Want to know whether or not you should buy Bulletstorm? Check out this review!
No one can accuse this game of burying the lead, Bulletstorm is not a game about giving cute kittens some warm milk; no, this game is about unleashing so many bullets, that even Texans do not want to come out of their houses. Bulletstorm uses several basic mechanics, such as a slide move to dodge or launch enemies, a tiquando leap, boot to the head move to again launch enemies into overgrown cacti and rows of spikes, and a leash move to whiplash your enemies to you to unleash more bullets into them. Although the mechanics are simplistic and introduced early, they remain entertaining as a litany of guns, super charged moves, skill shots, and witty remarks keep things fresh. There are six or so guns in the game, each with super charge ability available after a certain point in the narrative. Without doubt, some of the guns will keep any player giddy with excitement. Some personal favorites are the four-barreled shotgun, the flair gun, which is two grenades tethered together by a chain, and the drill gun, which makes Bioshock's big daddies look ill equipped in the drill department. All of the above guns and others are staples in this game's loaded arsenal of fun and with the progressive skill shops to purchase these weapons, the pacing of new weapons and super moves will keep everyone engaged.
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In addition to the fun from the weapons themselves, the skill shots and rewards earned from performing them are one of the best ideas for an in game currency ever. With each kill, the leash system awards a minimal amount of skill points. Each time the player uses a certain chain of moves, such as shooting an enemy after launching him, slow motion style, into the air with the boot of your size 20 standard issue ass-kicking shoes or toss him onto a row of spikes, they receive additional points. By combining strange things and different tactics, players will learn new skill shots and laugh at the childish titles for each action. Epic went to a lot of work to make sure anything stupid, funny, or strategic a player can think of is a skill shot. If the player uses explosive barrels to kill opponents, they receive the envro-mental skill shot. Shooting an enemy in the throat earns the gag reflex skill shot; instead, shoot him in the ass and it is the rear entry skill shot. I kid you not. Later in the game, some of the skill shots will require you to clean up the soda launched onto your TV screen. While these skill shots are entertaining and incentive to play with all the toys in Bulletstorm, they can covertly restrict gameplay in an attempt to earn as many points as possible. In addition, there is a limited amount of skill shots and they can become tendentious after long play sessions, which is not much of a problem due to the narrative's brevity.
Contrary to expectations, one of Bulletstorm's most enticing features is the well-constructed and arching narrative. The main character, elite assassin turned pirate Grayson Hunt, along with his crew, embark on a suicide mission to kill their former general and anarchy ensues on the planet where they crash land. Only one other member of Hunt's team survives and it is up to them to search for a way off the planet at any cost. Besides the members of the general's ship, The Ulysses, there are two warring factions fighting on this unknown planet. Each group has distinct fighting styles, weapons, abilities, and ways to splatter the walls red. As the narrative progresses, more characters and events from Hunt's past emerge and he must cope with the sins that now follow him and his team. Although the narrative is very enjoyable and well written, it still pales in comparison to other modern plots. Go in expecting great and Bulletstorm will not disappoint, just do not think this is Joyce, Vonnegut, or Palahniuk. Although, the game uses those authors tricks such as buckets of irony and witty satire to quench even the most erudite player's appetite for a multilevel narrative. Gears of War fans will find some jokes pointed at their classics character archetypes and somewhat forced emotional sides. Overall, Bulletstorm serves up an above average story with some Deus ex machina thrown in and it will be a water cooler game for a few weeks, a compliment most games never receive.
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One of the main reasons the narrative immerses the player, is the well written, flawed, believable, and somewhat insane characters. Besides Hunt, who is relatively sane besides the unquenchable thirst for revenge, there are three other major characters. Ishi, the questioning tragic character of the beginning soon becomes a hard-ass robotic "Ally," whose definition of friend and foe are grayer than the clouds during a thunderstorm. While he has a few moments of comedy, each laugh comes with the realization that because of Hunt's decision, savages permanently dismembered Ishi. In addition to those two, there is a woman from Dead Echo, the revival of Hunt's unit after they went rouge, named Trishka. She can handle her own and starts her arc as a petulant ass, but slowly develops into a strong and loyal character that leaves you begging for more once the credits rolls. Finally, there is the antagonist of this maddening story; Sarrano the general with an affinity for swearing in such jaw-droppingly original ways, even I walked away wondering if I should even bother swearing again. Although the voice actor does his best to use a grating voice, he is one of the most memorable characters in modern gaming. Between his racist, sexist, revolting, enraging dialog and his ability to be the most useless and cocky bastard this side of Darth Malak, he will go down as one of my favorite antagonists in gaming. No matter what type of bad guy you enjoy, the general stands far above many past villains. The culmination of all these characters and their arching stories create a gaming experience that will last for a long time.
Between the narrative, mechanics, and characters there is no reason this game should not be in your consoles or PCs right now, but somehow there is still more to say. The graphics and environments are some of the most aesthetically pleasing things I have seen in a game. Along with bosses ranging from a massive dinosaur to an enlarged Venus flytrap, the bosses are on par with the visuals as awe striking and innovative. All furthering my previously stated opinion that this game is fantastic and worth buying, but besides the aforementioned small issues, there is one issue that really made me enraged enough to leash my Xbox and hurl it out the window, the ending. I will not reveal why, how, or what enraged me, but the ending is a cliffhanger sequel set-up ending when the game had a perfectly good ending immediately before the, "true ending." In addition, the stinger at the end left me curious, yet annoyed with the choice to have no video for the final scene. A final issue, besides the brevity of the campaign, is the lack of things to do after completing the campaign. There is an Echo mode to score the highest skill points in a certain area for medals and such, but besides that the game is a dust collector on any gamer's self, until they use the handy Gears of War 3 beta. Although the Gears of War 3 beta requires the Bulletstorm disc, which is a nifty trick to keep people from returning the game... well played Epic, well played.
There is not much more to say about Bulletstorm that is not just belaboring the point that everyone should play this game through at least once. In addition, there are few games on the market today that are as fun or entertaining on all levels as Bulletstorm. Epic and People Can Fly both score one of the most well-crafted games in recent memory and a brilliant way to keep people interested in the Gears franchise after the delay. No matter your opinion of FPS or macho space marines walking around with guns the size of Rhode Island, this is a must play for everyone.
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