The action game directed by Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya offers a new alternative, but a familiar gameplay style for the fan of Capcom's shoot and slice 'em up series, something new for the Ninja Gaidens and God of Wars of the world to aim for. And it's not just Bayonetta's weapon arsenal, though she can wear a gun—or claw or ice skate or bazooka—on each hand and each foot, leading to a dizzying array of combos. She can also exact vengeance on her angelic foes with the magic of her hair, the black locks that act as both costume and, when needed, a giant, enemy shredding beast.

Is this action heroine a welcome addition to the Dantes, Ryus and Kratoses of the genre?

Loved
Witch Time & Quad Damage: The best aspect of Bayonetta? The deep, fluid, play-to-your-preference combat, made all the more interesting by a wealth of weapons, combinations and the delightfully fun Witch Time. That's the dodge at the last second mechanic that lets Bayonetta hack and slash and shoot in her own take on now-classic bullet time. Witch Time is meant to be used liberally, via a well-timed flick of the right trigger, and makes experimentation with Bayonetta's move set and weapon suite—whips, swords, shotguns, et al. applied to both hands and feet—tons of fun.

A Dull Moment? Why I'd Never! Action game fans will not hunger for over-over-the-top frenzied gameplay in Bayonetta. The game administers a constant drip of high octane fisticuffs, swordplay and gunplay that manages to regularly one-up itself over the course of the game's substantial length, throwing at the player more and more spectacular bosses and ridiculous circumstances for Bayonetta to effortlessly overcome. Not that these the player will find the gameplay effortless, necessarily—more on that later—but whether Bayonetta is battling Angels twenty times her size, riding on the back of a rocket, or surfing the lip of a mile-deep whirlpool, she does it with cat-like grace that juxtaposes beautifully with the chaos flooding the screen. Thanks to the game's ornately and cleverly designed part-angelic, part-demonic bosses, Bayonetta is (almost) never dull.

Visual Style: Bayonetta's gilded and glitzy aesthetic will likely have as many detractors as fans. But I'm a fan of the game's Vegas Strip visual intensity and costumes as subtle as Liberace's stage wear. It's gaudy, silly and full of impractical designs, but it's rarely if ever brown and boring. Bayonetta's personal appeal, as illustrated through her hip-thrusting and long-legged kicks, may wear thinner by the end of the game—as does the black witch hair offering titillating glances at her nether parts—but it is at least refreshing not to see a protagonist brooding and bulky.

Normal Is Normal, Hard Is Hard: At its default level Bayonetta offers a challenge. Certainly not an insurmountable one, but enough pushback from enemies and numerous bosses to make the game as hard as games like this should be. Platinum Games is generous with checkpoints and saving opportunities, offering two levels of difficulty above "normal." Having failed often in the next difficulty level up, I'm fairly confident that even gamers better than me will find an appropriate challenge in "hard."

Vs. Jeanne: Though they may be the least visually impressive of Bayonetta's many encounters, the battles with her white haired foil Jeanne are often the most interesting from a pure gameplay perspective. These hand-to-hand fights against Bayonetta's equal require some of the most demanding reflexes, offering the most intense battles. It was against Jeanne that I learned to appreciate Bayonetta's battle system and weapon switching. It's also against Jeanne where you'll use the wall-climbing Witch Walk mechanic most.

Heaven or Hell: Bayonetta is fortunate enough to have access to multiple realities, letting her access portals to Alfheim and to the Gates of Hell. The former lets players take part in mid-chapter battles of a puzzle-like nature, restricting them to a certain number of punches and kicks or to Bayonetta's Wicked Weave hair-based magical attacks. If you want to really play Bayonetta, unlocking everything, you'll find an impressive challenge in the hidden Alfheim portals. The Gates of Hell ensures that players will want to return to a "new game+" playthrough, purchasing and unlocking everything. In the Gates of Hell, all new weapons, techniques and accessories await the player. And given their price, it may be a long time before the Bayonetta fan has seen everything on display.

Devil May Cry Too: Look, if you like Devil May Cry, you're most likely going to love Bayonetta, the spiritual successor to the Capcom franchise that has varied in fan reception over the years. Hideki Kamiya, director of Bayonetta and the original Devil May Cry, also takes time to include nods to some of his other games, like Viewtiful Joe and Okami. But if you simply enjoy the Devil May Cry upgrade and combat systems, you're going to find much of Bayonetta fondly familiar.

Sega Throwback: And if you happen to be a Sega superfan, the publisher of Bayonetta's past is also well referenced. The gags aren't worth spoiling here, but a handful of Bayonetta's weaker, gameplay-switching chapters are made infinitely better by goofy nostalgia.

Hated
The Ugly Sister: As followers of the game are likely aware, the PlayStation 3 version falls well behind its Xbox 360 sister in a handful of technical aspects. There are frame rate and loading issues with the PS3 version, both of which detract from the fluidity of the experience, particularly if one spends time with the 360 version. The loading frustrations are not just limited to between-chapter breaks, either, as the game will pause to load when picking up items. The Xbox 360 version, while mostly consistent in its frame rate, suffers from some noticeable screen tearing. It's more obvious during the quieter periods, not as much when engaged in battle.

Lock Off, Featherface: Bayonetta's camera is a chore to deal with at times, sometimes pulling the view away from enemies at crucial moments. It's slow to catch up or control at others. The default setting for camera manipulation is painfully slow, something the user can tweak, but it's the reliance on locking-on to an enemy for reliable camera angles that can be frustrating.

It may be difficult to convey how much fun it is to play Bayonetta without touching on the thousand things that make the game memorable. Over the course of my first 16-hour play through of the game, Bayonetta showed me one ridiculous cinematic battle after another. The game's memorable, puzzling bosses may be the biggest draw for their visual spectacle, but it will be the deep, fluid combat that will keep action game fans hooked after the visual splendor wears off.

Now, Bayonetta does have a hitch or two. The story driving moments that interrupt all that action wears out its welcome quickly. A handful of verses that involve driving sequences and controlling mounted turret guns detract from the overall experience. Especially the turret gun nonsense. Fortunately, those cut scenes can be skipped. Turret gun sequences should be given the same courtesy.

For the gamer not put-off by the Devil May Cry school of design, there's much to like in Bayonetta. It's a ludicrous, oversexed romp that one shouldn't take too seriously, just as its creators seemed to have done. But Bayonetta should be enjoyed immensely.

Bayonetta was developed by Platinum Games and published by Sega for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on January 5. Retails for $59.99 USD. Two copies of the game were purchased for reviewing purposes. Played Xbox 360 version to completion on Normal difficulty, further testing Hard difficulty. Played first three chapters on PlayStation 3 version.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

In late June of last year, Sega was fully prepared to continue gambling on mature Wii titles. In an August interview, comments from Sega West boss Mike Hayes suggested a wavering resolve, indicating that while "hardcore" titles were still a possibility, they wouldn't necessarily be M for mature games. In the most recent edition of the 1UP podcast, Sega studio director Constantine Hantzopoulos says the publisher will "probably not" release further mature games for Nintendo's platform, thanks to EA's Dead Space Extraction.

"Look at Dead Space. We were stunned. That was my litmus test. Basically, it's like, okay, you got EA, who can put all the marketing muscle behind this, an established franchise that scored quite well on 360 and PS3. They should be able to actually hit this out of the park, right? We get numbers, real numbers aside from NPD, and I'm like, 'Woah'."

And that pretty much puts the final nail in the coffin for mature Wii games. With Dead Space Extraction selling only 9000 copies in the first month of release, it seems the message is clear - the market just isn't there.

More mature Wii games from SEGA unlikely [1UP Podcast via GamesIndustry.biz]

"What we can say about Guilty Gear is that it is not dead yet", Arc System's Tomo Ohno told NowGamer. "It has not ended. The producer/creator of Guilty Gear, Daisuke Ishiwatari, his comment for this meeting [was] ‘I have the full intention to create Guilty Gear for PS3 and 360."

That's a proper Guilty Gear, too, not a spin-off thing like Overture.

Fans will remember that earlier in the year it emerged that Arc System Works had lost the rights to the series. Guess Ishiwatari and Sega managed to work something out! Or, at least, are trying to work something out.

Next-Gen Guilty Gear In The Works [NowGamer]

Discerning individuals on the Japanese internet have noticed that while Phantasy Star Portable 2 offers glimpses of a wide array of under garments, there appears to be at least one character who has forgotten something.

Somebody, please inform her! This is very important stuff.

This could all be an unplanned glitch — or a totally planned one.

『ファンタシースターポータブル2』ノーパンでアソコが丸見えのNPCが発見される - livedoor Blog（ブログ） [チラシの裏でゲーム鈍報]

The mascot even got his own toys back in the day — one of which was recently uploaded to YouTube.

The packaging has phrases like "Forever Hero! He became legend." You must watch this video. You must.

Forever Hero: Segata Sanshiro Figures [GameSetWatch]

While announced earlier in the month for Europe, it's only today been cleared for an American release. Called the "Hunter Edition", it includes a facehugger model, four multiplayer maps, a "3d lenticular postcard", Weyland Yutani patch and a hardcover copy of the original AvP comic that kicked off the whole franchise.

Not bad. Not bad.

It'll also be available in Europe (and Australia), though in the old world it'll ship without the comic.

No word on price.

I'm pleased to see Rebellion putting so much work into the story mode for Aliens vs. Predator. While I love the multiplayer concept of three diverse factions fighting against each other, I wouldn't want to miss the thrill of being a lone space marine caught in the crossfire between two vicious alien species. The fact that Lance Henriksen's fatherly serial killer voice will be accompanying me on the journey is the blood-spattered icing on the cake.

His voice makes me want to curl up with a hot cup of cocoa and then choke on it.

We've heard from tipsters here in the U.S. and in Europe—Switzerland, specifically—that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions of the game have already shipped to retail and are waiting to be snapped up. Kotaku reader Bryant just snagged a copy at a Wisconsin Toys 'R' Us. We've reached out to some of our local retailers, even the ones that generally sell to us early, but have come up short.

You may have better luck, though, and may be able to secure a surprising Christmas or Hannukah gift for a friend if you do.

Yes, both versions appear to be regional, not import copies. Two good gets for a game that's not supposed to be released for another two weeks or more.

Thanks to Ivan and Bryant for the heads up. And have fun.

Not for the contents of the trailer, mind you, but for the MA15+ rating the trailer carries, and veritable baggage train of rating warnings along for the ride (see above).

We're concerned the game may contain violence.

While Sega Australia declined to comment on any possible progress made at today's classification review meeting, the appearance of a trailer carrying an MA15+ rating shows Sega are at least serious about giving a good ol' fight.

The Xbox 360 version looks to have taken advantage of Sega's offer to include bonus mascot characters in the form of Rare's famous bird and bear. And Microsoft has apparently given Sega and developers Sumo Digital the green light to include Xbox 360 Avatars.

Hey, it's not Gum from Jet Set Radio in a kart shaped like an in-line skate, but I suppose it'll have to do. I mean, Sega was nice enough to include Shadow the Hedgehog, so how can we possibly complain?

TSSZ News spotted the pre-announcement reveal of the Xbox 360 version of the box art, which seems to confirm the inclusion of Banjo and Kazooie by putting the Rare pair on the cover. The Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing with Banjo-Kazooie title is another hint that seems to confirm that at least one version will feature a bear and bird battling it out against Sonic the Hedgehog and Ryo Hazuki the forklift driver on race tracks under blue skies.

While it appears that the Xbox 360 version is getting a guest appearance, none of the other platforms show cameos on their respective box arts. Of course, things could change and we could be pitting Sonic against, say, the Echochrome wooden doll next year. But we'll believe it when we see it! On Sega.com!

FIRST @ TSSZ: It's Real…Banjo-Kazooie in ASR [TSSZ]

As far as I am concerned, there is nothing near as festive as monkeys. There isn't one holiday that couldn't be enhanced by an injection of these lovable primates. You may hate monkeys, and that's okay too, because it's the holiday season, and we have enough love for everyone, even repulsive monkey haters.

The game features a time-based battle attack system.

Have a look at these new screens of 70-year-old "Enquirer of Knowledge" Antorion, gothy Veronique, fashionista Garigerrnon and the curvy Barbarella. They're looking at you! Right now!

『エンド オブ エタニティ』物語に絡む聖職者たち - ファミ通.com [Famitsu]

Aliens vs. Predator got the big thumbs down on Dec. 3, primarily for its depictions of gore and violence. Its developer, Rebellion, has said it will not modify the title in order to receive classification, so this amounts to a big "pretty please?" to Australia from Sega.

The Review Board has invited applications to be considered an "interested party" to the review, but reminds that this review and its reconsideration can only be within the scope of Australia's existing classification regulations. I.e., no one's being invited to complain about creating an R18+ rating category for games, as such an option is for lawmakers, not the review board, to implement.

Aliens vs. Predator: RC Rating to be Reviewed [Refused-Classification.com via Game Politics]

Kotaku has witnessed the human and Predator sides of the game. Now Aliens.

The Aliens campaign, like those of the human and Predator, can be activated separately by players, though the three narratives intersect to form the game's overall plot. The Aliens' story starts with the character's violent birth. Specimen 6 bursts out of a lab-patient's chest into a glorified test tube. Soon you've grown and soon enough you're out of your shackles, killing people.

All three campaigns are played from a first-person perspective. The Alien stands lower than the human, who stands lower than the Predator. When you make quick turns as an Alien, you see your tail swish by. When you trigger one of the game's gruesome killing animations, your famous mouth-within-a-mouth juts out and fills the screen as it chomps your victim.

Aliens run up walls, onto the ceiling and can leap to the floor. A targeting reticule always points in the direction of the floor so you don't get too dizzy. The Alien is fast and brutal with melee kills. I didn't see it use guns, and one would think it can't. But it can take orders from a momma Alien, who utters its commands via a floating-Alien-head icon in the corner of the screen. The Alien also can smell well, sniffing the outlines of other characters through walls and reading the color of their outlines to determine if that character is hostile and on the attack.

The Alien can do light and heavy attacks, can lock on and can perform stealth kills. I saw all of this and saw the Alien have to climb up into the vents above the lab where it was born. Momma was summoning but the vents were blocked. I had to leave the demo, but was told that the Alien would soon be joining other non-controllable members of its species for more violence.

My glimpse of the Alien section was brief, though two things did stand out. It looked nothing like the Predator mode I'd seen, which involved thermal-vision-assisted high-altitude stalking through jungle trees. The other detail: This game is indeed for gore lovers. The Sega rep showing me the game was quite enthusiastic about how the Alien can chomp at brains and how the Predator's wrist blades can go up a man's throat and be visible down his shouting mouth. Sounds a bit much, but as noted above, these aliens are not diplomats.

Aliens Vs. Predator is set for release on the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in February. Developed by Rebellion, published by Sega.

The EA chart was shown at an investor's conference, designed to appeal to people who EA hopes will think positively of the company's stock, which is labeled as ERTS. So they show off unusual stats, as you can see above, such as the number of games delayed or not delayed. That sends the message that: You can trust our company to deliver on its promises when we say we will.

That's sort of interesting, but how about this idea that EA puts out the most good games? The chart you see above was created by EA and pulls from Metacritic, the aggregator site that pulls review scores mostly from gaming outlets that publish review scores (i.e not Kotaku). EA had gone into the site and counted up the games released between January 1 and November 30, 2009 that scored an 80 average or more. The evidence points to EA not only improving quality year over year — I haven't met a gamer who would deny that — and now leading in quality — which is more controversial.

Shall we check that?

The Beatles: Rock Band (92)
Dragon Age: Origins (91)
FIFA 10 (91)
Left 4 Dead 2 (90)
Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box (89)
Skate 2 (89)
NHL 10 (88)
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 (88)
Fight Night Round 4 (87)
Boom Blox Bash Party (86)
The Sims 3 (86)
Madden NFL 10 (85)
Tetris (85)
Battlefield 1943 (84)
Need for Speed Shift (84)
Brutal Legend (83)
NCAA Football 10 (83)
Dead Space Extraction (82)
Henry Hatsworth and the Puzzling Adventure (82)
Mirror's Edge PC (81)
The Sims 3 World Adventures (81)
EA Sports Active (81)
EA Sports More Active Workouts (81)
Left 4 Dead Crash Course (80)
NBA Live 10 (81)

I can see why EA didn't count some of the above 25 in its chart. In fact, I can get to their 19 easily. Let's knock out six listings: 1) Mirror's Edge PC, because it's a port of a 2008 game 2) Burnout Paradise Ultimate Box (compilation of an '08 game), 3) The Sims 3 World Adventures and 4) EA Sports More Active Workouts (which both expand and somewhat require ownership of their earlier edition or edition's peripherals), 5) Left 4 Dead Crash Course DLC and... Well, 6) could go one of two ways. We could not count Rock Band, which EA distributes but doesn't publish, or we could not count the PSP Minis release of Tetris.

This is a hefty amount of 80+ games. If we average the full 25, we get this: EA's average 80+ metascore is 85.20. Let's not count six games. We'll include Rock Band but not Tetris. Then we get 85.95. It goes down only to 85.58 if I use Tetris and not Rock Band.

[UPDATE: I originally used the 360 Dragon Age metascore of 86 but have since updated the math above using its PC score of 91. Seemed only fair given PC was its lead platform. I've gone through this post and updated all listings to reflect the highest score given to any PC or console version of these games.]

Let's see if EA counted its competitors correctly.

Modern Warfare 2 (94)
Guitar Hero 5 (89)
Guitar Hero: Metallica (86)
DJ Hero (87)

A little math shows that: Activsion's average 80+ metascore is 89. Better than EA's, but it's only four games, and really, if you want to do a fair comparison of publisher quality, you'd have to do an average of all their games. Also notable is that there was a wide disparity between some versions. I used the highest Guitar Hero score, which was an 89 on the Wii. The game averaged an 85 on the Xbox 360.

Assassin's Creed II (92)
Might and Magic Clash of Heroes (86 *Game was released in December)
Dawn of Discovery (82)

More math: Ubisoft's average 80+ metascore is 86.67 with Might and Magic. It is another publisher with just one 90+ game.

Dawn of War II (85)
Red Faction Guerilla (85)
UFC Undisputed (84)
WWE Smackdown Vs. Raw 2010 (82)
Rocket Riot (80)

Result: THQ's average 80+ metascore is 83.2. They had no 90+ games.

GTA Chinatown Wars (93)
GTA IV: The Lost and Damned (90)
GTA IV: The Ballad of Gay Tony (89)
Borderlands (84)
NBA 2K10 (83)
Beaterator (80)
The Bigs 2 (80)

I do Take Two no favors for the average here by including The Bigs 2, but I did just make them look better by counting it in the overall tally, right? Anyway, Take Two's average 80+ metascore is 85.57. And look! They have two games with a 90 or above.

Metroid Prime Trilogy (91)
Mario and Luigi Bowser's Inside Story (90)
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks (87)
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (87)
Punch-Out (86)
New Play Control Pikmin (84)
Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box (84)
Art Style Digidrive (83)
Art Style Pictobits (83)
Rhythm Heaven (83)
Pokemon Platinum (83)
Mario Vs. Donkey Kong: Minis March Again (82)
Fire Emblem Shadow Dragon (81)
Art Style Box Life (80)
Wii Sports Resort (80)
Wii Fit Plus (80)

You could load up this one with caveats, noting that the Metroid and Pikmin games aren't new, but let's include them. Nintendo's average 80+ metascore is 84 even. Credit them with a pair of games at 90 or above.

Uncharted 2 (96)
God of War Collection (92)
Killzone 2 (91)
MLB 09 The Show (90)
Wipeout HD Fury (89)
LittleBigPlanet PSP(88)
PixelJunk Shooter (87 *Game released in December)
Flower (87)
PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe (86)
Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time (86)
infamous (85)
Patapon 2 (81)
Resistance Retribution (81)
Buzz! Quiz World (80)
Zen Pinball (80)

Let me average that up for you. Sony's average 80+ metascore is 86.6. Not shabby at all. Plus, the company can boast four 90+ games, albeit one of them a compilation of PS2 hits.

Forza Motorsport 3 (92)
Shadow Complex (88)
Trials HD (86)
Splosion Man (84)
Halo 3 ODST (83)
Halo Wars (82)

Let's crunch that. Microsoft's 80+ metascore average is 85.83.

EA didn't tally the top scorers for Capcom, Sega and Warner Brothers. All had a batch of stellar games, so I figured I'd do the work.

Street Fighter IV (93)
Resident Evil 5 (85)
Marvel Vs Capcom 2 (82)
Monster Hunter Fredom Unite (81)

Capcom's average 80+ metascore is 85.25.

Empire Total War (90)
Football Manager 2010 (88)
MadWorld (81)

Sega's average 80+ metascore is 86.3

Batman Arkham Asylum (92)
Scribblenauts (80)

Warner's average 80+ metascore is 86. They've got a 90+ as well.'

It's no surprise that EA's chart accurately showed that the publisher had the most well-reviewed games, though, thanks to Kotaku, you can now see what those games were. This breakdown shows a couple of other things:

1) While EA had the most games that received 80+ scores, its average score for such titles settled between its two most prolific game-publishing competitors. It beat Nintendo but was beaten by Sony.

2) It's clear that no matter how many well-reviewed games a publisher has, getting an 80-89 score is far easier than getting a 90+. That seems to be the big equalizer among these top publishers. No one makes lots of those and few make more than a couple.

So which company made the most good video games in 2009? Probably the one you like the most. But if you want to try using numbers to back it up in 2009, I think you have to go with EA for quantity or Sony for 90+ excellence and a higher average score from its 80+ titles.

Before you ask, yes, these are proper screenshots, not magazine scans.