Somehow I got on the Bayonetta pre-demo demo (I don't remember signing up for it).

This game oozes atmosphere the way Razor Ramon oozes machismo. It's reminscent of Finaru Fantashii 12 with a bit of Ninja Gaiden's metropolitan areas thrown in. Also, Sonic rings spilling out of everything.

The controls are pretty snappy. There's a short tutorial before things get underway to get the player acclaimated. Bayonetta comes from the pedigree of God Hand and Devil May Cry, and it's fairly evident. Y for punchan, B for kickan, and X for shootan/stabban. The combos flow together fairly nicely, even button mashing nets some nice devastating results. Most any gripe one may have with either of those games' controls is addressed. A issue I have with many 3d person action games is the repetitiveness of the attack animations. I haven't had that problem yet. The Ninja Gaiden-esque combo system had me going "holy shit did she just . . ." every moment. I'm a personal fan of both her pole dancing routine (once you pick up an enemy's weapon) and her ability to go all "The Last Starfighter" at the drop of a hat.  'Netta must practice the ancient arcane art of Hammerspace, with her magic attacks firmly within the province of Tera Patrick and Felix the Cat.

Bayonetta's camera is super fine. You know it's doing its job when you never notice it. Right bumper locks 'Netta onto the most prominent enemy, and you can click the right stick to re-center the action. I never had to use it, even when giant things are throwing giant blocks of stones and shit while plummeting down a volcanic ravine on the remnants of a smashed clocktower. It brought back memories of the Sonic Adventure 2's demo.

All in all, my only real gripe with the demo is that it was super short. My first playthrough was done in around five minutes. It didn't quite convince me of Famitsu's perfect 40 score, but I have a feeling I'll be picking it up.