Both have had amazing praise fucking everywhere, and I'm at a loss of which to start with. I love myself some Devil May Cry-like-over-the-top action, but I also adore fast paced shooters. Argh, this is painful.

They're both amazing, but Vanquish is pretty short whereas Bayonetta is chock-full of content. I'd recommend playing through Bayonetta once, taking a break to play Vanquish (don't bother with Normal, go for Hard right away), and then going back to all you've got left in Bayo.

Bayonetta's director said that your first playthrough is kind of a warm-up run and that the real game starts after that, which I think is pretty accurate. There are tons of optional challenges hidden in levels, an unlockable, ridiculously hard arena mode, a secret boss fight, secret weapons, trophies for beating the chapters quickly and stylishly, and the higher difficulties actually change enemy layouts and put limits on your abilities instead of just increasing enemy HP and damage.

Well my gut told me to start with Bayonetta and so I did. I'm lost my touch with beat em ups though, my timing is bad and sloppy and I died quite a lot, and I'm still on chapter 3. Fucking ridiculous(ly) fun game, though.

Yeah, love Bayonetta. Not so much with Vanquish.(Never clicked with me)

They are both amazing. Bayonetta is the longer game.

Just toss a coin. Can't make a wrong decision here.

There's a bit of a learning curve with Vanquish, mostly about situationally understanding how the mechanics work and how to use the systems. But, once it clicks, the game is pretty amazing, not to mention absolutely stellar music.

I absolutely loved vanquish. Hated Bayonetta though, I sucked at it