There are time you sit back and ask, who play tested this game? This is one of those times...
I'm not one to be cruel in my reviews, I like to try and find some quality that makes any game interesting, I try to find the spark that the developers saw within the concept of the game and try and enjoy it on that level. In the case of Bullet Witch its not just hard, its often painful.
The Gameplay is what perhaps hurt the most, the level designs at times are awkward and confusing then all of a sudden it becomes straight forward and simplistic? You are walking through a town with people who will say generic things then all of a sudden there is some undead enemy firing at you from a porch? Its odd.
What makes it all the more odd is that you are fighting the same handful of enemies over and over and over and over, and while in some cases or some games that have other redeeming qualities I can at least forgive that in Bullet Witches case its simply laziness.
Also the "obstructions" in levels come off at times as nothing more then a programmer thinking "Hmmm, this level is too short, lets add a blue wall and require the player to snake through narrow gaps in walls to find a blue walnut head to add a few more minutes"
Its just tragic, and while many other reviewers go on about the "innovative" concept of the game I simply look at it as an interesting premise that the developers generally went NO WHERE with. Innovation requires me to at least see some glimpse of being innovative Bullet Witch simply tempts you with a neat concept and does nothing with it. I would argue there is more depth on the back of the box and in the instructions then you get out of playing through the game.
The spells I will admit are very cool, but accessing them while under heavy fire is a difficulty that was unnecessary. The game is made more difficult because of poor control design rather then gameplay and that is just unfair to the player.
As for the standard weapon, perhaps its just me but about 30 minutes into the game I found it more productive to simply use my broom as a sword then it was to fire it as a weapon, the aiming was questionable coupled with the fact that the its not all that powerful. one swing basically does what 20 bullets will do.
Graphically, its the tale of two games I found many of the distant backgrounds to be interesting and rather cool looking yet you never really reach those backgrounds, the levels are interesting based on the heavy interaction with nearly all objects but its nothing that impressive.
I have never been one to say that Great Graphics = a Great Game, but in Bullet Witches case the game could have benefited from more detailed environments which would have taken away from the monotony of killing the same enemies over and over again. Perhaps a more interesting environment would have taken the mind off the fact that you are generally doing the same thing over and over again.
It should be noted that the "larger" scale spells look interesting and when something large explodes (IE Gas Station) its very cool.
The sound and effects are an aspect of the game that so much more could have been done but simply was not. The weapons (as limited as they are) sound weak, and even the sound of something large exploding sounds greatly underwealming.
In this day and age of gaming there should never be a game within this genre where there is no benefit to playing on a 5.1 or 7.1 system over the standard 2.0 that you TV speakers offer you.
Honestly, the bass was so over done at times I actually turned off my sub when playing on surround.
Which brings us to the value factor,
The play value in terms of the first run through the game is largely unsatisfying because you are playing in the hopes that you will get a better understanding of the story, and it really doesn't give you what you hope for. Its a very unsatisfying end which leaves you with little reason to pick up the controller and play again.
As for its replay value, I have little interest in picking it up again and its very possible it may sit on my gaming shelf till such a time that I move my current gen games to my last gen wall.