Bayonetta: Getting Creative With Murder

I bet Kratos just wishes he could summon a magic Iron Maiden out of nowhere to kill his enemies.

It must be annoying to try to come up with a new original IP for a brutally over-the-top violent action game these days. Not only do you need to find a main character archetype that isn't "grim psychopath filled with rage" a la Kratos or "cocky superhuman who's as over-the-top stylish as he is violent" like Dante, but you need to find new and inventive ways to kill people, too. Swords, axes, even whirling blades all seem old hat.

But it isn't like the folks behind Bayonetta aren't trying. Oh sure, she's got blades and guns like everyone else, but she also attacks with her hair. And as this video shows, once Bayonetta builds up enough magic via combo attacks, she'll be able to use a "Torture" move to finish her opponent off - and most of them seem based on famous methods of torture or execution.

We have her shoving the opponents into a guillotine, we see her trap people inside an Iron Maiden (no, not the band) and we see her summoning a giant... spiked wheel... thing, all of which seem to be fairly original as far as the genre is concerned. Stylish executions are part of the fun of the God of War games, after all - if there are more than just these three seen here, it could be a lot of fun just to try to find them all.

I don't know. A lot of gamers seem to be writing Bayonetta as just a bland Devil May Cry clone, but I'm not sure they're giving it enough credit. The people I know who've played it have genuinely enjoyed it (even comparing it favorably to playable builds of God of War 3) and it's certainly got its own unique take on the genre.

We'll know when it hits North America on January 5th.

(Also, is anyone else of the sudden opinion that every game trailer should now be narrated by women with sexy British accents? Just throwin' that out there, I mean...)

(Via Joystiq)