Bullet Witch (Xbox 360)

GameSpot editors' review

• CNET editors' rating: 2.5 stars OK
  Detailed editors' rating
  Overall score: 5.5 (2.5 stars)

• Reviewed by:
  Greg Mueller
• Reviewed on: 02/27/2007
• Released on: 02/27/2007
• Originally published on GameSpot: Bullet Witch (Xbox 360) Review

She has the raven hair and ruby lips, and sparks do fly from her fingertips, but this witchy woman isn't wicked in the least. In fact, she's pretty lifeless, and so is her game, Bullet Witch. This third-person shooter developed by Cavia and published by Atari wastes the promise of a gun-toting, zombie-blasting witch on a brief and banal game. But even more disappointing than the wasted potential of the premise is the fact that Bullet Witch is peppered with some great moments that you'll want to experience again and again. A couple of the spells are truly awesome to witness, as is the complete destruction of the world around you, but these moments are too short lived to carry the rest of the game.

The game takes place in the year 2013 after war, disease, and a couple of natural disasters have killed billions. To top it all off, an interdimensional portal has opened up, unleashing masses of homicidal demons upon the remnants of the world, or, at least the East Coast of the United States. You play as a witch named Alicia. She's not quite human and not quite a demon, but she uses her magic powers and her massive gunrod to fight the demons and save what's left of humankind.

As Alicia, you have to eliminate hundreds of identical demons throughout six different stages. You start in a suburb, work your way through a city, head out into a forest, and end up back in the city. There's not much diversity to the stages, and each one is very linear, with strategically placed barriers to keep you on track. In most stages you run into a mob of enemies, kill it, and then run a short distance down the path and do the same thing again. The combat is very dull, because you'll face the same idiotic demons throughout the game in a series of bland settings.

The shooting is all done with Alicia's cumbersome and impractical gunrod. It's a huge hunk of garishly decorated metal as long as Alicia is tall. The basic function of the gunrod is similar to an assault rifle, but you can spend skill points that you earn for completing each level to unlock new gunrod forms. There are only four forms, though, and none of them are any more useful than the default form. Even the cannon form, which is supposed to behave like a sniper rifle, doesn't have any greater range than the basic assault-rifle form. Reloading your weapon costs magic points, but your magic points regenerate so quickly you'll essentially have unlimited ammunition for most of your gunrod forms.

The gunplay is hampered by some terrible artificial intelligence. The enemy AI is bad, but you'll occasionally have allies on your team who are somehow even dumber. Allies will often run up and stand right in front of you in the middle of a gunfight, which doesn't matter for the most part because you can shoot right through them, but they still obstruct your view. Fortunately, your allies will often get stuck behind walls or other objects, so you won't have to worry about them tagging along and getting in your way for very long. The enemies' AI is slightly better, in that you will actually see enemies run for cover every once in awhile. Usually, though, they just stand in one place waiting for you to mow them down.

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