rest of the demo without dying, and mostly without even taking damage.

The demo is about 15 minutes long, on Easy, has a few different level types in it. I never did figure out how to actually do any of the combos that I practiced in the tutorial consistently.  The enemies were dying so quickly I just had to mash the attach and kick buttons to clear each section.  The moves are actually really fun watch because you play as this lady who has a gun in each and and then one on each boot. So, after punching or hitting an enemy you can end any combo by holding down the button and it will automatically wrap it up by shooting. As you progress through you also can pick up some giant weapons that defeated enemies drop. I personally liked the giant ax that swung very slowly but took out everyone in one wide arcing hit.

After playing through the demo and watching the included cut scenes and videos I still have no idea what the plot of the story is about. Although I’m not sure this is really the kind of game you play for the story. As great looking as the demo is I don’t play to play the full game.  It is not just not a genre I’m interested in, but if you like this style of game I am curious what you think of the Bayonetta demo.