Bullet Witch - Review
High: The high points of this game where the audio and the enemy A.I.
Low: The high points should have been the graphics and the story but sadly both have problems that make them fall short.
It's the future, well kind of anyway, in the years 2008 through 2012, a series of unfortunate events will result into desolation and the almost inevitable extinction of the human race. Earthquakes, disease, war, take a large percentage of mankind off the face of the earth.
An army of hideous demons and other underworld beings take their chance to destroy what's left of mankind and make the Earth a world of their own. Mankind's only hope lies on one heroines shoulders, her name is Alicia. Alicia was burdened with undesired powers that make her witch, with no other goal in life other than fighting demons and saving the world.
Our Alicia is such a strong character: confident, good looking, and, above all, restless. She walks around New York loaded with a Gun-Rod, which is a glorified broomstick. It resembles an electric guitar but it has the power of a rifle and, when upgraded, a cannon gun, a shotgun, and a Gatling gun. The horrendous-looking, demonic enemies are keen on shooting at Alicia and destroying her and her powers. She will have to "take care" of each one of them by shooting and casting powerful spells to destroy them and their surroundings. She uses more bullets than it would take to kill an elephant but, thankfully, the ammo is "magically" unlimited. You will still have to reload your weapon when you run out of shells, but you won't have to wander around looking for more ammunition.
The A.I. is quite smart; it's remarkable the way they surround you in no time or come out when you least expect it. It's imperative to take advantage of all the cover you can find, unless you want to be perforated in a split second by dozens of bullets. Those geists are strong creatures and won't give up easily. Sometimes casting a spell on them will be more efficient than shooting until they're dead. Your spirit will talk to you once in a while and give you tips on how to approach the situation. You will unlock most of the magic in the first level, but you will grow stronger over time by accumulating skill points that you can "cash" for weapon add-ons, abilities, and witchcraft upgrades. Using magic attacks will consume your magic points and lower the magic limit in the magic points gauge. The more enemies you kill, the faster you will recover magic points and the higher the maximum level of magic will be. This is interesting and easy to handle. The health meter fills up by itself when you're not fighting, which makes things easy. About the only way you will die is if you let the enemy shoot you dead or if they throw a heavy object at you. Be careful with this!
The controls in Bullet Witch do have a slight learning curve. Don't forget this is not a first person, but a third person shooter. So, you will see Alicia on the screen and also the crosshair that shows where you're pointing at with your "Boom-Stick." The left analog stick will move Alicia. You'll target the enemy with the right analog stick and then shoot with the right trigger. Pushing the right analog stick down will give you a gun-sight view that allows you to target your enemies better and, if you move the right analog stick, you will strafe and duck by pushing it down. The left and right shoulder buttons will pull up the magic menu. You can actually continue fighting while you choose your magic attack. Also note when the menu comes up the action does not stop; enemies keep shooting at you and you should learn to be fast scrolling through the menus when you need to cast a spell. A is used to confirm actions and also hit enemies with the Gun-Rod when they're close by, B will change your weapon attachments, X will reload, and you will perform a sweet jump with the left trigger. Y is not really used in the gameplay. In any case, you can customize the controller at will, so if you feel more comfortable with a different button layout, that won't be a problem. You can also invert the up-and-down targeting, which is essential for some gamers.
There are several cool magic spells. Your "will power" will let you blow objects away towards your enemies, sometimes making them explode. "Sacrifice" will heal helpless humans that you'll find along the way. The "Ancient Wall" creates a temporary barricade that will protect you while you regenerate your health, and the "Lightning" attack will blow off the enemies and their tanks if you target it correctly. This one is quite spectacular; it shows a cutscene of a massive lightning bolt that makes you all excited, knowing that it's about to strike the enemies like nothing else will. There are other magic attacks you will get throughout the game, like the deadly flaming spears that you can summon out of the ground, the tornado, and tricks to distract your enemies.
The beautiful visuals of this game are easy to not only enjoy but get really into then and thus the game. As noted above you start walking around residential neighborhoods of the New York City suburbs and then move towards the city. The realism is outstanding, especially when you're watching it on an HDTV. You will found myself shooting in the middle of Rockefeller Center, and also crossing the Brooklyn Bridge to go uptown; it's not just any modern-day American city, but simply NYC. Shadows and light effects are excellent in many occasions, but will sadly let you down in others. When it's night-time, you'll experience difficulties finding the enemies, which is very true to real life.
There are some typical 3D rendering problems, for example, going through shrubs can make then cover most of the screen, thus making it impossible for you to see what's going on before you. Over all though the game plays pretty well for an action game. Also, the non-interactive AI wandering around the city act in really dumb ways. They don't seem to be running away or protecting themselves, they just walk like zombies and bend down when they're hurt.
The overall sound in the environment is excellent and the music isn't too bad either. The epic soundtrack will immerses you into the game, the soundtrack really keeps the pace and feel of the game going. They should make all action / adventure game soundtracks just like this, memorable, movie-like, and easy to listen to. This title also shines with good sound effects and funny but nice voice-over work. I wouldn't change anything, I like the soundtrack.
If you are hungry for more, you can go online and download new costumes for Alicia, and new, revised levels from Xbox Live. You can also upload your scores and see how you rank Vs. other players throughout the world. Nothing new here from other games but still adds plenty of value to the game.
Bullet Witch's MSRP price is $49.99 instead of $59.99, that does not mean is less valuable than the higher-priced counterparts. If you enjoy shooting, fast paced action, and beautiful environments, Bullet Witch should be a winner for you or, at the very least, will give you hours of pure entertainment. Keep an open mind and let this awe-inspiring witch be your new hero! I mean she isn't bad looking for a game character.
Editors Note: Unless you're a diehard Shooter fan go rent it before you buy it.
High: The high points of this game where the audio and the enemy A.I.
Low: The high points should have been the graphics and the story but sadly both have problems that make them fall short.
It's the future, well kind of anyway, in the years 2008 through 2012, a series of unfortunate events will result into desolation and the almost inevitable extinction of the human race. Earthquakes, disease, war, take a large percentage of mankind off the face of the earth.
An army of hideous demons and other underworld beings take their chance to destroy what's left of mankind and make the Earth a world of their own. Mankind's only hope lies on one heroines shoulders, her name is Alicia. Alicia was burdened with undesired powers that make her witch, with no other goal in life other than fighting demons and saving the world.
Our Alicia is such a strong character: confident, good looking, and, above all, restless. She walks around New York loaded with a Gun-Rod, which is a glorified broomstick. It resembles an electric guitar but it has the power of a rifle and, when upgraded, a cannon gun, a shotgun, and a Gatling gun. The horrendous-looking, demonic enemies are keen on shooting at Alicia and destroying her and her powers. She will have to "take care" of each one of them by shooting and casting powerful spells to destroy them and their surroundings. She uses more bullets than it would take to kill an elephant but, thankfully, the ammo is "magically" unlimited. You will still have to reload your weapon when you run out of shells, but you won't have to wander around looking for more ammunition.
The A.I. is quite smart; it's remarkable the way they surround you in no time or come out when you least expect it. It's imperative to take advantage of all the cover you can find, unless you want to be perforated in a split second by dozens of bullets. Those geists are strong creatures and won't give up easily. Sometimes casting a spell on them will be more efficient than shooting until they're dead. Your spirit will talk to you once in a while and give you tips on how to approach the situation. You will unlock most of the magic in the first level, but you will grow stronger over time by accumulating skill points that you can "cash" for weapon add-ons, abilities, and witchcraft upgrades. Using magic attacks will consume your magic points and lower the magic limit in the magic points gauge. The more enemies you kill, the faster you will recover magic points and the higher the maximum level of magic will be. This is interesting and easy to handle. The health meter fills up by itself when you're not fighting, which makes things easy. About the only way you will die is if you let the enemy shoot you dead or if they throw a heavy object at you. Be careful with this!
The controls in Bullet Witch do have a slight learning curve. Don't forget this is not a first person, but a third person shooter. So, you will see Alicia on the screen and also the crosshair that shows where you're pointing at with your "Boom-Stick." The left analog stick will move Alicia. You'll target the enemy with the right analog stick and then shoot with the right trigger. Pushing the right analog stick down will give you a gun-sight view that allows you to target your enemies better and, if you move the right analog stick, you will strafe and duck by pushing it down. The left and right shoulder buttons will pull up the magic menu. You can actually continue fighting while you choose your magic attack. Also note when the menu comes up the action does not stop; enemies keep shooting at you and you should learn to be fast scrolling through the menus when you need to cast a spell. A is used to confirm actions and also hit enemies with the Gun-Rod when they're close by, B will change your weapon attachments, X will reload, and you will perform a sweet jump with the left trigger. Y is not really used in the gameplay. In any case, you can customize the controller at will, so if you feel more comfortable with a different button layout, that won't be a problem. You can also invert the up-and-down targeting, which is essential for some gamers.
There are several cool magic spells. Your "will power" will let you blow objects away towards your enemies, sometimes making them explode. "Sacrifice" will heal helpless humans that you'll find along the way. The "Ancient Wall" creates a temporary barricade that will protect you while you regenerate your health, and the "Lightning" attack will blow off the enemies and their tanks if you target it correctly. This one is quite spectacular; it shows a cutscene of a massive lightning bolt that makes you all excited, knowing that it's about to strike the enemies like nothing else will. There are other magic attacks you will get throughout the game, like the deadly flaming spears that you can summon out of the ground, the tornado, and tricks to distract your enemies.
The beautiful visuals of this game are easy to not only enjoy but get really into then and thus the game. As noted above you start walking around residential neighborhoods of the New York City suburbs and then move towards the city. The realism is outstanding, especially when you're watching it on an HDTV. You will found myself shooting in the middle of Rockefeller Center, and also crossing the Brooklyn Bridge to go uptown; it's not just any modern-day American city, but simply NYC. Shadows and light effects are excellent in many occasions, but will sadly let you down in others. When it's night-time, you'll experience difficulties finding the enemies, which is very true to real life.
There are some typical 3D rendering problems, for example, going through shrubs can make then cover most of the screen, thus making it impossible for you to see what's going on before you. Over all though the game plays pretty well for an action game. Also, the non-interactive AI wandering around the city act in really dumb ways. They don't seem to be running away or protecting themselves, they just walk like zombies and bend down when they're hurt.
The overall sound in the environment is excellent and the music isn't too bad either. The epic soundtrack will immerses you into the game, the soundtrack really keeps the pace and feel of the game going. They should make all action / adventure game soundtracks just like this, memorable, movie-like, and easy to listen to. This title also shines with good sound effects and funny but nice voice-over work. I wouldn't change anything, I like the soundtrack.
If you are hungry for more, you can go online and download new costumes for Alicia, and new, revised levels from Xbox Live. You can also upload your scores and see how you rank Vs. other players throughout the world. Nothing new here from other games but still adds plenty of value to the game.
Bullet Witch's MSRP price is $49.99 instead of $59.99, that does not mean is less valuable than the higher-priced counterparts. If you enjoy shooting, fast paced action, and beautiful environments, Bullet Witch should be a winner for you or, at the very least, will give you hours of pure entertainment. Keep an open mind and let this awe-inspiring witch be your new hero! I mean she isn't bad looking for a game character.
Editors Note: Unless you're a diehard Shooter fan go rent it before you buy it.
Scores:
Graphics: 65
Audio: 85
Gameplay: 65
Replay: 65
Overall: 70
Graphics: 65
Audio: 85
Gameplay: 65
Replay: 65
Overall: 70
