Techtite Game Reviews ---

If Bullet Witch came out exactly one year earlier, it would have been heralded as one of the best games for the system. This isn't as much of a compliment as it is a testament to how spoiled the XBox 360 gamer has been lately. Yet pickings were scarce for the 360 in its first months, with very little to play that was exclusive to the system. Then came Dead Rising, Gears of War, Lost Planet, Crackdown...and so on. Many of (if not all of) these titles were critically praised, five-star titles. In this light; Bullet Witch is hardly a bad game. It just has the misfortune of being put on a shelf alongside some of the best games of all time.

The story could've been better, though. True, many a 360 title can get away with a story as tiresome as "a batch of giant creatures have threatened the world and one sole marine can stop them all." When it comes to a witch walking around with a giant gun, well, we wish the story about this girl was better, you know? Instead, and in short summary: you're a witch carrying a big gun, who can cast big, powerful, FX-savvy spells on the one hand, and kick serious butt with an oversized gun on the other. It isn't a deep story, but as a game, it's very fun.

The spells are one of two big assets of the game. Click a button and the spell menu pops up, with multiple pages to sift through (just keep clicking the same button). "Page one" has frequently used "little" spells, like an impenetrable wall, or the ability to pick up and throw whatever is in front of you towards your enemy (including cars and trucks!). The final page has the "super spells" that you learn slowly throughout the game. You've heard of boss characters? These are boss spells, which can attack just about everything in range. The lightning spell can make a whole gas station explode into rubble. A magic tornado sweeps up all enemies yet not you nor your allies (cool!). These spells are fully animated and a real asset to the whole game.

Other spells offer some mild strategy. There is a healing spell, for example, though it's only for others. Why even bother? Well; any old school fan of the first Unreal game will tell you why; save someone and you're bound to get help along the way. Some bystanders give you food while others give ammo. The best reward is from soldiers, who fight alongside you as you fight numerous enemies at once. Of course; every time you use a spell you lose more magic power, and you can't use one of those full power spells unless your meter is completely full. Therein is some added strategy within the game.

It helps that such destructive full-power spells are within an environment that is (almost) completely destructible. Sure; it's not like you can demolish a mountain cliff, though just about every other streetlight, car, truck, tank, or giant piece of rubble can be blown up, smashed against an enemy, or both. When you use your most powerful spell (near the end of the game), it actually bends the surface area like a crater, which remains until the level is over. This is a game for the demolitionist in all gamers, who are sick of environment props that withstand a bazooka blast without a scratch. After all; how realistic is a game where your enemy is sent flying and the newspaper dispenser next to him is still standing? There are only a few games out, to this very day, that are realistic enough to have everything on screen affected in a fight. Bullet Witch is one of them.

Flaws? Oh sure. It's not like we were about to call every two-and-a-half star reviewer on the internet a "liar." It's just that these flaws are so very minor. For one: easy mode is actually easy. This sounds stupid but it's true: people play easy mode for a quickie look at the game, only to offer a review that, gee, this game is pretty easy. Well sure it is...in easy mode. Yet choose even one notch higher in difficulty, and, well...good luck. Mind you; the AI could be better in all difficulty settings. It's also easy to get lost in a game whose levels are often of the Tomb Raider 2 format: that is, you must trek from point A to point B, with no easy clues as to where point B is. Yet you'll be fighting too many cool fights along the way to worry about it very much.

Online? Yes and no. It would've been cool to be able to fight other Bullet Witches in a deathmatch of sorts, though sorry...no. Instead, you download alternate level maps and cool new costumes for Alicia, aka The Bullet Witch. The latter (costumes) are even offered for free: the level maps themselves are about the same "price" as a picture pack, which is almost like free, even if they really aren't. Still; 360 gamers are pretty spoiled when it comes to having even Pac-Man offered as an online game title. This is a nice game, though not everything that 360 gamers expect from a game these days, which is a shame. It's a cool game, otherwise.

However; can I give this game a bad grade when compared to other games? No. You do not give Evil Dead 2 a One-Star review, simply because it isn't Apocalypse Now. They're both good movies in their own way. If you ever tire of being yet another marine fighting yet another giant alien against seemingly impossible odds (blah blah blah), you can do a whole lot worse than Bullet Witch. It's not a rousing endorsement, though for the Evil Dead 2 of games, it will have to do.

	Final Rating : Large Crater. More than what most critics say; though slightly less than the "revolutionary" gaming 360 gamers have been given lately.
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Bullet Witch

A Techtite Review