The magic meter doesn't only afford you more time in Witch Time, but also gives you the opportunity to dish out some really powerful manouevres like Torture moves that allow you to pin your enemy to a torture chamber of some description and then punish them with copious amounts of pain, leading to an equal amount of blood. Couple this with the Weave attacks and finishing moves (that come from your hair and leave you next to naked...again) which see things like flying serpents and massive birds finishing off your enemies, and you have a lot of options for dispatching your foes.

And to keep the action going, you're constantly rewarded. Each battle within the chapter you complete awards you with a medal, or none, which form an aggregate for your final score for that chapter. It may seem like a trivial thing to point out, but it's another mechanic employed to keep you hooked into the action, with each section offering a different challenge, and rewarding you accordingly, giving you reason to take on the enemies rather than running past them. But it's not only the medals that keep the game going, but the Quick Time Events (QTEs) that help maintain the pace of the game. I'm not, and I don't think anyone I know, is really a fan of QTEs, but there are some games that use them enough and only when needed. Bayonetta is one of those games, and the QTEs are utilised either for the aforementioned punishing and torture moves, but also to help you get out of tight spots when fighting the enemy. By doing this not only does it save you the frustration of not knowing where you're going, but it helps almost give you a breather in preparation for the next big event in the game.

Like all good action games, you can expand your moves repertoire, in the case of Bayonetta by entering the Gates of Hell and buying new combos. You can also pick up health, magic and shield enhancers, as well as getting the latest weapons, crafted by Hell's own weapon-smith. The currency in Hell is halos, and you collect halos after every enemy you defeat. I'm actually convinced that the halos the heavenly beasts are dropping were actually stolen from Sonic. Obviously, the bigger the enemy, the more loot and halos you get out of them. One thing I have noticed, and it is a criticism, is that there never seems to be enough halos to really explore the Gates of Hell. Ideally, more halos would need to be dropped, but you'll find that you never really have enough to buy that new weapon, or to buy that accessory or magic spell. It's a flaw, but a minor one at that. Having said that, if you commit to the harder combos, you will be rewarded more generously for your efforts.

It's the little details that make Bayonetta the great game that it is, from the transformations to different beasts, to the varied combos to the visual appeal of the game. Bayonetta is an even more enjoyable experience when you play through the game a second time, but let it be known that harder difficulties are a lot harder, no bad thing as you'd have hopefully learnt what your dark witch can actually do.

The key to enjoying Bayonetta is to learn the combos and sit back and watch her kick ass. It's fun, accessible yet devilishly hard to master and offers loads, including a shooting mini-game at the end of each chapter. You'll constantly challenge yourself and expect more of yourself, and it's this compulsion which makes Bayonetta great. I have to admit, I didn't really know what all the fuss was about, but it's a game that has to be played to be understood.

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