003 Bayonetta vs. DMC3.

I haven't really beaten Bayonetta on all difficulties to compare it to DMC3, so I was saying compared anything else.
And DMC3 is the game that got me to buy a PS2, so I might get subjective (not fanboyishly bashing though, cause Bayonetta rocks in it's right!)

But here's what I can compare.

Story:
Actually DMC is th 3rd game in a series, while Bayonetta is the 1st. So DMC has way more backstory. But Bayonetta (NO SPOILERS) left me surprised an unsure about the script and ending. At one point I was "how the hell did that happen?" and "Why?". But the amount of Capcom game references help it be awesome.
I say equal.

Presentation:
This might be IMHO, but I'll go with DMC. It blended epic story telling (Mary's and Arkham's) and cutscene badassery. Dante's cockiness seemed out of place for such an epic journey and that made it even more awesome. In the end he still was just a cocky and cool bastard against a dark world.

Bayonetta. Is a world of EPIC AWESOMENESS. Everything is over-the-top, there's way more humour (which doesn't always work).
And Bayonetta is into posing way more than Dante was in all 4 games combined. It's kind of shallow.

Cutscenes.
They were made by the same guy. But he became famous on DMC3. And many, of so many, scenes of Bayo were almost like reworked from DMC3. Going for examples would be spoilery. And again, DMC had Dante's over-the-top shenanigans and Vergil's slick quiet show-offing, while Bayonetta is over-the-top with everybody.
But still pretty much equal. Except DMC had a little more variety.

Characters.
Dante vs. Vergil, Bayonetta vs. Jeanne. Arkham is Balder, There's a character acting like Jester.
DMC3 has like 4 characters but all are really worked through.
Bayonetta has 7. And out of those a few are awesome and the rest are staples.

Bosses.
DMC3 - had it's share of interesting types. Agni & Rudra are my fave. And they're all actual bosses, who leave you a weapon after yo take them out.
In Bayonetta. I really like Sapientia… But really all 4 Cardinals are more reminiscent of the Colossus fight from GoW2 and the big statue of DMC4. The best bosses in my opinion are of course Jeanne and Golem. Cause they’re more around traditional bosses. Oh and implementing minigames into them was a bad idea IMHO.
And the 4 virtues are… just mean machines. DMC3 bosses were also fun characters, who even spoke sensible words.
But Jeanne saves the show, so I’ll say equal.
Boss characters: DMC3.

Artistic Design.
I can’t really compare.
Bayonetta has way more details and interesting decisions, while DMC3 was little too traditional, but within those constraints it did great.
And design is subjective. I like both, but Bayonetta gets bonus points for details.

Gameplay.
Oh boy. The hard part.
DMC’s combo system relies on timing. You don’t really mix moves in a combo, you mix weapon types.
While Bayonetta is more reminiscent of Ninja Gaiden here.
By the way, DMC had 3 buttons mapped:
1. Ranged, depending on your weapon.
2. Melee, depending on your weapon.
3. Style, depending on the style you chose.

Bayonetta has.
1. Ranged (just guns, no matter what you have equipped)
2. Weapon, equipped on hands.
3. Weapon, equipped on legs.
I never even used the ranged button.

Weapon variety: both are good.
But in DMC you got all the weapons on your first playthrough, and enjoy them to your hearts content, while in Bayonetta I have still to find the ice skates and never had enough money for some. And angel weapons don’t last long enough to actually feel like weapons, and not like DMC3’s stripper pole trick. I find that sad, cause weapons need to be all found.

Also during my 1st playthrough I bought only like 2 accessories. So I haven’t really tapped in they’re abilities, and can’t say whether they changed the game style.
DMC had styles… That really upped the replay value (way to go DMC4 to fuck that up.)
Bayonetta doesn’t, but it has a lot of unorthodox combos and in terms of sheer combo numbers it out-weights DMC.

This one is really subjective on players.
DMC was more about choosing a style and varying weapons.
While Bayonetta has you chose weapons and specific combos and the gameplay style usually goes with the weapons. It’s really like a mix of DMC and NG. But the combos are a lot more difficult to do (cause there are tons of them and some are long). And you can switch between 2 active sets of weapons and still be able to chose anyone from your menu at any time in battle.

Bayonetta has animalities and DMC doesn’t. It’s uses are very interesting, while not as complex as many styles, but all at once really fun. Feels like Okami… Ah, Okami, I love you.

Also Bayonetta has a ton of extra content as concocting (those who played the game know what I mean), costumes, catching crow and the only minigame that didn’t suck – Angel Attack. DMC3 feels cheap compared to that.

What else…

Stylishness.
Funny but DMC3 put a lot more emphasis on that. Weapon and combo variety was the way to go.
Bayonetta has you do more precise dodging into Witch Time and not getting hit. Everything else is mandatory.

OVERALL:
Let’s not deny that Bayonetta is DMC’s gameplay style successor, and exactly DMC3’s style successor. But it added a lot to the main formula making it into something similar, but vastly different at the same time…
I think DMC3 was more polished and the Pure DMC formula, while Bayonetta is more innovative. DMC lacks a little variety compared to Bayonetta and Bayonetta could use more polish, like DMC3.

So my conclusion is… Bayonetta 3: Jeanne’s Awakening is gonna rock your souls.