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The graphics... probably could have been done on an original Xbox. The cutscenes are cool, and there's a lot of detail in the backdrops, but this title is hardly pushing your next-gen machine. The character designs are pretty neat, and the animations are smooth (especially when Alicia is jumping and flipping around) and there are a few nice monsters (that are repeated ad nauseum throughout every level), but it's not earth shattering by any means. There aren't really any destructible environments except for at specific points, and the game does nothing to stand out with any sort of style. The sound is equally underwhelming. There are again a few pockets of "neato" moments, but nothing to stand up and cheer about.



The game itself is six levels long, and on the lower difficulty levels probably won't take longer than a day or so to beat. I died a lot, mostly due to being swarmed by too many enemies while trying to navigate the magic menus, but there are frequent checkpoints so you don't start too far back. The controls aren't bad, but the controller could have been utilized better.

The right trigger shoots, the left trigger jumps. You've got your movement stick and your camera stick. The melee attack button is there, and the aforementioned shoulder buttons bring up your magic menu. Once that ring is displayed on the screen you can hit Y to cancel the magic, or hit the appropriate face button to cast the listed spell. Mapping the magic to the D-pad would have made much more sense, even if you still had to hit a shoulder button to cycle through the different rings. If the ring was in the corner of the screen at all times, and you just had to tap the D-pad to cast, then the spells would probably get used a lot more.



There is no online play of any kind, and unless you want to go through and beat the game again on a different difficulty for the Achievement points, you'll see all that the game has to offer in one playthrough. There are going to be downloads in the form of new costumes for Alicia and new levels to play through, but these will be separate from the story itself so unless you're a huge fan of the gameplay you probably won't stick around long enough to see what's coming down the pike.

The game has its fair share of really kick ass moments, hidden in the generic monotony. There's a boss battle against a huge flying demon that has you standing on the back of an airplane while casting lightning, and and sometimes you'll just pull something off that makes you stop for a second and appreciate the game. When I started playing I knew that the game wasn't built very well, and as I played I noticed and was annoyed by all of the little flaws that rear their ugly heads. There are so many missed opportunities in here, whether it be from rushing development or just not caring. Yet I kept playing, and not because I was going to write a review about the game. I played because despite it all the game's personality kept me hooked. Everybody has that guilty pleasure game, and at the moment this is mine.



While Bullet Witch can't compete with some of the more high profile titles it shares a shelf with, if you can look past all of the flaws it may enchant you for a little while.