It's been said a million times by now, but Bayonetta looks a lot like Sarah Palin. I'll never forget the amazing sense of irony that I got when I read a comment pointing that out for the first tme in the Electronic Gaming Monthly's Letters section.
Look-alikes aside, Bayonetta is the most fun I've had playing a game in a while. I've heard complaints that Bayonetta's design is a just rip-off of Millia Rage from Guilty Gear (transforming hair into weapons, including a huge dragon that finishes off the bosses), but I have to say that ignorance truly is bliss this time.
Playing this game is, to put it simply, fun. I feel like I'm playing an arcade game, going through the level hacking and slashing monsters with reckless abandon, while having a darn good time doing so. Yes, the main character getting naked is gratuitous and juvenile, but so is the entire game. The nature of playing a witch who fights angelic-like enemies with her hair and foot guns is juvenile to begin with. This game is honest about what it's about and players know what they're getting into.
The music sets up a nice, up-tempo ambiance to contrast the carnage that's going on-screen. There's nothing like tearing enemies apart while you listen to some soothing female vocals in the background.
While playing the demo, I got a feeling of familiarity after the initial feeling of "this is awesome". Turns out the director of this game, Hideki Kamiya, also did Viewtiful Joe which is another gem (somehow I didn't know that DMC, VJ, Okami and Bayonetta all came from the same guy). The similarities between VJ and Bayonetta are evident- from the rating system to the "Witch Time" that's activated from dodging your enemies at the last second.
The game does have a clunky camera at times and apparently there's some frame rate problems in the PS3 version (didn't really notice anything like this on my endp; might have been fixed while it got brought over here from Japan). Not to mention that it's only about 10 to 12 hours long, so that automatically rules out me buying this game on the first day just so I can pay $60 for it, but I'll definitely be picking Bayonetta up once it gets to the Greatest Hits line.