I have been playing Bayonetta recently having just finished it for the first play through last night on Normal. I love the razor sharp controls, it's a joy to play and I want to push on with and do every challenge, but I think with the release schedule as it is that is going to have to wait. Some of my friends have been complaining about the difficulty of the later parts of the game, while I did get frustrated by some of the jump or die bits with stupidly small prompt in the corner of screen and jumping "puzzles" I never hit any road block difficulty hikes from the combat. This probably comes from being a battle hardened Devil May Cry fan. Bayonetta has nothing on the punishing difficulty of DMC 3 or the original. Even the relatively easier DMC 4 I found more challenging. In contrast Bayonetta lets you coast through. Though it also has a certain amount in common with Ninja Gaiden, Bayonetta feels much closer to DMC which isn't surprising given its pedigree. The only challenges that had forced me to up my game came from the optional Alfheim portals and I'm sure the higher difficulties will test me a lot more.

Now the thing is that's not a slight on Bayonetta, the reason Bayonetta is so much easier than DMC is that it's fair. You have fair warning before you are attacked, it's telegraphed and you can always cancel into a dodge (or later a block). DMC, once you have committed to a combo, you usually can't cancel out of it. If bayonetta is fair DMC is unfair, you just have to accept that and get on with it.

Now there are two DMC titles easier than Bayonetta DMC 3 special and DMC 2. DMC 2 is a game a feel a great deal of ambivalence about: I wanted PS2 just to play DMC (for the most part I was happy with the dreamcast) it was the killer app for me. I picked DMC 2 up on release day which was something I had never done before and when I sat down to play it my excitement slowly faded. Where was my weapon variety? Where had Dante's boastful wit gone?

However whenever I have revisited DMC2 I have always been pleasantly suprised. Despite the obsession with masochistic difficulty levels accessible is good. Accessible is better than inaccessible in a game. While purists may be outraged a less punishing level of difficulty is usually a good thing. In this sense DMC 2 is actualy the fairest of the series, while it doesn't achieve that fairness with the style or responsiveness of Bayonetta's cancel friendly combat DMC 2's addition of a dodge button to the mix was a first step in the right direction for the whole sub genre.

Though the thing that has come to surprise me about DMC 2 on revisiting it is that I really like its portrayal of Dante. Even before DMC 3 came out it struck me that it gave a sense of an arc to the character. He's older, more mature, more centred. He is confident in his abilities and doesn't need to show off but that familiar spark does shine through in the last moments, that cheekiness we know and love. following the arc of the character from DMC 3 (set the earliest) to DMC 1, 4 then 2 there is a satisfying sense of character progression and growth for Dante. Now whether that is intentional or just lucky coincidence is hard to say.

DMC 2 is still the worst in the series, though in perspective remains vastly superior to many latter genre entries (particularly the God of War knock offs). I have found it bears a lot better in retrospect than it did as the disappointing follow up to a land mark game. Still I'm not suggesting running off and getting a copy or even revisiting it, go play Bayonetta instead, it is awesome.