Bulletstorm Review

By Mark

Giving the finger to the rest of your particular genre isn’t necessarily a hard thing to do, but to do that and make a killer game yourself that drags people in is. That’s what Bulletstorm’s goal is though and it set its sights high long before the game came out with the Duty Calls parody and heavy marketing with the game’s tagline ‘kill with skill’. So have People Can Fly achieved something here in the crowded FPS market of today or is this yet another shooter to promise the world and deliver nothing?

One thing to be clear, if you’ve come to Bulletstorm with high hopes of a deep involving story line and a narrative you can really get behind then this isn’t necessarily the right title to look at. Of course, while saying that I don’t mean what’s on offer here is bad by any means it’s just not the focal point of the game. Players assume the role of Grayson Hunt, leader of ‘Dead Echo’ a mercenary outfit working under the command of General Sarrano, this setup turns sour in the opening stages however after Grayson and the rest of Dead Echo are betrayed and dishonourably discharged from the force. 

10 years later is where the game kicks into high gear as we see Grayson send his squad and ship front first through the General’s fleet ship on a liquor fuelled revenge attempt that came about by chance. As you’d imagine such an attempt doesn’t go down to well and our hero finds himself and friend Ishi Sato now stranded on the planet of Stygia. Once a resort for tourists the universe over, Stygia is now home to meat-eating plants, giant monsters, mutants and criminal gangs that the pair find themselves fighting all too frequently along with Sarrano’s forces themselves as they too are stranded on the planet.  

The aim, then, is to get off the planet and take out the General that wronged them. Along the way our heroes are not alone. The pair find themselves joined by Trishka, the delightfully foul mouthed woman with a shadowy past and current leader of ‘Final Echo’ the replacement for Grayson’s Dead Echo outfit. As I say it’s not an amazing premise, but there is a lot of crass humour and over the top moments that are just plain fun to view or play regardless and at the end of the day that’s what Bulletstorm is all about, fun.

As you’d expect it’s the gameplay where Bulletstorm either lives or dies, with claims to make the player ‘kill with skill’ and poking fun at competition it had to make it on this aspect at least and for the most part it does. The controls are standard fair albeit tweaked to match the arsenal and abilities that are offered in the game, so to compare to other titles instead of grenades being thrown you’ll be leashing enemies toward you and instead of a one hit melee button we have a kick that sends the enemy flying, allowing you to kill them in whatever creative manner you please. 

The killing with skill comes into play once Grayson has acquired the leash, the explanation given is that the onboard AI within the equipment is constantly evaluating the user. So the more ‘skillshots’ the user completes the more points they earn for ammo and upgrades. It’s not a perfect reason but at least they implemented the game’s main feature into the actual narrative. There’s also a multitude of weapons that you have access to so that you can pull off the flashy, over the top kills ranging from the standard assault rifle to a weapon that fires huge drills at foes. If that still wasn’t enough to quench your killing need then you’ll be pleased to know that each of the weapons come with a ‘charge’ shot once unlocked. These add more variety to your killing choices and can make for some really entertaining multi-kills. 

As for the levels you’ll be stomping around in, Bulletstorm is structured in a very linear way. While there are some open battlefields the focus is to keep pushing forward and racking up as much destruction as you can along the way. Some will feel that the design could, or should, be freer in terms of roaming Stygia but again that isn’t the aim of the title. Instead of that we get a blazing rush of a campaign that has a wealth of ‘holy crap’ moments, crude and obnoxious humour and that injection of fun that has felt absent from other shooters these days. 

In addition to the game’s campaign there are also two other featured modes; one being ‘Echoes’ which has players dash through segments of campaign levels where they can rank on a leaderboard for high scores. While the other is ‘Anarchy’ mode, this is largely akin to horde from Gears of War or fire fight from Halo. Competitive multiplayer is absent although it’s easy to see why once you’ve experienced the game. 

Visually, the planet of Stygia has some truly awe inspired vistas that you’ll appreciate when taking a breather from all the mass murdering you’ll no doubt be accomplishing during your time with the game and while it’s not the best looking game out there it certainly appeals to the eye. Aside from the urban sections of the planet you’ll also visit caves, an overgrown garden, a museum and then there’s the sections that take place within the spaceships so there’s enough variety going for you to gawk at.

The voice work in Bulletstorm does the game a great justice as the game is packed with jokes, one liners, insults, conversation and arguments so it’s nice to see that People Can Fly got the right people for the job. You’ll immediately pick out Grayson’s voice (Steve Blum) if you’ve played Dragon Age: Origins as he also provided the voice of Oghren whereas Trishka is handled by the all too familiar Jennifer Hale who lends her voice to all the FemSheps out there in Mass Effect.  As for the game’s soundtrack it’s also suitably fitting drafting in heavy rock beats when wasting foes and orchestral scores when dealing with the subtler moments. 

To wrap up Bulletstorm does what it set out to do, and that’s to bring back the ‘fun’ to shooting. No military or real world settings, just some off world pirates stranded on a beautiful planet that happens to be brimming with the perfect victims for kicking and leashing around. With nice visuals, great sound work, a pleasing narrative and overall kickass gameplay it all adds up to being a great experience that doesn’t falter that much in delivering a purely archaic and enjoyable experience. Sure, the multiplayer could of been better and the ending is somewhat flat but those are things that can be dealt with in the sure to come sequel and for now Bulletstorm is a title that deserves your attention while it lasts.

Bulletstorm - 8.5/10

In a nutshell we...

Love

• Over the top at every turn
• Skillshots
• Humour abound

Not So Much

• Point A to B, again? 
• No real closure at the end