The soundtrack

A light, jazzy, even J-pop-tinged collection of mellow melodies.

It was weird because…

Bayonetta is an (extremely) combat-heavy, adult, and deeply hardcore action game from the director of demon-busting slay-em-up Devil May Cry. It’s about a renegade, S&M-fashioned witch who kills angels.

The standard approach to these things is dark, gothic orchestration and pulse-pounding industrial beats - indeed, see Devil May Cry and all its sequels.

And so we expected Nine Inch Nails.

Instead we got, well, j-muzak.

But it worked because…

Bayonetta - the game and the character - is ironic, feminine and always, always knowing. Despite the ever-spiralling body count, the game constantly plays with all of its schlock-horror archetypes with hilariously camp and cheeky flair.

To marry this level of sophistication to a stereotypical horrorcore soundtrack would be unthinkable - and thus the audio handbrake turn Bayonetta duly received.

Example: mercilessly outnumbered by a bloodthirsty army, what other game would choose to calm things down with a 'it's cocktail time!' cover of Fly Me To The Moon?

Sweetly sung by Nouvelle Vague collaborator Helena Noguerra, this song has a cult online following. As the comments say on the YouTube clip, "I get such a rush from fighting to this song!"

How things have changed…