So, I just finished Bulletstorm, and it was fun, but it fell into every bad storytelling issue that games typically fall into. Spoilers, obviously. 
 
One of the bigger issues in gaming storytelling for me is how frequently games take away control from you during the most intense parts.  A lot of games out there just tell story through cutscenes, imitating movies. Anytime there's a critical point where you need to shoot something you never aim in Bulletstorm, all you have to do is press the right trigger during a large window. One of the most amazing parts about Dead Space for me was the first time you get grabbed by that tentacle and it drags you through the station and you realize "Oh shit, I have to actually shoot this thing, it isn't a cutscene". Why not give me control of my aiming to immerse me in the experience further, at the expense of maybe failing the first time. 
 
Even worse are when you see something huge coming and you're stoked to tackle it, and then everything happens in a cutscene.  The cutscene with the giant godzilla thing is my biggest sticking point here.  The game does a great job of letting it tear up shit in the background while you're fighting towards that building.  Then you spend a minute long cutscene running from it to escape just in time into that elevator.  Why not let me frantically run trying to find a path through while avoiding it?  I know it'd be difficult from the first person perspective, but maybe you could change the camera angle for this section.  I don't know.  I feel like that could've been a really intense scene and it wound up with me just watching a movie followed by a rather dull boss fight.  If I had felt powerless while running from it beforehand it'd be pretty kickass to get some power and into that chopper.  Instead I never felt threatened by the monster at all, because my first actual interaction with it I'm dumping rounds into it from a helicopter.
 
The other main issue for me? Franchise syndrome.  Obviously this game was built as a franchise, and that's fine. But the way the story concludes make the whole game feel pointless.  Games that are built as a franchise need to still leave you satisfied at the end of the first game. Follow the original Star Wars' example. Vader is still out there, so there's still more to finish at the end of that movie, but hey, you blew up the fucking death star.  In Bulletstorm EVERY single person in your squad dies, leaving only the girl you just met halfway through the game.  And what did you accomplish? Nothing.  You didn't kill the general, I guess you killed all these mutants, but they were just innocent people corrupted by the system anyways. And if you want to get all green about it you managed to kill every innocent lifeform on the planet with it.  Good work.  It just feels like a copout because they didn't know how to continue a story in the universe.

This game seems dumb. I shouldn't be posting, but I do not wish to play a mature rated game of this nature.

It actually makes you feel for the characters more than you'd imagine with all the what the dick stuff.  It starts out super immature and tones it down quite a bit as you go through the game, or maybe you just get desensitized.

I really don't get where you or Vinny are coming from, even thinking about the story in a game like this.

 Wait, you expected story from this game?
 
Ha.

It's meant to be dumb,that's the whole point of the game.

Bulletstorm is about a bunch of dudes killing the fuck out of a bunch of other dudes.  And dick jokes.  We should all be grateful for what story there is.

Bulletstorm is a lesson in bad game storytelling in much the same way that a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is a bad lesson in advanced particle physics theory.
 
Get me?

" Bulletstorm is a lesson in bad game storytelling in much the same way that a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is a bad lesson in advanced particle physics theory.  Get me? "

Any game that uses the word "dicktits" should be automatically disqualified from having threads like this.

I just want to add that it´s totally valid to consider the storytelling in this game worthy of discussion. It´s actually a lot better than it has any right to be, considering the marketing.
 
The game gives a bad first impression with the dick jokes etc., but it actually gets a lot better towards the end.  It´s no storytelling masterpiece or anything but it´s a fun action romp with some funny dialog.

That said,  masternater27 brings up some good points about the cutscenes. They should never be used to show you something that you could be playing instead.

Just finished it tonight, and I know where your coming from. Like others i came off liking the story more then I thought i would and in the end the characters felt somewhat real even 10 min earlier they were sprouting curse words from some random text generator. Cutscene wise i know how you feel, The game has some good storytelling from the prospective of Gray, but they have to ruin it by sometimes cutting to pre rendered videos ( for me looked terrible with compression artifacts on the 360) That look noticeably different and made me cringe every time it happened.  
 
Honestly the story was amazing compared to what i was expecting, has the feel of some over the top 80s action film where you know its terrible but you still come off liking the characters.  
 
Might just be me but i kinda liked the off the wall words they came up with, made for something different the either dry humor or the same dialog that is in most games. 

I didn't read the post, because I haven't started the game yet, so thank you for the spoiler warning. 
 
I just wanted to say, if you are playing Bulletstorm for the storytelling I think you are doing it wrong. This game has the tagline kill with skill, it's about killing dudes. The campaign was never going to be very deep or meaningful.

Meh, who cares? It's a game that rewards you for firing bullets into an enemy's anus. Forget about the story and just have fun with it.

" Bulletstorm is a lesson in bad game storytelling in much the same way that a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup is a bad lesson in advanced particle physics theory.  Get me? "

On a scale of 1-10 I'd give the story a solid 6 or 7, I have no idea what all these people saying it "doesn't have a story" are talking about. Yes there are holes, but it holds together quite nicely getting you from place to place.

Don't care.
 
I shot a shitload of dudes in various entertaining ways.
Gonna go for a second round of shooting more dudes, while exclaiming things like: WOOOOHOOO FUCK YEA BOOM BITCH HO-HA WAAAAAA EAT BULLETS FAGGOTS WHOS YOUR DADDY ME IM YOUR DADDY YOU MA BITCH HA BANZAI MOTHERFUCKERS BOOM HA MMMMMMMULTIKILL IM THE GODAMN BULLET GOD ... and so on and so forth for a few hours
 
Then maybe pickup Planescape Torment again and enjoy a nice story with interesting storytelling.

The story in this is even worse than Time Crisis >:O

you're playing the wrong game sir

" I really don't get where you or Vinny are coming from, even thinking about the story in a game like this. "

 @masternater27:  are you telling me that you were expecting a good story ? Come on mate you're smarter than that ! All the characters can do is say fuck, shit, dick, tits all the time. They're all massive stereotypes and enjoy shooting shit. I agree with you that the whole dinosaur thing is cheap as fuck but if you actually had to kill him it would have been a dumb ass boss fight. Also, the ending to the game literally spells sequel which is pretty cheap.

I agree, I also didn't really like the story. The ending left me with the "What? That's it?" feeling. However, while I thought the cheesy dialogue and cliched story weren't that good, I really enjoyed the game's gameplay. 
 
Bulletstorm solved perfectly the issues I had with the recent shooters (not CoD): first of all, you never get the "I can't use that, I'll need it later" feeling towards the weapons. The game encourages you to use every gun without worrying about the possible lack of ammo, since for using them you'd be rewarded with points you could use to purchase more clips. Secondly, I like how the game gives you the sense of "badassness"; it gives you the feel of being incredibly powerful without being too easy. You know you could mow down everyone with ease, but where's the fun in that? You can just wrap an explosive chain around a dude's head which will give you better in-game reward and is also incredibly satisfying.

If you want some real storytelling, pick up a book or watch a movie with a deep narrative.

why do people go into games with titles such as bulletstorm expecting to find gaming's narrative opus

" It actually makes you feel for the characters more than you'd imagine with all the what the dick stuff.  It starts out super immature and tones it down quite a bit as you go through the game, or maybe you just get desensitized. "

I found the story to be rather good considering what I thought would be little to no story it's actually pretty deep under all the Dick Jokes.

The part where they try to escape the bomb room only to end up in the bomb room again was genuinely funny. The part where he kicks a sign just to have the whole street explode was funny. The part where the general is straight up racist with Ishi was weird. There's a story behind all this but none of it is particularly interesting, and at one point those Polacks realized it and just focused on making awesome gameplay with tight controls and an fun kill system. 
 
That's what Bulletstorm is about, and yes you have a right to criticize the story but it's really pointless to do so. 

I think everybody in this thread is HUGELY MISSING THE POINT.
 
Half his post wasn't necessarily criticizing the merits of the story, but the fact that the game relegated lots of cool sequences and fights to cutscenes instead of gameplay.  I haven't even played Bulletstorm, but all you people coming in here saying "durrr the story's supposed to be dumb" without even reading the guy's post somehow manage to seem even dumber.
 
The other part of his post is complaining that the game left him unfullfilled.  It also sounds like a perfectly legitimate complaint whether the story was retarded or not.
 
This thread is a perfect example of people seeing a buzzword in the thread title and assuming they know what the post contains.

" I think everybody in this thread is HUGELY MISSING THE POINT.  Half his post wasn't necessarily criticizing the merits of the story, but the fact that the game relegated lots of cool sequences and fights to cutscenes instead of gameplay.  I haven't even played Bulletstorm, but all you people coming in here saying "durrr the story's supposed to be dumb" without even reading the guy's post somehow manage to seem even dumber.  The other part of his post is complaining that the game left him unfullfilled.  It also sounds like a perfectly legitimate complaint whether the story was retarded or not.  This thread is a perfect example of people seeing a buzzword in the thread title and assuming they know what the post contains. "

"  @masternater27:  are you telling me that you were expecting a good story ? Come on mate you're smarter than that ! All the characters can do is say fuck, shit, dick, tits all the time. They're all massive stereotypes and enjoy shooting shit. I agree with you that the whole dinosaur thing is cheap as fuck but if you actually had to kill him it would have been a dumb ass boss fight. Also, the ending to the game literally spells sequel which is pretty cheap. "

well thanks for telling me that. i didn't expect a great story from this game because it looked like you just want to blow up and kill things.

There's a lot of movies that have ended the same with the whole "what next?" type of thing. So I don't feel like it's a copout at all. I's more surprising when it's done in a game, I'll give it that. We expect games to finish in a nice little package but sometimes they don't. That doesn't make it 'bad'. I for one am looking forward to more shenanigans in the Bulletstorm universe and look forward to killing the General (hopefully) as that guy was a huge dick ass, as they made him to be.

Games like this are why I like silent protagonists. You can make a completely retarded story, but as long as the guy I'm controlling doesn't act like a moron I'm fine with it, because he is me, and potentially just as annoyed by every other character as I am. But when you have to control a Marcus Fenix or Cole McGrath and they contribute to the stupidity, that's when shit gets annoying for me.

I seriously hate all developers that start planning for a sequel before the first game is done. "We're gonna make it end here so players can't wait for the second one!" They are so full of themselves it's unbelievable.
 
Going back to what everyone was saying about expecting the story to be dumb, I don't know about you but when I beat games I don't go, "Well that ending sucked, but killing a lot of dudes makes up for it."

As far as the story goes, there's not a whole lot to it. The whole deal is pretty straight-forward with maybe one twist in it, and that one is quite a twist - silly as it was.  But in a game like Bulletstorm where the gameplay is key, I don't want a dramatic narrative or conspiracies to think about, or the bad guy's motives or anything like that: I want to have fun, and by god I did.
That being said I liked Grayson's character. From what I expected the beginning sets up his character alot better, and I liked the moments where you saw Grayson torn up about some of the consequences of his actions. The thing is, I think of Bulletstorm almost like it was a fruit: a thin peel of story wrapped around a good amount of sweet stuff which is the gameplay.
Not to mention that it looks great.    

dont click below until you're done with Bulletstorm.

well, people missed a big one. this game was made that way on purpose if you even tried to google for the reason. the story is not the main point. gameplay, system are what this game is great about. actually, it seems to change stereotype of FPS game. so don't judge with story.