Bulletstorm is alot of fun…I had to start with this comment because frankly when I think of Bulletstorm “fun” is the first word that comes to mind. Epic put together a serious treat for shooter fans upon the conception of Bulletstorm, as it is filled from start to finish with moments that are either making you laugh, or you are seriously blowing stuff up. Regardless of what you are doing during your time with Bulletstorm, each moment is crafted with dynamic and controllable chaos in mind. It should also be made clear the this game is worth more then the access to the Gears of War 3 Beta. Bulletstorm is a revised look as to what makes a good fps, this is apparent when you realize how much time was spent on making sure that shooting and its side effects were the driving force behind every moment through this game. Little details like being able to reload while sliding, and being able to swap a charged weapon.
Let me get one thing straight though, this game is vulgar, hilarious, disgusting, and full of crude adult humour. If none of those things interest you besides the shooting, you may see this game in a different light. You could tell that People Can Fly and Epic made this game for a specific audience and those who find it will be very fulfilled with their experience. That’s OK because not every game made in the FPS genre is going to be enjoyed by the masses, and that’s why Bulletstorm is awesome, because it doesn’t care what anyone thinks. It is here to stir up this industry and make shooters more diverse and not so military driven. This game, in a lot of ways, reminds me of Borderlands in 2009 which may have been a shooter, but it brought so many new elements to the table. Keeping the core mechanic of shooting and then building a game around it should always be in mind, and you can tell Epic games clearly thinks this way.
Bulletstorm is not a very large game scaling across your average length campaign with some light co-op in the mix, but that doesn’t seem to be a problem. This game is so fast and frantic that the pacing of the game matches the attitude it brings in the first place. It plays like a crazy Action/Adventure/Space/Sci-Fi “B” Movie and its proud of it. This game is for all of the other shooters out there that needed a little more Bulletstorm in them.
The different modes that are made available are called Echos, and Anarchy. Echos allows a single player run through of action packed campaign encounters with keeping a high score in mind for the leader boards. This reminded me of a score attack type mode. Anarchy on the other hand can be played with 2-4 players, and is an absolute blast. Team work is essential to pass through the higher rounds. Certain skill shots can only be obtained through team action, not to mention they are awesome and hilarious at times. Playing this online last night had my party screaming like a bunch of kids at a grade school birthday party where their buddy just opened up the T-Rex toy from Jurassic Park! Its great, its fun, and needs to be played by shooter fans. Its a whole new kind of challenge. Anarchy mode is pretty much horde mode 2.0 with a whole new set of rules and missions.
This review has turned into more of a talk about, because Bulletstorm doesn’t want a formal review. Their is nothing “formal” about this game you could say, instead it just pulls on you action movie loving heart strings from start to finish. I hope that other developers have the guts to try and match the level of coolness in this game, because most in games in the past 20 years are no where close to what Bulletstorm has put together! Thanks Epic Games and People Can Fly, lets hope to more adventures with Grayson and Dead Echo.
