Bullet Witch
Encyclopedia
is a shooter
video game for the Xbox 360
developed by Cavia It was released in Japan
on July 27, 2006 by AQ Interactive
, followed by a release in North America
on February 27, 2007. Atari Europe handled translations and other localization
efforts. The game was not released with a multiplayer component, although players could participate in a score ranking competition via Xbox Live
. Downloadable content includes new costumes and new missions. A later Japanese re-release under the "Xbox 360 Platinum Collection" label included all of the downloadable content on the game disc.
The player takes control of a witch named Alicia Claus in the near future of 2013. Mankind is on the brink of destruction, having suffered major natural disaster
s and an invasion of demon
s. The protagonist
Alicia utilizes a gun rod that has transformations such as shotgun, machine gun, and gatling gun
. This weapon can also be used to cast spells.
, with the player in control of Alicia and the camera nearly always over her right shoulder. Health and mana are constantly regenerating, though by taking hits and casting spells respectively, the maximum levels these will regenerate to is reduced; the maximum level for health will slowly return to maximum, while the maximum mana level must be gained by defeating foes.
After the completion of each level, the player is rated in number of kills, the number of times they had to restart from a checkpoint, and the time it took to complete the level. Better rankings lead to more skill points to be spent in unlocking spells and weapon forms and upgrading the same as well as health and mana regeneration rates between levels. These upgrades are carried over through any game mode played, thus allowing the player to build up Alicia's powers on low difficulty levels as to prepare for the higher difficulty level games.
Alicia's magic gun has four different modes. The machine gun
is the default mode available at the start, and the player can use skill points to unlock the shotgun
, cannon
, and gatling gun
modes. Alicia uses magically created ammo for each of the weapons forms, and thus only needs to have some mana available in order to reload the gun.
The player has access to nine different spells arranged in three levels through a quick-access menu. Three of the spells must be unlocked by the player using skill points. The three most powerful spells (also known as the "Great Spells), Lightning, Tornado, and Meteor, are unlocked through the progression of the game. These three spells are, also, the only ones not upgradable through the skill point system.
Also, the downloadable content adds new outfits, for Alicia, as well as new missions and variations of the normal missions/levels. The new outfits include White Witch, Secretary, Schoolgirl, and Pixie. The other content include new missions and different "versions" of the regular missions from the main game. Basically, these come in two versions: a harder version of each level and a version, of each level, in which you have instant access to the three "Great Spells". The outfits are free to download while the new missions cost 20 MS points each to download.
In 2013, a young woman named Alicia enters an unnamed coastal eastern United States city, carrying a magical weapon shaped like a broomstick that can change weapon form as well as allow her to cast magic spells. A voice called the Darkness speaks to her, telling her that the city is doomed, but she strives on to save the humans from the Geist forces. She manages to make her way to a commander of the last of the human armed forces named Maxwell Cougar, who requests that she offer her powers to help save mankind. Alicia and the troops flee underground when one of the greater demons, Omega, appears and cannot be harmed by bullets or magic. When they make it back to their underground base, they discover many soldiers slaughtered by the Geist. Cougar gives her part of a journal, written by an archaeologist that appears to have lost a loved one in a plane crash in 2006, and traveled to a remote village to perform a sacrifice to return that person to life. From this, the humans have determined the cause of the demon infestations, as the archaeologists' self-sacrifice opened up the gateway for the demons. Alicia and the human troops take a cargo plane to the humans' base near this village, though the plane is attacked midflight by a huge flying demon that Alicia is able to stop, but not before it damages the plane's engines and they are forced to land a short distance from the headquarters.
After rescuing the surviving humans to headquarters and defending the base from Geist attacks from the air, Alicia is flown to the closest safe drop point near the village. She works her way through the heavily-defended area, finding the altar that lead the archaeologist to this point and finally, the man himself, still alive but impaled on the opening of the demonic gateway. He possesses the other half of the journal, which reveals that Alicia is his daughter, that she did die in the plane crash and was brought back from the grave by his sacrifice but that this gave her the magical powers she possesses, and that the only way to close the gateway is to kill him completely. After stating her love for her father, she kills him.
While the gateway is closed, the demons are still in control of the world, and with the human troops, Alicia returns to the city to face Omega, this time armed with knowledge that she needs both her magic and the support of the human troops to break Omega's shield and destroy him. After a prolonged battle, they finally manage to defeat Omega, freeing one city from the demons' run, but there are still many other demons that remain in the world.
, the game received an average score of 57.49% based on 62 reviews. On Metacritic
, the game received an average score of 55 out of 100, based on 59 reviews.
Official Xbox Magazine
awarded the game a 4.0 rating (on a 10 scale). Criticisms included simplistic and uninspired level design, useless spells, and poor AI. GameSpot
gave it a 5.5 out of 10, stating that the game was generally repetitive and mediocre. IGN
concurred with a 4.0 out of 10, citing poor AI and criticizing the game as being too short. Despite marginally low scores (generally merely average), reception from other sources have ranged from lukewarm to rather positive. Some scores have ranged from a 3 out of 5 by X-Play
, to a 77 out of 100 from GameBrink, an average 6.5 of 10 from Game Informer
, a 7.8 out of 10 from Game Chronicles, to an 8.5 (out of a 10) from Play. Praise has mainly consisted of the game's fast-paced action and dynamic attack spells.
Initial Japanese sales for Bullet Witch were poor. The game debuted at number 29 on the charts, selling just 9,083 units. By December 27, 2007, combined sales of the original release and Xbox 360 Platinum Collection re-release totaled 27,098 units.
Shooter game
Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...
video game for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
developed by Cavia It was released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
on July 27, 2006 by AQ Interactive
AQ Interactive
AQ Interactive was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. AQ stands for Artistic Quality. It was the parent company of the developers Artoon, Cavia and feelplus, and most recently the U.S. publisher Xseed Games...
, followed by a release in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
on February 27, 2007. Atari Europe handled translations and other localization
Internationalization and localization
In computing, internationalization and localization are means of adapting computer software to different languages, regional differences and technical requirements of a target market...
efforts. The game was not released with a multiplayer component, although players could participate in a score ranking competition via Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
. Downloadable content includes new costumes and new missions. A later Japanese re-release under the "Xbox 360 Platinum Collection" label included all of the downloadable content on the game disc.
The player takes control of a witch named Alicia Claus in the near future of 2013. Mankind is on the brink of destruction, having suffered major natural disaster
Natural disaster
A natural disaster is the effect of a natural hazard . It leads to financial, environmental or human losses...
s and an invasion of demon
Demon
call - 1347 531 7769 for more infoIn Ancient Near Eastern religions as well as in the Abrahamic traditions, including ancient and medieval Christian demonology, a demon is considered an "unclean spirit" which may cause demonic possession, to be addressed with an act of exorcism...
s. The protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
Alicia utilizes a gun rod that has transformations such as shotgun, machine gun, and gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
. This weapon can also be used to cast spells.
Gameplay
The game is played as a third-person shooterThird-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
, with the player in control of Alicia and the camera nearly always over her right shoulder. Health and mana are constantly regenerating, though by taking hits and casting spells respectively, the maximum levels these will regenerate to is reduced; the maximum level for health will slowly return to maximum, while the maximum mana level must be gained by defeating foes.
After the completion of each level, the player is rated in number of kills, the number of times they had to restart from a checkpoint, and the time it took to complete the level. Better rankings lead to more skill points to be spent in unlocking spells and weapon forms and upgrading the same as well as health and mana regeneration rates between levels. These upgrades are carried over through any game mode played, thus allowing the player to build up Alicia's powers on low difficulty levels as to prepare for the higher difficulty level games.
Alicia's magic gun has four different modes. The machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
is the default mode available at the start, and the player can use skill points to unlock the shotgun
Shotgun
A shotgun is a firearm that is usually designed to be fired from the shoulder, which uses the energy of a fixed shell to fire a number of small spherical pellets called shot, or a solid projectile called a slug...
, cannon
Cannon
A cannon is any piece of artillery that uses gunpowder or other usually explosive-based propellents to launch a projectile. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees,...
, and gatling gun
Gatling gun
The Gatling gun is one of the best known early rapid-fire weapons and a forerunner of the modern machine gun. It is well known for its use by the Union forces during the American Civil War in the 1860s, which was the first time it was employed in combat...
modes. Alicia uses magically created ammo for each of the weapons forms, and thus only needs to have some mana available in order to reload the gun.
The player has access to nine different spells arranged in three levels through a quick-access menu. Three of the spells must be unlocked by the player using skill points. The three most powerful spells (also known as the "Great Spells), Lightning, Tornado, and Meteor, are unlocked through the progression of the game. These three spells are, also, the only ones not upgradable through the skill point system.
Also, the downloadable content adds new outfits, for Alicia, as well as new missions and variations of the normal missions/levels. The new outfits include White Witch, Secretary, Schoolgirl, and Pixie. The other content include new missions and different "versions" of the regular missions from the main game. Basically, these come in two versions: a harder version of each level and a version, of each level, in which you have instant access to the three "Great Spells". The outfits are free to download while the new missions cost 20 MS points each to download.
Plot
Sometime in 2007, an event occurred that caused demons and other supernatural beings to appear on the surface world. The demons began to attack humanity, reducing the world's population down to less than 1 billion. The demons created an army, called the Geist, to continue to subdue the human population.In 2013, a young woman named Alicia enters an unnamed coastal eastern United States city, carrying a magical weapon shaped like a broomstick that can change weapon form as well as allow her to cast magic spells. A voice called the Darkness speaks to her, telling her that the city is doomed, but she strives on to save the humans from the Geist forces. She manages to make her way to a commander of the last of the human armed forces named Maxwell Cougar, who requests that she offer her powers to help save mankind. Alicia and the troops flee underground when one of the greater demons, Omega, appears and cannot be harmed by bullets or magic. When they make it back to their underground base, they discover many soldiers slaughtered by the Geist. Cougar gives her part of a journal, written by an archaeologist that appears to have lost a loved one in a plane crash in 2006, and traveled to a remote village to perform a sacrifice to return that person to life. From this, the humans have determined the cause of the demon infestations, as the archaeologists' self-sacrifice opened up the gateway for the demons. Alicia and the human troops take a cargo plane to the humans' base near this village, though the plane is attacked midflight by a huge flying demon that Alicia is able to stop, but not before it damages the plane's engines and they are forced to land a short distance from the headquarters.
After rescuing the surviving humans to headquarters and defending the base from Geist attacks from the air, Alicia is flown to the closest safe drop point near the village. She works her way through the heavily-defended area, finding the altar that lead the archaeologist to this point and finally, the man himself, still alive but impaled on the opening of the demonic gateway. He possesses the other half of the journal, which reveals that Alicia is his daughter, that she did die in the plane crash and was brought back from the grave by his sacrifice but that this gave her the magical powers she possesses, and that the only way to close the gateway is to kill him completely. After stating her love for her father, she kills him.
While the gateway is closed, the demons are still in control of the world, and with the human troops, Alicia returns to the city to face Omega, this time armed with knowledge that she needs both her magic and the support of the human troops to break Omega's shield and destroy him. After a prolonged battle, they finally manage to defeat Omega, freeing one city from the demons' run, but there are still many other demons that remain in the world.
Characters
- Alicia Claus (Sarah NatochennySarah NatochennySarah Natochenny is an American actress and fashion model. She is known for providing the voice of Ash in the Pokémon anime metaseries. and movies since 2006, taking over for Veronica Taylor. Natochenny also voiced the lead role Alicia on the Xbox 360 video game Bullet Witch...
/Hitomi NabatameHitomi Nabatameis a Japanese voice actress. She is affiliated with Ken Production. When voicing adult games, she is known as , , , or . She also sings opening themes for Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu under the name Miran Himemiya and Chocolate Rockers.-Anime:...
): A beautiful witch on a journey to defeat the demons. Wields a huge gun known as the "gunrod", reminiscent of a broom, and has magical powers that can bend nature itself to her will. The reason why she possesses the same powers as the demons and yet fights against them remains a mystery. Alicia appeared topless in the 2007 Videogame Preview in Playboy MagazinePlayboyPlayboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
.
- Darkness (Rodger Parsons/Kenji NomuraKenji Nomura, nicknamed "Nomuchin", is a Japanese voice actor from Okayama Prefecture affiliated with Aksent. He graduated Kurashikishiritsu Chayachō Elementary School, Kurashikishiritsu Tōyō Junior High School, and Okayamakenritsu Amagi High School.-Television animation:...
): A formless demon that lurks in Alicia's consciousness. He aids Alicia with his powerful magic capable of drawing out numerous spells and his knowledge that was gained from surviving countless scrapes. His arrogant attitude is made clear through his nasty comments regarding humans, but for Alicia he is an irreplaceable partner and the only creature she can trust.
Reception
Bullet Witch received mixed reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Game RankingsGame Rankings
GameRankings is a website that collects review scores from both offline and online sources to give an average rating. It indexes over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 games.GameRankings is owned by CBS Interactive...
, the game received an average score of 57.49% based on 62 reviews. On Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, the game received an average score of 55 out of 100, based on 59 reviews.
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine
Official Xbox Magazine is a monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released for E3 2001, with another preview issue for November 2001. The magazine is bundled with a disc that includes game demos, preview videos and...
awarded the game a 4.0 rating (on a 10 scale). Criticisms included simplistic and uninspired level design, useless spells, and poor AI. GameSpot
GameSpot
GameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1, 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which...
gave it a 5.5 out of 10, stating that the game was generally repetitive and mediocre. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
concurred with a 4.0 out of 10, citing poor AI and criticizing the game as being too short. Despite marginally low scores (generally merely average), reception from other sources have ranged from lukewarm to rather positive. Some scores have ranged from a 3 out of 5 by X-Play
X-Play
X-Play is a TV program about video games, known for its reviews and comedy skits...
, to a 77 out of 100 from GameBrink, an average 6.5 of 10 from Game Informer
Game Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
, a 7.8 out of 10 from Game Chronicles, to an 8.5 (out of a 10) from Play. Praise has mainly consisted of the game's fast-paced action and dynamic attack spells.
Initial Japanese sales for Bullet Witch were poor. The game debuted at number 29 on the charts, selling just 9,083 units. By December 27, 2007, combined sales of the original release and Xbox 360 Platinum Collection re-release totaled 27,098 units.
External links
- Bullet Witch blog at IGNIGNIGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...