At E3 Sega showed off Bayonetta, the next big 3rd person hack and slash adventure title.

Do you like playing hack and slash 3rd person adventure titles? Did you like Devil May Cry 4? Then you are in luck, because at E3 Sega showed off Bayonetta, the next big 3rd person hack and slash adventure title to sink your teeth into.

Bayonetta is a witch with guns strapped to her arms and legs who happens to be able to fight marvelously well while shooting and using magical powers. Yes, a witch who uses guns, magic and martial arts. This isn’t your standard hack and slash, it’s what Sega is calling a “stylish action-shooter” with cinematic gameplay that’s as fun to watch as it is to play.

Considering she’s got guns on her arms and legs, I think they’re on to something already.

With the same director from the Devil May Cry series, Hideki Kamiya, the similarities between DMC4 and Bayonetta are very easy to see from gameplay. Defeated enemies drop halo’s that look like the blood points from DMC4, but act as currency to upgrade weapons and attacks. Graphically, they look identical, but Bayonetta is still in its early stages and will ultimately be upgraded to look more 2009-ish.

Because the game revolves around fun combat, here’s what we know so far about the combat system: physical attacks are the standard punching, kicking and throwing. Weapons that enemies drop can be used against them for a short period of time, by which they degrade. Special attacks are available in the form of summoning torture devices to finish off monsters, creating portals to punch through that greatly increase the size of Bayonetta’s fists, and more that weren’t shown. Dodging attacks also triggers bullet time, giving player’s the chance to really beat the crap out of anyone stupid enough to miss the first time.

The little else we know is that there are bosses to fight and plenty of them, and that Bayoneta is scheduled for release in 2009 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles.