The first thing noticeable about this Devil May Cry clone is the slick, gritty undertones of the opening cutscenes which play out in a grainy, sepia-toned film cell reel. Dark themes and ancient symbolism help flesh out this game's esoteric backstory of a clan of witches presiding over an "old meets new" world order. The opening menus inspire skin crawling memories of early Silent Hill games, injecting trepidation and curiosity while providing a minimalist approach to an otherwise overstated mechanical narrative. Sexy Bayonetta bubbles off the screen with cornball 70's porno appeal, replete with choreographed poses and shrill electro-guitar riffs. This part works brilliantly banishing all fears of possibly enduring another painfully pretentious fantasy rehash. Her hair covers her body in a magical silken catsuit, but she also uses it as a weapon to fight her enemies. With her hair otherwise indisposed, Bayonetta gradually becomes briefly unclothed, her cloak-like hair tastefully wrapping only over her most sensitive areas.

The gameplay borrows much from Devil May Cry while adding a new kind of style. The mechanics, while not as tight as Devil's, are focused largely around an enormous central combo system, with branching attacks and supers called torture attacks. Bayonnetta's attacks are girly yet goofy, and drizzle with grit and feminine power: the apex of her double jump blossoms into a purple butterfly. The action gets chaotic at times when literally dozens of Angelic mobs flood the screen and you are forced to jump, dodge and chain combos, granting this 3-D brawler strong appeal to those inclined to the fighter genre and who are pining for a more integrated milieu.

The camera is not perfect. It pans the vertical, tube-like world at a stately pace. This works well to shuttle images of this gorgeous neo-gothic landscape, but when you're fighting legions of angels it hinders the player's ability to fully utilize the combo tree. The final battle of this demo takes place on the ceiling of a church with another witch with similar powers (Palin herself?!) and while the camera feels "looser" here, you will not doubt find yourself drenched with disorientation. Moving the camera and pulling off combos become exercises in futility with cramping hands and perhaps thrown controllers. Not sexy.

Bayonetta's story elements and ability to break the fourth wall prevail as its most defining factors. The rich symbolism and campy humor serve to carry my curiosity beyond the threshold of the stale gameplay. The full version is due out in the U.S on January 8th.