Starting off Bulletstorm is like starting off most modern first-person shooters; all is calm, or so it seems. Soon, with the ever popular use of flashbacks, the aim of the game becomes clear: ex-mercenary 'Grayson Hunt' must track down and kill General Sarrano, his ex-commanding officer, as payback for using him and his team to do some "ugly shit". In his lust for vengeance Hunt makes a heinous error in judgement and causes both himself and Sarrano to crash on a desolate planet called Stygia, filled with violent natives and man-eating foliage. Certain parts of the game's story point toward a broader tale being told and may begin to lead you down the path of being interested in what the game has to say, but after the umpteenth dick 'joke' (by joke we mean 'taking a popular phrase and replacing the key word with "dick"') all you'll be focussing on is the killing. Although it is refreshing to have a protagonist who's on the vengeance trail for some reason other than the bad guy having killed his dog, or mum, or whatever.
Happily, the killing is substantial enough to carry the slack of the story using the 'Skillshot' system the game is almost entirely based around. The game basically rewards you with points for murdering your enemies in harsh, violent and often needlessly brutal fashions which will then be accompanied by an innuendo-fuelled name for the type of kill. Say you shoot a man in the throat, that's called 'Gag reflex'. Perhaps it's more your flavour to tie explosives to one enemy and use him to blow up one of his friends, that's called 'Gang bang' and the list goes on. To aid you along in the slaughter of the native population (who deserve it) Hunt gets his mitts on a leash, a device that can be used to grab enemies and pull them toward you over great distances, leaving them floating in slow motion in front of you for a short time.
Even when you're not concentrating on killing enemies in horribly imaginative ways the gun play is satisfying. There's a real weight to the weapons used and they manage to feel powerful. The guns can also be upgraded at special drop pods to carry more ammo or fire special charged shots which add different properties to the weapon. Movement is a joy in Bulletstorm as well, with the ability to either sprint or slide along the ground to reach your destination, and if your sliding destination is an enemy then you'll boot him into the air ready for the kill. Bulletstorm also features collectibles in the form of destroying Newsbots and swarms of Electroflies, adding some extra playtime to a scant campaign mode that lasts around 6-8 hours.
If you still have a lust for blood and skillshot points after the campaign is done you can head on over to multiplayer to participate in Anarchy mode for some co-operative AI murdering with four friends or strangers. This mode includes extra team skillshots that can only be accomplished via team work. Anarchy mode isn't all about co-operation though, as competition comes in the form of trying to get a higher score than the other players while still having to reach a score threshold as a team.
Epic aren't forcing you to be sociable though, as there's a seperate Echo mode which sees players play through certain sections of the game to see who can rack up the most skillshot points. Leaderboards are then stored allowing you to compete with your Xbox Live/PSN friends over who can rank up the highest points on whatever section of the game.
If you still have a lust for blood and skillshot points after the campaign is done you can head on over to multiplayer to participate in Anarchy mode for some co-operative AI murdering with four friends or strangers. This mode includes extra team skillshots that can only be accomplished via team work. Anarchy mode isn't all about co-operation though, as competition comes in the form of trying to get a higher score than the other players while still having to reach a score threshold as a team.
Epic aren't forcing you to be sociable though, as there's a seperate Echo mode which sees players play through certain sections of the game to see who can rack up the most skillshot points. Leaderboards are then stored allowing you to compete with your Xbox Live/PSN friends over who can rank up the highest points on whatever section of the game.
The audio in Bulletstorm does its job nicely. Crumbling buildings give off a convincing rumble, whilst smaller pieces of masonry clatter to floor, almost tinny in comparison. The sound effects on the guns give you a fair sense of weight and force for the most part and explosions sound earth shattering at times. The voice acting is performed well enough by the chosen actors. General Sarrano is a clear clone of Gunnery Sergeant Hartman (Full Metal Jacket) not done particularly well but effective enough as the bad guy. The other characters could fill in roles as 'pissed off man', 'pissed off vengeful man' and 'pissed off vengeful woman' respectively as not much is done to flesh them out. Most of the dialogue involves jokes specifying a slang term for male genitalia, and is about as refined, but it works given the game's backdrop. Unfortunately for Bulletstorm the best of it's dialogue is not the juvenile spewing of sweary words, but the occasional glimpses in to Hunt's guilty conscience and self-loathing that the game affords at brief intervals.
It's not just the audio that makes Bulletstorm's presentation something special, the visuals in the game are very nice even on consoles. Occasionally marred by blurred textures that refuse to pop in, the Unreal Engine is really well showcased here with God rays streaming in from between crumbling buildings, and waterfalls formed over collapsing cities looking somehow organic. The character models are well done too, apart from the hair of Grayson Hunt, who must use the same as Nathan Drake as his hair stays fixed in place and unmoving at all times. All of this together leave the visual styling of Bulletstorm being very indicative of the game as a whole: very attractive yet falling just short of perfect.
Pros
It's not just the audio that makes Bulletstorm's presentation something special, the visuals in the game are very nice even on consoles. Occasionally marred by blurred textures that refuse to pop in, the Unreal Engine is really well showcased here with God rays streaming in from between crumbling buildings, and waterfalls formed over collapsing cities looking somehow organic. The character models are well done too, apart from the hair of Grayson Hunt, who must use the same as Nathan Drake as his hair stays fixed in place and unmoving at all times. All of this together leave the visual styling of Bulletstorm being very indicative of the game as a whole: very attractive yet falling just short of perfect.
Pros
- The skillshot system is great fun
- Combat feels satisfying
- Great presentation
- Writing can be humorous at times
Cons
- Bare-bones story
- Shallow characters
- Short campaign
- No competitive multiplayer
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