Bulletstorm

With all of the controversy surrounding “Bulletstorm” I expected the game to be extreme over the top profanity all the time with no story; I was wrong. I am really enjoying the game, whether it is the story or the gunplay. This game is being made out to be the devil of all video games and that it makes people molest each other because of its infamous skillshot innuendos. The game itself is fun and interesting, but nothing we haven’t seen in regards to the mindless shooting. If you enjoy shooters similar to the original Doom, over the top gore like Mortal Kombat, and a mouth that only Duke Nukem could love then you will most likely enjoy this game.

The storyline of the game may be the biggest surprise. You take the role of Grayson Hunt, the now rogue leader of Dead Echo Squad. Throughout most of the game you’re accompanied by Ishi Sato, the only other surviving member of Dead Echo. Also by Trishka Novak, Hunt’s female version who is equally foul-mouthed, who has a dark past. You are on a quest for redemption against General Serrano who had Dead Echo killing civilians who were going to give him bad press. The only problem is that he told Dead Echo that these people were gun runners and murders.    

The game play has a lot of variety, from shooting guys in the balls or ass, to controlling a futuristic Godzilla with a small holographic device, even to quick time events from the likes of Gears of War except that these give you points based on how fast you press the button. The demo of the game threw a lot of people off because they thought that was simply all the game had to offer. The campaign is nothing like that. That mode is known as Echos and you run through small parts of the campaign and try to acquire as many skillshot points as possible, as fast as possible.  The game does a great job of explaining why there are points everywhere and what they’re for.

Bulletstorm also has a multiplayer mode that it reminiscent of horde mode from Gears of War. There are waves and different types of enemies to attack you for every different wave. The main difference is that in Bulletstorm your goal, of course, is to work with your three other Echo teammates to kill the enemies in extreme and awesome ways to rack up enough points to advance to the next round. It can become extremely hectic because you will constantly have to do different skillshots which become more difficult when everything is blowing up around you and you are trying to do it with three other players.

The weapons in the game feel great and the combat is fun and rewarding. You can chose to be lazy and only go for the easy headshot, or you can go all out and use the whip and kick some mofos up in the air then do with them what you please.   For example, later in the game you get a drill type weapon that if you shot somebody and they stick to a surface the will spin around until all of their limbs are ripped off; that skill shot is called break dance.

In many cases it seems as if the game is trying to look bad, like zooming in to close to a characters to see some jagged edges and some badly drawn 2D backgrounds. Other than that the games engine runs solid with extremely rare cases of frame rate drop, even with a lot of crazy shit going on.

The last two chapters of the game hold some of my few problems with the game. The spaces you are in are very small and the same (spaceships, long corridors, etc.), and it drags on for a little longer then maybe it should have. But, I think that is because they are ironing out the rest of the story and relationships between Hunt, Ishi, and Trishka. You even get to run around with Serrano for a few chapters which is one of the few highlights of the final two acts because his dialogue is very funny and he picks on Hunt and Ishi like there is no tomorrow. Another one of the big problems I have is that there is no new game plus, meaning that you cannot go back in to the campaign with all of the weapons unlocked and all of your stats from the beginning. I would have liked to use the special ability for some of the later unlocked guns a little more than I was able to.

In the end, Bulletstorm is a great game that I think anybody, of age, should go pick up. You will enjoy the shooting, hilarious dialogue, and over the top action. This game is a great change of pace from all of the popular twitch and tactical shooters that are crowding the market right now. So get your ass out there right now and buy this game or I’ll kill your dick!