Hot chick on the cover? Check. Kind of resembles the Baroness from GI Joe? Double Check. Guns? Check – check her feet too, cause those high heels are packing heat too. Wait, what? From the get-go, you know this isn’t going to be a normal shooter. But just how far down the rabbit-hole does it go? Come with me for an interesting journey.

To be totally honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this game. On the surface, it looks like Devil May Cry and God of War thrown together, mixed in with a few of the more “respectable” character models from the Dead or Alive series for good measure. In other words, it had the potential for being something very entertaining, or something that felt like it’s been done to death a hundred times before, and that within minutes I would be turning off my Xbox and tossing the game and case back into the Give to Friends I Don’t Really Care About pile of games.

But along comes one of the most over-the-top, guns-blazing, unforgettable prologues I have every experienced in my 20 plus years of gaming. Without warning, you are thrown into what in most other games would be the lead-up battle to a boss fight, with seemingly endless wave after wave of enemies, just asking to be executed in the most over-the-top style you can imagine. Of course, at this point, you have had no proper introduction to the control system or special move-list, so you are basically pulling off random combos and incredibly well animated visceral executions without knowing how or why you are doing so. Did I mention that this was all happening on the face of a giant clock tower – as it is careening end over end down the face of mountain? Bayonetta is a game that reaches through the 4^th wall, grabs you by your face and screams “can you hear me now?” as loud as possible, while punching you repeatedly about the head and neck.

The art style for the game is very unique as well, which fits the over-the-top in-your-face atmosphere, from having still photo spreads for cutscenes (which are actually still images from a roll of film, interestingly enough) with the dialogue played over the images, to full out game-engine animated scenes mixed up to keep you on your toes. Bayonetta herself is apparently the last Witch on the planet, and has just woken up from a 500 year nap at the bottom of a lake, and is on a mission to find her memory and cause general havoc and chaos for the good guys – or bad guys, in this case. Every singles enemy in the game is an “angel”, replete with glowing halo’s over their heads, and your job is to eradicate them in the most awful and punishing ways possible. You even have the option of executing Punishment and Torture attacks, such as summoning an Iron Maiden to crush and destroy your enemies, or at later stages when you have improved your magic abilites, calling larger than life demons to eradicate all the enemies around you.

This just adds to the completely ridiculous, but incredibly enjoyable experience that Bayonetta actually is. Just when you think you’ve seen how crazy Sega let the dev team go with the game, along comes a disco-dance sequence in a graveyard, complete with Bayonetta looking into the camera and quipping that as long as music is playing, she might as well keeping dancing (!). The game continuously breaks the 4^th wall, drawing the player in with subtle references to past games, similar games, and even celebrities (if Joe Pesci hasn’t tried to sue yet, just call me a Wet Bandit).

Having the ability to collect magical items and then mix them together and create new and more powerful potions and spells is utterly engrossing, as only specific items will successfully mix with other items, and each time you try a new combination you are rewarded with a new in-game experience, as well as the ever-elusive Achievement Points. Even if you aren’t a fan of fetch-questing, most of the items are found in fairly mundane places, and are very easy to pick out of the back- and foregrounds. Don’t worry – this isn’t like finding all 240 of the Riddler’s puzzles in Arkham Asylum. These add more depth to the game, but aren’t completely necessary. The overabundance of easy-to-perform, entertaining and highly-stylized combo moves more than make up for magic spells.

From performing backflip executions, to planting your feet (or hands) and rotating the Left Stick to shoot surrounding enemies with your hands (or feet as the case may be) and having Bayonetta move like a ballerina through it all is a sight to be seen. There was obviously a lot of time and effort put into making the action of our heroine as silky-smooth as possible, and it shows; from her vixen-like slow walk to the way she can nimbly jump from one execution to a group execution, Bayonetta looks good. And the other character models throughout the game are nothing to sneeze at either – they might not have had as much time in the oven as Bayonetta did, but they look damn good.

While the sound effects in the game are probably considered standard fare for most shooters at this point, the soundtrack is what stands out in my mind as something that they really nailed. Having a booming orchestral sound during epic fights works just as well here as it does in key scenes if larger than life films- you can feel your pulse quicken in time with the music, which is of course timed with events in the game, and you feel completely immersed in the experience. Which is exactly what you want when you have to fight off a 100-foot Godzilla wannabe. You want your palms to be sweating just a bit, your pulse racing, and then you realize you have to take a breath cause you’ve been holding it for the last thirty seconds in anticipation of just how insane this battle actually is.

Unlike a lot of other games, the Normal mode is Bayonetta is actually set to “normal”, so you shouldn’t feel scared to start there, if you aren’t sure if Hard is really something you want to deal with. With properly balanced gameplay, collectability, customization of spells and magic, and incredible visuals and sound, Bayonetta is a great game that everyone needs to try. Its completely over-the-top, crazy, irreverent at times, but by far one of the most unique entertainment experiences to slide into my disc drive in months. It took what was fun about Dante, furious about Kratos, and threw in just enough comedy to create an amazing final product that you would be very sorry to miss out on.

Graphics: 4/5
Gameplay: 4/5
Sound: 4/5
Replay: 4/5

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Rocker SLASH has given fans of GUNS N’ ROSES and STONE TEMPLE PILOTS a boost – he thinks the members of his new band Velvet Revolver should return to their roots for a reunion tour.

The guitarist has opened discussions about a possible joint Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots after telling Brazil’s MTV he doesn’t think such a plan is impossible.

As part of the plan, he, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum would return to Guns N’ Roses and Velvet Revolver frontman Scott Weiland would take centre stage with the disbanded STP.

Slash says, “It would be a good idea to get, just for a couple of shows, the original STP and the original Guns N’ Roses just for the fun of it.”

The news comes as Slash reveals he and his Velvet Revolver bandmates have agreed to drop the Guns N’ Roses and STP songs from their set list later this year.

(c) 2007 WORLD ENTERTAINMENT NEWS NETWORK LTD. All global rights reserved. No unauthorized copying or re-distributing permitted.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance

Axl Rose has gathered a few people together and is calling then Guns N’ Roses.

And this reformed Funs N’ Roses will play two shows in New York before heading over to Europe this summer.

According to MTV, the band will play two shows at New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom on May 15 and 17.

They will then head to Europe on May 27 to play a show in Portugal.

There has not been an official announcement about who is in the band besides forntman Rose.

Read more at andPOP. andPOP - POP Culture with Substance