Sega: "Words can't describe Bayonetta"

GamesCom 2009: Taking a look at Sega and Platinum Games’ Bayonetta yesterday at GamesCom 2009, a Sega producer confessed that trying to explain the games to fans probably wouldn’t leave them very impressed. Instead, you’ve got to play it to understand it, he claimed.

Built in the style of Devil May Cry and Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta is a fast-paced fighting game that goes way past the over-the-top stylings of either of those reference points. The game itself is about a demon who exists in only half of reality and who wakes up after a 500 year nap and decides to go on a rampage, though Sega is keeping the exact details of why a closely guarded secret apparently.

Cast as Bayonetta, a demon with guns on her stilettos and who likes to turn her clothes into a giant snake for impressive finishing moves, players basically spend most of the game button-mashing through hordes of angels from the looks of things.

“Explaining things that way really doesn’t do the speed of the game or the smoothness of it all any justice though” said a Sega spokesperson as we were treated to a quick demonstration of the game. “You really need to try the demo out to get even close to understanding what the game is about.”

Our own thoughts are that that isn’t entirely true – the game itself stays very close to the Devil May Cry mould and haters of that genre aren’t likely to be won over by the game no matter how smooth the animations are or how gory the finishing moves look. That’s especially the case when the game runs into a few framerate problems at points, as happened in a boss fight that we tried it out at GamesCom in Cologne. There's obviously still time for Sega to work on the code, however.

If you’re on the fence though then Sega’s words are probably worth paying attention to, so keep an eye out for a demo before the game launches on Xbox 360 and PS3 next year.