Bullet Witch

Japanese third-person shooter Bullet Witch boasts a loosely Buffy-esque premise. After a series of wars, natural disasters and assorted other calamities, humanity’s proverbial back is about to be broken by an army of icky demons and it’s up to one paranormally-powered woman to fight them off. Of course, this witch also has a machine gun in case her magic spells just won’t cut it, but you’ll likely derive more pleasure from sicking a murder of crows or a rain of meteorites on a monster than you will from shooting it. The post-apocalyptic backdrop is pretty cool, the action ever-present, and the acrobatic heroine scantily-clad — so what’s not to like? Well, the game is somewhat mired in traditional gameplay, the graphics don’t really exploit the 360’s potential (though the destructible environments are well appreciated) and the story wraps up in just a few hours. The rising price-point of games have understandably heightened expectations, but just as some DVDs are worth a rental but not a purchase, a game like Bullet Witch offers a great afternoon or two of fun without needing to be added to one’s library.