The spells all have some fairly cool effects to them, although it's a complete pain in the ass to access the menus. It's safe to say that it's not going to be particularly good, simply because the game's done and out, and it's not something that's going to be changed for the US or European releases. Players must hit the left bumper to access the spell menu, then left bumper to access the submenu for more spells. Meanwhile, demons can still shoot at Alicia, since the action's not stopping, even though most of the screen is obscured by a giant circular spell map. Why it's not mapped to the D-pad and modified with the left bumper is a complete and total mystery that even the representative from Atari couldn't really answer. But that's on Cavia, the developer, more than it is on Atari, the publisher. Still, the spells are rather badass.

Rose Spear is something like a hand grenade, with a twist. As Alicia tosses what looks like a few innocuous rose petals onto the battlefield, a giant crop of spears shoot up through the ground and mutually impale and incinerate demons unlucky enough to be standing above the deadly crops. Willpower resembles telekinesis, which reminds me of 2004's underrated actioner Psi-Ops, only with a little less control over flying objects. There's also Ancient Wall, which Alicia can put up as a temporary barrier in order to heal. She can also fire off lighting at will, which resembles an airstrike. It comes in handy when she's facing large tanks.


Other spells, such as Sacrifice, are designed to sustain the lives of NPC characters. In the early levels, it saved civilians, but in the later level that we tried, it was used to assist other soldiers taking on the demonic forces. Basically, it's a gameplay element that will grow in importance as the game progresses and Alicia needs help before she gets turned into supernatural hamburger. Tornado is a fairly sick spell that eradicates nearly anything that's not bolted down, it seems.

Overall, the game feels okay at this point. It's probably not going to go down in history as the Greatest Sci-Fi Action Shooter Ever, but it's competent in regard to movement and targeting (except the sniper rifle, which doesn't have nearly enough zoom). The enemies still feel a bit bland and faceless, since they all feel pretty much the same from what we've seen from the demos. We did, however, get a little more information about achievements, the save system, and downloadable content. The requirements don't seem too stringent for what it takes to gain some points. Players will up their Gamerscore by clearing the game's stages, or by beating it on Easy, Normal, or Hard difficulties. It also looks like Bullet Witch will have a save system similar to Dead Rising, which might drive some people nuts. It's one save on the hard drive, with the possibility of memory unit support. Again, it's probably not something that will be adjusted for the US/EU releases. Stay tuned for more coverage of this upcoming title as we get closer to its late February release!