Bullet Witch

Bullet Witch is a short game, and it’s probably not going to appeal to graphics-crazed gamers who live and die by the textures and pixel shaders.

Overall Bullet Witch is a bit short at 5-10 hours your first time through but its definitely worth a rental if it comes to your neck of the woods. [JPN Import]

A decent shoot 'em up. A greater amount of run-of-the-mill enemies would have been a better choice. There are also some laughable AI issues with the big enemies. [Apr 2007]

The developers needed more time to stroke you tenderly. Now you’re forever condemned to being on the verge of boo-yah.

Bullet Witch looks and feels like a by the numbers shooter.

Bullet Witch represents the yin and yang of gaming, balanced between good and bad aspects.

There is something inherently appealing about a sexy, buxom witch wandering a postapocalyptic landscape shooting zombies with flaming bullets and casting spells that bring down lightning or cause spears to shoot from the ground.

Bullet Witch is very entertaining, but the overall pacing of the game and the frustrating controls bring it down.

If you're the type to blow through a game once, pass judgment on it and trade it for store credit a day later, you're not going to get your money's worth here.

A thoroughly unremarkable shooter, made slightly more memorable by a handful of sections and a strong physics engine.

Not a bad game, it just doesn't feel "done" at this point, as if certain things were stripped away because they weren't working instead of being fixed for the game's release.

Wielding the game’s powerful spells can be a lot of fun, but the repetitive shooting and tedious trekking from barrier to barrier make you feel like you’re paying penance for someone else’s crimes.

If you love generic Japanese action games with half-naked emo chicks, then this will satisfy your hunger for the mediocre-ness they provide. However, if you are hardcore shooter fan looking for the next “great thing”, then steer clear of this one. Bullet Witch is a niche title that will find it’s audience but never extend any further than that.

I liked playing this game, despite getting frequently frustrated at all of the missed opportunities and poor design choices.

If you’re looking for a decent single player game to plow through in a weekend, Bullet Witch would make a terrific rental.

Once you scratch beneath the surface you are presented with a rather mediocre gaming experience which boils down to a simplistic shooter with magical overtones.

Like most third-person action games, Bullet Witch has its share of problems, but it was designed with considerable replay value in mind for those who find the game's sweet spot.

Surprisingly enjoyable B-grade gaming - such a pity it doesn't retail for a budget price. [May 2007, p.78]

There is so much mindless shooting and wandering in Bullet Witch that when you actually are having fun, it feels accidental. [Mar 2007, p.104]

The lack of innovation and a poor control scheme make Bullet Witch a questionable rental, let alone purchase.

The emo-tastically tasty Ms Witch can flip and twirl like an ant-infested Lara Croft, but there's rarely ever any handy platform for her to clamber onto. The levels are as flat and one-dimensional as the gameplay - but despite its problems, you're quite likely to find it, well, a bit of a blast.

Don't give up on this one, Atari. Tweak the system and bring Alicia back for more in some form.

We’re talking under a dozen hours to finish, tops. No multiplayer, a few lackluster achievements--it’s hard to recommend this one despite its considerable if occasional virtues.

Bullet Witch's graphics can switch from breathtaking to tawdry in the bat of an eyelid, just as quickly as the action can veer between exhilarating sensory barrage and tedious, repetitive trawl.

The Witch certainly has bags of style, but is let down by brain-dead AI and short gametime.

It is unforgivable that a game should take three or four of your precious hours to get up to speed, but if that is something you can bear, then Alicia and the game she inhabits might be just what you're after.

It's an enjoyably twisted and often satisfying piece of fantasy, then, even though the reality of its more generic aspects poses a serious threat to its achievements. [JPN Import; Oct 2006, p.92]

An average third-person action game the leads you by the nose and doesn't give you too many choices to make. You'll spend the bulk of your time battling the same bad guys, killing walnut heads to unlock areas and occasionally battling some pretty impressive bosses.

Hats off to Cavia for twisting the concept of a third-person shooter and making a game that is enjoyable in spite of its flaws.

The nucleus of a good game is there, but its ambition is married to an apparent lack of expertise with the result that, like a crudely cut gemstone, it has few if any redeeming features.

The worst part about Bullet Witch is that it had so much potential! Bullet Witch may be stylish and features some of the coolest spell effects ever but if there was more action it might have had a chance.

At fifty dollars, and with significant locked away on the disc from the people who paid for it, it's the biggest rip-off since Crackdown, and shouldn't be purchased by anyone for any reason.

The very short length and ease of gameplay makes this a rental at best, which is a bit of a shame since a little more work and effort could have made this a truly fun and engaging game.

The few moments when Bullet Witch shines are impressive, but not nearly enough to elevate the rest of the game above the dismal plane of mediocrity.

A pretty short game and the gameplay that you do get isn’t very good. Spend your game playing time elsewhere unless you’re truly desperate for more Achievement points.

Bullet Witch has some good moments but it ultimately fails to deliver a stellar product that third person shooter fans have become accustomed to.

We gamers want to play and control the action, and that is, unfortunately, where the trouble with Bullet Witch lies.

Bullet Witch just doesn't have the legs to last more than a few days. That's a dreadful pity too, because with a little more attention to detail and some good old-fashioned craftsmanship, it might have been a winner.

Alicia is an enticing central character and the setting is delectably decayed, but playing her is just simply average and consistently lacks consideration for the player. She's a witch all right. [Issue #23, p.52]

Bullet Witch is almost comically bad. Although it tries, this game never comes close to getting you to care about any of the characters and it's over far too quickly. Then again, I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it any more if it had lasted longer than two hours.

As a 360 title, average visuals and wretched clipping problems should be an issue, and the slick-at-times physics and ample combat system just can’t make up for it. [Apr 2007, p.120]

Flawed, dull and not much to look at, Bullet Witch is an exercise in tedium that own't enrich your life at all. [Issue 18, p.96]

The only knock on Bullet Witch is that the graphics are a bit choppy in some areas.

Bullet Witch gets by on the fun nature of the physics and occasionally spectacular setpieces (the Up in Flames at 10,000 Feet boss encounter on the back of a jumbo jet, or downing multiple enemy Chinooks with a Tornado) but the incessant dourness and spartan environments can become rather depressing simply on an aesthetic level without bringing frustrating game mechanics into it.

A bland and lifeless action game with an unfinished graphics engine, Bullet Witch really isn’t worth your time.

It is buggy, ill tested, and not much better than draft material. With that said genre fans may find a little something to admire with Bullet Witch; whether it is Alicia's magical powers or some of the lively boss encounters.

Had Bullet Witch been a launch title, this bitter pill could've been swallowed, but with so many other great choices out there like "Gears of War" or "Lost Planet," there's simply no reason to play this. [Apr 2007, p.54]

While the effects look fantastic, your spells are always a few button-clicks away, and setting them up breaks the flow of the battle.

Bullet Witch is a game that could have been great, but instead fell flat on its face.

With its occult themes and flying ammo, Bullet Witch aspires to be a gritty action epic in the "Devil May Cry" vein, but it lacks the design chops to pull off the job. [Apr 2007, p.89]

Broken, broken, broken.

The gameplay is riddled with bug-induced frustration, uninspiring combat and a sluggish control system that lacks any kind of invention. [Mar 2007, p.88]

In a time when gamers are constantly looking for a "next-gen" experience, Cavia has put together a game that feels like it was made for the original PlayStation.

Typically, poor graphic performance is just a sideline to how a game performs, but here the lousy shadows and contrasty scenes detract from the action just as much as the dreadful AI and thin premise. As a result, Bullet Witch should be completely avoided.

To get an idea of what exactly Bullet Witch is all about, try to imagine a game in which Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, and Resident Evil are all rolled into one...except that game turned out to be complete trash.

The game's biggest defect lies in its terrible early-gen PS2-grade graphics. I haven't seen anything this blocky since the last time I played with my Legos!

And Alicia is hot, though not sexy as one might expect. Whoever they hired to do her voice work sounds hot, in that she sounds stupid. All of her lines are read woodenly, like a teenager reading aloud in class.