With the current gen of game consoles, there has been a lot of hub-bub about demos. Some developers make the extra effort to put a sample of their project in gamers’ hands, while others would rather rely on pedigree from previous efforts, or the supposed legendary status of a given project’s lead developer, and skip the demo. Last week I had the opportunity to try out a demo for a game that has plenty of pedigree from the coders behind it. The game is Bayonetta, and it has the potential to raise the brawler genre quality bar to stratuspheric levels.

I mentioned that Bayonetta has a pedigree and it does. The game’s lead developer Hideki Kamiya was responsible for the first Devil May Cry while he was with Capcom, as well as Okami, and Viewtiful Joe 1 and 2 during his time with Clover Studios; a subsidiary developer under Capcom. Without question, he’s been the brain trust of some of the most unique action experiences from the previous console generation.

Now, as top man at Platinum Games in conjunction with Sega, he’s put his creative footprint all over this new game, Bayonetta. Gameplay homage dips heavily into Devil May Cry and Viewtiful Joe, yet, Bayonetta’s demo proves that it is it’s own unique brawler experience. Before I go into detail of the demo, I have to mention that as of right now, there are only two ways to access the demo. For the Xbox 360 version, you need to be on Sega’s email list. Sega sent out thousands of download codes through this method. To get the Playstation3 version, you need to set up a Japanese PSN account. Check Youtube for a tutorial to walk you through that if you’re so inclined.

Both the PS3 and 360 demo starts you off with a combo tutorial where you’re introduced to Bayonetta’s physcial and magic attacks. On the 360 version, the y-button is to punch, b-button kicks, x-button picks up weapons from defeated foes, and a-button jumps. To shoot your guns, press and hold either the y or b buttons to blast using your hand or foot mounted guns. RB with b-button is a dash attack (great for continueing your combo in the air). L-trigger taunts, and R-trigger dodges. Controlls are identical on the Playstation3 (just replace letters with shapes). From that point, the demos introduce you to different portions of the game.

I was going to go into detail about what takes place, but I don’t think I will. First, this article is a demo impression–not a review of a retail game. Second, I really don’t want to spoil anything by poorly describing every action that takes place. You really need to see this game in motion. Go to Gametrailers or YouTube and check out the gameplay.

Instead, I’ll talk about legitamate differences between the two versions. If you’ve followed the development of this game since it’s announcement, Hideki Kamiya hasn’t exactly hid the fact that the Xbox360 was the lead development platform for this game. Disgruntled Playstation fans were not happy at a Sega press event in Japan a few months ago, where obviously sub-par code was demonstrated for the press. Frame-rate was choppy, and graphics were fuzzy. This led to a little “pass-the-buck”-ism on the part of Sega and Platinum Games as to which organization was the cause of the sub-par Playstation version.

In the demo, I noticed no frame rate drop on the PS3 version, but the 360 version seemed to have a couple more enemies on screen. Graphically, the 360 demo looked sharper. Playstation graphics didn’t look fuzzy, but the colors looked a little washed out in comparison. Also, the camera seemed to be more dynamic for the 360 version. The effect was kind of like there was a camera man working hard to capture all the action, but its moving so fast and furious that its difficult. The camera seems to zoom in a little and zoom out as enemies attack. On the PS3, the camera seems kind of stuck in the far-away viewpoint for the most part. On the positive side, playing the game is more enjoyable for me on the DualShock3. Using the RB button and triggers on the 360 controller just didn’t feel right to me.

One more thing I’ll say–this seems to be one of the few brawlers in which it is beneficial to learn the combos. Sure, you can probably just button mash and get through it, but the meat of the experience is getting in tune with the combo system (Its very Ninja Gaiden-esque in that regard). Last second dodging activates “witch-time” where all on screen enemies are slowed down Max Payne style allowing Bayonetta to pound away with extra damage. Most of her combos end with a magic attack with her hair, which shatter the armor of standard enemies and larger foes–and in some cases shattered armor reveals weak points for further exploitation.

This game is an over-the-top (to use an over used term), very Japanese brawler genre game. I thouroughly enjoyed the demo on both systems (although I prefer using the DualShock for this type of game, I may have to rough it and go the Xbox route). If this demo is just a taste of what to expect from this game, I’m sold. D1C for me.