The world is coming to an end. Demons run rampant in the street, killing with malicious glee. Humanity has been driven to the edge of extinction, the few survivors trying to eek out a meager existence or fighting back vainly against the evil spreading across the world. In these dark times, when all hope is lost, a young woman appears. Carrying a gun vaguely reminiscent of a broom, and able to wield incredible magic powers, she may be humanity's only salvation. Her name is Alicia, and she is the Bullet Witch.
This is the set up for Bullet Witch, a third-person, over-the-shoulder shooter. You play as Alicia, following her as she attempts to stop the demonic influences corrupting the Earth. Using your gunrod and magical abilities, you seek the cause and battle demons, uncovering the secrets behind the infestation.
The gunrod is your main weapon. It has four different, unlockable fire modes. You start with the machine gun. Using points earned from completing levels, you can unlock the shotgun, cannon and Gatling gun. I found the shotgun and the Gatling gun to be the most effective. The cannon serves as a sniper rifle, but I found it didn't have enough zoom to be really useful. The points you earn also can be used to buy a variety of magic spells. You have a variety of offensive and defensive spells at your disposal. Some will toss objects at your enemies, impale them on spears, protect you behind a wall or distract your enemies, leaving them open to attack. The highest levels of spells are truly awesome to see. Lightning slams through tanks, a giant tornado demolishes buildings and helicopters, and a meteor storm can destroy whole city blocks.
Gameplay is a fairly straightforward run-and-gun style, with a few nice twists. Magic is easy to access. Pressing one of the bumpers will pull up the magic ring, allowing you a choice of three spells (each mapped to a face button) or the option to cancel. Pressing the bumper again will take you up another level, allowing you to quickly cycle through all three levels of magic. You still can move while cycling, but you can't attack, leaving you temporarily vulnerable. There is a nice dodge feature included as well. Pulling the left trigger will send Alicia somersaulting through the air. This is extremely useful for dodging attacks and maneuvering when fighting enemies.
The art style in Bullet Witch is fantastic. The different demons are very creepy and disturbing. The bosses in particular are very impressive. Even the setting is done well. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of variety. There are really only a handful of different enemies, though they are given a little more variety with different weapon options. Even the environments in which you fight are limited, with one of them being a repeat of an earlier level with some minor changes.
One of the features I thought was really unique was that there were several costumes you could download for free from Xbox Live. While they are purely cosmetic, it is a nice addition, and it's fun to choose a different costume each time you play — even if some of them seem like they came from a fetish list (school girl, secretary, etc.) Unfortunately, this is just a cosmetic addition that doesn't help with the overall lack of content. It's disappointing that this wasn't fleshed out more.
In fact, this is the main problem with Bullet Witch. With a name like that, you expect it to be action-packed, but the best word I can think of to describe it is "sparse." Enemies are at times few and far between. I once spent minutes walking in what I thought was the right direction, only to discover a dead end. Unfortunately, this didn't feel strange to me, and I didn't realize my mistake until I was way off track. The game is set up in a very linear fashion. In order to keep you contained, certain enemies create force fields to block your process. You can't continue on until you find them and kill them. This felt like a very contrived way to keep you moving in the right direction and severely limits your freedom. It felt very artificial.
The story also didn't feel fleshed out. There were some large plot holes left — I suspect to clear the way for a sequel. I understand that they were trying to establish a feeling of loneliness, but you can establish loneliness and still avoid creating emptiness. Even the achievements were sparse! No achievements for defeating enemies, beating bosses or accomplishing secret tasks. The only achievements you receive are for beating levels, finishing the game and playing for a specific amount of time.
I was disappointed by Bullet Witch mostly because the parts I liked I really liked, but they just weren't enough to make up for the lack of content in the rest of the game. It has some really cool moments in it. By far, my favorite was fighting a gigantic flying demon while standing on the back of a Trans-Atlantic jetliner midflight. If Bullet Witch looks interesting to you, check it out. Just do so with the understanding that it will leave you wanting more.
I’ve always loved video games. I don’t know why, but they’ve always fascinated me. When I was younger, if I visited someone who had an Atari, that was all I wanted to do. It was a glorious day when I finally got my very own Nintendo.
I like a wide variety of games. I’m great at action and rpg games. I tend to be too much of a perfectionist with first person shooters and stealth games. I’ll spend 20 minutes in a level, only to reset it the first time a guard sees me. Platformers aren’t really my thing, I think the technology has better things to offer than that now. And I don’t do sports games.
I love games with a good story. I’ll play for hours just trying to get to the next plot twist. In a perfect world, I’d be writing my own video games someday
