Bayonetta

For the lazy bunch of you who read the rating at the top of the page and have just chanced upon this paragraph, please don't read any further. Do yourself a favor, run out to your favorite game store of choice and pick up Bayonetta. End of review.

And while I'd have probably set the record for the shortest review ever with that paragraph I don't think leaving it like that would do any justice for what is probably the trippiest, mind-numblingly awesome action title in the longest time.

Created by Platinum Games, the people behind Okami, Viewtiful Joe, Godhand (as Capcom's Clover Studio) and Mad World, Bayonetta is perhaps their biggest achievement yet. Ironic considering that it's their most derivative as well. The gameplay is heavily inspired by God of War except with better use of quick time events and superior button mapping.� Rather than use the right analog stick to dodge, you use the right trigger button which is advantageous as it allows you to queue up an attack right after evading your enemies.

This is extremely useful as the game rewards every successful dodge by filling up a magic meter allowing you dish out 'torture attack' that guarantee instant death. These range from guillotines to chainsaws. Time your dodge well enough and you're rewarded with 'witch time' which reduces the game's pace to slow motion allowing you time to dish out some serious damage to your opponents.__STARTQUOTE__Do yourself a favor, run out to your favorite game store of choice and pick up Bayonetta.__ENDQUOTE__Devil May Cry gets a nod with a combo and scoring system similar to it as well as an equally deep weapon customization section not to mention some weapons named after guns found in the DMC series. Boss battles are spectacles to behold lasting entire levels and rather than executing torture attacks you get to summon a plethora of monsters, from gigantic ravens to lava spiders, a recurring boss from DMC.