With the first quarter of 2010 looking to be one of the most exciting yet, I just had to try out the first few that caught my interest. Bayonetta, the sexy gun blazing witch, and Darksiders, the apocalyptic Dungeon crawler. Now I know, these games are actually quite different, even in spite of their similarities in plot. In both games you will be ripping the wings of angels, and fighting several incarnations of heavenly bosses while platforming through beautifully rendered levels. It should be noted I did not play through the entire story of either game. I have spent a lot of time on both, so i can offer some impressions, without divulging any spoilers.

Story: I'll admit the story is not the strong suit of either game. Bayonetta's Japanese roots are all too evident here, and the result is convoluted mess that really won't resonate with weatern gamers. The good thing is that it doesn't take itself too seriously, and its mildy entertaining to watch. I found myself skipping them because I was spending more time watching cinematics than actually playing the game. The Bayonetta port to PS3 is piss poor to, so load times are a **** and you have to keep skipping the cinematics everytime. Bayonetta loses points in this area for me. I give the story a 6.5.

Darksiders story is a little bit more geared t owards a western audience. But its such a formulaic story, it borders on boring. It would have interesting to see the developers take more chances with the story and setting. War isn't terribly exciting to me as a charcter. He feel rather generic, as does the story. Its not really bad, just very typical. Still though, its at least coherent so it gets a 7. Winner: Darksiders.

Combat: Here is where Bayonetta truly shines. The game has one of the best combat systems I've ever played. At times its a little button mashy, although very controllable. Nothing is more exciting than dodging into witch time and tearing apart a monstrouly large enemy. The game is tough too, so the reward of beating the endless boss battles is genuine. I found Bayonetta combat system way more enjoyable than Darksiders. Darksiders uses alot of Zelda's controls, which is actually pretty great, but it just can't compare with how fluid Bayonatta is. This may be a matter of preference, but War moves very slow, and I found the same few moves work best, and are used over and over. Bayonetta will force you to be creative, and you will string together moves that even you can't believe just happened. Bayonetta wins this one. I give it a 9.5 in combat. Needs better cameras and it'd be perfect. Darksiders gets a solid 8. War needs more moves, and needs to be quicker in my opinion. Its still a great combat system though. Winner: Bayonetta

Graphics/Sound: This one is a toss up in some ways. The PS3 port of Bayonetta is bad! Screen tearing and loading times galore. However, its still a beautiful game. It looks better than Darksiders for sure. Stylish and smooth. The characters look good, and the environments are beautiful. And the bosses, oh the bosses. Bayonetta takes the cake graphically, as well as the audio. the voice acting is great in Bayonetta. I could have done without the music, but I can't hold that against it. Bayonetta gets a 9 in this area. The xbox version may be better, but the ps3 port has some unforgivable tearing and loading. Don't get me wrong, Darksiders looks good, but it just can't hold a candle to Bayonetta. Darksiders is very clean, and has some good animations. But, it doesn't do anything special. A solid 7.5 for Darksiders. The characters are just too overdone, I've seen them before in other games it seems. Theres just nothing exceptional, or unique about it. Winner: Bayonetta

Lasting appeal: Both of these games you could easily play for hours. Darksiders is the game to get if you yern for Zelda style dungeon crawling, with the God of War type of environment. But its its own beast, so keep that in mind. Personally, I wasn't too attached to War, or the setting of the plot. Nothing like waking up in my treehouse in Hyrule and beginning my epic quest to save the world. It seem slightly generic. And having Bayonetta side by side only cemented the fact that its the stronger game in most regards. It has replayability, where Darksiders does not. Its full of character, and you can get really good at the combat. I can see replaying the game over after knowing all the little tricks with each boss. I say get Bayonetta, its fun fast and sexy. Darksiders is a little ho hum, your not missing much by passing it up. Get Bayonetta.

Baynetta 8.5

Darksiders 7