Let the bullets fly, and your brain fry!
First I'll talk about the game from a design standpoint. Bulletstorm looks great. Environments are bright and colorful, and the gigantic, vibrant horizons spark the imagination. Character models are good for the most part. Though, when you get a close up view of some of the main characters you may notice some muggy textures and plastic like skin tones. These are small issues, but they are still noticeable. The art direction of Bulletstorm is fun, and energetic. Throughout the campaign you may also see some designs that are reminiscent of games like of Gears of War. This isn't surprising considering Epic Games has partnered up with People Can Fly to make this title. Enemy designs are also impressive with the exceptions of the "Burnouts" which seem dull in comparison.
While the art design shines, the story and dialogue falls flat on its face. Characters shout obscenities constantly, and cringe-worthy one-liners soil the experience. It is clear that this decision was made in order to make the game seem even more over the top, but by the end of the game it becomes highly annoying. Most of the dialogue sounds like it was written by a twelve year old that just learn he could use the F word. You may find yourself trying to turn off the voices in the options menu. Because of this major flaw the characters are nearly impossible to relate to. You may well hate all the characters by the conclusion of the game. Its hard to care about the nonexistent story when you despise the main characters. The game has a small back story, but never takes full advantage of tying it into the game environment in an interesting way. Its mainly there to give you an excuse to kill a large number of enemies on an exotic planet. My guess is that you wont see a long line of comics, and movies centered around Bulletstorm, or maybe you will.
Game play is based around kill-shots. These add up to killing enemies in unique, and unorthodox ways. For example, shooting them in their nethers, or kicking them off a cliff. This game mechanic gives players the chance to experiment with different ways to dispose of their disgruntled foes. At a glance these kill-shots are a fresh way to produce a unique shooter experience. While they can raise your adrenaline levels, and make you feel imaginative in the way you kill your enemies, they soon loose their allure. At first they are fun to pull off, but later become tedious. Before long you may find yourself simply kicking bad guys into cacti or electrically charged wires just to get past some stages, rather than trying to cleverly do away with them. The whip and kick/slide ability are essential to playing Bulletstorm. These abilities are in constant use throughout the game play experience, and attempt to add depth to the action. These mechanics are fresh, and while not revolutionary, are good additions to the controls. Weapons are upgradeable after they have been collected. However, the game does not allow you to play previous levels with your newly found gear. This is an odd fault that might have added some replayability to the campaign.
Level design in Bulletstorm is incredibly linear. There is barely any room for exploration. This makes the whole experience feel confined, and restricted. In a way this is appropriate, keeping the player in the intense action constantly, but is disappointing considering the vibrant surroundings. Levels consist of butchering one group of enemies, and then instantly repeating the process. This is where most of the tedium originates from. Bulletstorms overall formula is combat-cut scene-combat. A few bosses are thrown in to mix it up a bit, but aren't dynamic enough to enhance the game or stay in the player's mind. This wouldn't be a problem if the last few acts of the game didn't drag on so long. During this segment of the game you will be begging for the end credits to role. The game play turns from kill-shot based to "lets throw a ton of enemies at the player as filler".
Multiplayer also falls short of expectations. Rather than being player versus player, it is a point based horde mode. Each stage gives the players a point goal, and different waves of enemies to reach it with. While fun with close friends, this mode can become frustrating with online players that don't think with the teams best interest in mind. This game mode isn't quite addictive enough to stand up to the most prominent multiplayer games available on consoles. You may find a few hours of enjoyment with this mode, but will soon turn to your old standbys.
Bulletstorm promised to give a new perspective of shooters, but falls far short of most expectations. The environments and art design shine. This is a game that is fun to look at. The story, dialogue, and characters fail to stimulate the player on a deeper level, and the game play loses its novelty about halfway through the single player campaign. These faults seem to cheapen the game. Multiplayer doesn't hold up to other multiplayer experiences offered by more prominent games. This is not a game for players looking to play through a deep experience. If you want to play a fast paced game that is fun to play with friends for a short amount of time, then Bulletstorm is where you should look.