Bullet Witch Revisited: Bargain Bin Fling

Games keep pouring in, and time just isn't being on the friendly side. Looking back, I still have several games to play: Burnout Paradise, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, PGR3, and Assassins Creed. That's games I just need to get started on. Games I wanted to get more out of: Rock Band, Phantasy Star, Tiger Woods, and Bullet Witch. Since I wasn't in a FPS mood or sports mood, and it was too late to play Rock Band, I decided on Bullet Witch.

I did a search on "Bullet Witch" in this blog, and it looks like I didn't even do a review. There were too many games at the time that were more entertaining for me to delve into the gun-broom action game. It looks like I was disappointed at the time, and reasonable so.

Upon my revisit to the game, I'm able to give it a lot more credit than before. The story is actually a lot better than I thought. The pre-rendered cut-scenes were done quite well. In-game, the gun-rods are bad-ass in a way: Machine Gun, Gatling Gun, Shotgun, and a Canon. The mid-point of the game is where things start really picking up. Lastly, the environments vary in a good way.

When Alicia shoots the door off the airplane and jumps out to fight the airborne demon, it's so over the top that it just has to be awesome. Akin to when Master Chief flung himself out into space with a Covenant bomb. A little bit more personality and we'd be in Devil May Cry territory.

Alas, the bad must be discussed.

Continue reading...

Unfortunately, the developer didn't stress the magic combos with these weapons enough. Requirements for better utilization of the arsenal would have made this game 10 times more interesting. I didn't even know the canon could be turned into a triple-zoom sniper for long distance headshots until I was screwing around on my second run through the game.

Even more problematic is that the AI is unacceptably bad. It has notable moments of all-out cheapshots. Snipers for example, will lock on to your head no matter how many aerial cartwheels and flips you do. For the most part, the grunts just run straight at you and eat the bullet buffet headed their way.

The graphics are a toss up. At times, they are quite impressive. Other times, they look very last generation. The shadowing doesn't work at all, and there is some very pixelated moments in the game. The characters' faces in cut-scenes look great, but then their hands look blocky as hell.

I say the game is worth playing at least once. Granted you are willing to stick it out until after the airplane fight (3rd level I think), that is. Finding out how Alicia came to be is a bit mind-turning. If only they had put more time in to polish it up and vary some of the concepts (walnut heads are lame), we would have had a solid game here.

Imagine a great short story being told by someone with a stuttering problem and has a thick white hair sticking out of his lip. That's Bullet Witch in a nutshell.

Witches Brew:
-Cool weapons and magic
-Variety of scenery in levels
-Interesting Story

Burned at the stake:
-Brainless AI
-Graphical glitches
-Arsenal not utilized well

Resembles/Feels like:
Devil May Cry without the sword play, aerial combat, and jackass personality. It could kind of be compared to Gears of War gameplay, but that's a stretch.

Rent or Buy: It's a renter or Bargain Bin title

Personal Appraisal: $15
MSRP: $17.99

Other Opinions:
4/10 @ IGN
5.5/10 @ Gamespot
5.1/10 @ teamxbox