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I started playing Bayonetta a couple days ago and I don’t know what words I can use to explain it other than…..WOW!

Anyone familiar with Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden games will feel right at home here. The combat system is tight but forgiving and the moves are insane. For anyone that has not heard about this game, you play a Witch who carries two guns (Normally) in her hands and two attached to her feet. As a character she is completely over the top but in a good way.

You are fighting “Angels” to appease the underworld so they don’t drag you to “Inferno”. Unlike most action games, the story actually seems interesting. That probably has more to do with the insane cut scenes and crazy supporting cast.

But the star of the show so far are the fights. Every fight seems epic in scope and I don’t have that feeling that I am fighting huge waves of low level enemies. Every enemy I have faced could kill you quickly if you go down the normal button mashing path.

The only issue I have had was in one area where there was a wall that you had to knock down by beating on on. Once you reached a certain level it would blow-up and then return. You would get a cryptic message stating that you need to use your “Temporal Witch” powers to get past. After about 10 minutes of messing around, I finally figured it out. (This was in the second level of the game)

1) Near the entrance to that area there are 2 statues. These 2 statues allow you to “lift” then and a 10 second timer starts.

2) Run as quickly as possible to the wall that you need to knock down.

3) Hit the button to “activate” the timer (X on the 360)

4) Then a lightning bolt from the sky begins to charge. You need to dodge this at the last minute to put you into Witch Time. (aka Bullet Time)

5) Now you have about 20 seconds to knock down the wall

6) Once you knock the wall down, you need to run through it before it solidifies back.

If you are slightly off on any of these steps, you will have to start all over again. I could understand a puzzle like this later in the game but I barely was through the tutorial at this point and was unaware of the terminology being used.

Other than some minor annoyances, this game is FUN! Expect a full review shortly.

I know I am a month later that all of the respectable gaming sites but I figured I would add my 2 cents. (With the way the USD keeps going, that saying will need to change to “Add my $3.50″)

Test Parameters:

I played the entire Single Player campaign on normal difficulty. I played on my Xbox 360. I played on-line and off-line game modes.

Likes:

1) Spec-Ops is awesome. I am a huge fan of Co-Op games and this is just amazing. There are 20 or so Spec-Ops missions. They range from Defense, Seach and Destroy, Evasion and Nuke it from orbit game modes. (A little more on that shortly) All of the missions were interesting and challenging. Add in multiple difficulty levels and this could last awhile. With more levels, this could be a game all to its self.

2) Hercules AC-130 gunship from Spec-Ops. One of the missions in Spec-Ops one player takes control of an AC-130′s guns and the other player is on the ground trying to get from point A to point B. I loved this from the first Modern Warfare and I love the ability to play this through with a friend. I had a ton of fun with my friends on this level.

3) The polish on this game is amazing. Every level is beautiful and really entertaining. The production values and pacing are top notch. The multiplayer is extremely smooth and almost no lag.

4) Multiplayer is top notch again. I can not say this enough but the game just feels right. If you played COD4, you will feel right at home. There seems to be more game modes and the matchmaking seems a little faster. There have been some changes to the kill streaks (Which I never cared for to begin with) that have changed the way the game plays but nothing I have seen that has hurt the balance of the game.

5) From boot to game takes no time at all. After your first time booting, you can get into a game in a matter of seconds. This can not be over stated. I hate having to wait through long boot screens to get into a game. As a father of 2 (Soon to be 3), my gaming time is limited. My gaming also has a lot of starts and stops so those loading screens add up.

Hates:

1) The single player story….WHAT?!!? The amount of plot “twists” made me sea sick. I believe the levels were all designed and then the writers were asked to piece it all together. It made no sense.

2) I hate unlimited spawning enemies until you reach a special area. It was not as bad in this game but if I just cleared an area, I don’t want to have the same 20 enemies popping back up because I had not moved to the next checkpoint in time.

3) Short single player. I believe it took about 7 hours for me to beat the single player.

Conclusion:

This game is perfect in so many ways. The lack of story and short single player could adversely affect my opinion. But the large amount of content and the polish given to that content has me loving this game. I hope they release more Spec-Ops missions via DLC and maybe some additional single player content. I strongly recommend a buy!

Score:

10 Oscar Mikes out of 10 Oscar Mikes

I just got Forza 3 and downloading the new Xbox Live update. I will post updates shortly. Going to be tough to find time to game this weekend due to the mother-in-law and friends in town. Since I am sick….I don’t plan on being out much.

First let me say that I am a huge fan of Double Fine Studios and in particular Psychonauts. Psychonauts is one of those games you just have to play. The world and the humor in that game is amazing. I would go out and say it was the most enjoyable game I owned on the XBOX.

Once I heard about Brutal Legend, I figured it would be a day 1 purchase for me. My hope was that it would be as good as Psychonauts. In my humble opinion, it is close but no cigar. With that said, Brutal Legend is still an amazing game.

Story:

The game follows Eddie who is the worlds best Roadie. He is killed in a freak stage accident. He wakes up in the land of heavy metal. Without giving away much of the plot, your goal is to save the world from the evil ruler.

Presentation:

One thing Double Fine does better than anyone else is presentation. Everything from the world, story, music and hell….the main menu are amazing. I am not what you would call a “Metal” fan but I loved the world I was in. Everything exuded METAL! If you have ever seen the cover of a Metal Bands LP or T-Shirts, you will see where they gathered their inspiration. Everything is just spot on.

Graphics:

The graphics are not going to win any awards but fit the story. I found the quality as slightly above average but the design makes up for any issues I had with the graphics. (How could you have a problem with a dragon statue that has a ball gag in it’s mouth that you have to remove?)

Gameplay:

There are a ton of different things you do in the game. Driving, hand to axe combat, guitar riffs, simple party commanding, and even a rail shooter. The driving has been tough to get a hang of….the vehicles just feel wrong. Other than that, the game is just fun. The combat start simple but once you start adding new combos, the game gets a lot more complex…but in a good way.

Closing:

The humor and world make this game what it is. Any other studio that tried to make this would have probably failed. It is scary that this game almost did not make it to release. I am glad it did so I can play in their world.

Score: 9/10