Stylishly killing foes rewards you with an extra score, which is used as currency in Bulletstorm.
One of the more recent games I’ve just completed playing through is Epic Games’ Bulletstorm, a first person shooter that introduces some new gameplay elements to the tried-and-true FPS formula. The game was developed by the Polish development studio People Can Fly, which was bought by Epic Games back in 2007. Does this small studio have what it takes to appeal to the mass market FPS crowd? Hit the jump to find out.
The Highs
For those of you that enjoy shooters but have gotten a little tired of the recent modern combat based ones, Bulletstorm has some pretty interesting and enjoyable gameplay mechanics. First off, in addition to your weapon list, you are equipped with a whip to pull enemies into you as and have the ability to slide and kick them as well. The most innovative aspect of the game is that you are graded on your style of killing your enemies – something I have not seen done before in a FPS. With Bulletstorm, you are encouraged to kill enemies through over 100 different means; you can pull them in with your whip, then kick them into a cactus, shoot them in the junk then blow their head off, launch them into the air, disintegrate them and watch their dust pour down below. Between all of the different hazardous environments and weapons, you can have a lot of fun and you earn score (which is a currency you use to buy upgrades and ammo throughout the game) based on how elaborate your methods are for killing your opponents.
I dislike collectathons a lot in games, but Bulletstorm introduced a collectathon that I actually enjoyed for once: Skillshots – or basically, ways to kill your opponent. I had a great time trying to figure out and kill the various enemies in every way possible so I could check each one off the list. The names for the Skillshots can be pretty witty as well, adding to the fun. For example, “French Revolution” is awarded if you can kill two or more enemies by decapitating them, “Meat Fountain” is awarded if you can kill two or more enemies in the air with a cannonball, and “Fish Food” is earned if you can fling an enemy into piranha-infested waters. The list goes on!
What also makes Bulletstorm’s style unique is that it actually feels Duke Nukem-ish in a good way. Let’s forget about the recent Duke Nukem Forever release and how bad it is. Bulletstorm however, somehow brings the humor and dialogue of Duke Nukem 3D into this generation, and it works – making Duke Nukem Forever seem like it did not change with the times. While I really felt that the humor in the Duke Nukem Forever demo I played was childish and lame, Bulletstorm’s humor is immature yet humorous! On top of this, the weapon assortment you get to play with in Bulletstorm also reminds me of Duke Nukem 3D as well, since the weapons are different than traditional FPS weapons and are fun in their own way. For example, one weapon is a launcher that launches grenade-fused flails, so they wrap around an enemy or object and then you can detonate them to blow up everything in the area. Or how about a cannonball that can bounce and explode when you want it to? The developers of Bulletstorm really made sure that the game was fun to play – something that I find most important in any game that I play.
Bulletstorm’s sole multiplayer mode requires achieving a minimum team score to pass each level.
The Lows
While the gameplay itself is innovative and fun, I was slightly disappointed by the game’s length. For a game as focused on the campaign as this one, it ran a bit short – probably around 8 hours. There is an additional “time trial” like mode where you can play various sections from the campaign and try to score as high as you can for Leaderboard competition. But even then, the game feels a bit too short. There are also not too many enemy types in the game, but this issue is not as big of a deal due to the fact that the star of the show is about how you kill the enemy types, and each level usually brings new ways or introduces new weapons.
Anarchy is the one multiplayer mode in the game, but it is a co-op based one. It is very similar to what many of the big shooters do these days, such as Gears of War’s Horde mode and Halo’s Firefight mode. Your objective is to partner with up to 3 other players and take on waves of enemies. However, unlike other games where your goal is simply to kill all enemies, in Bulletstorm’s Anarchy mode your team has to hit a certain total point value based on the score you receive from stylishly killing enemies. I played about an hour of it and found it to be too bland for my tastes; you run around the same small level for dozens of rounds it seems and when there are four people playing, there just isn’t enough action – you get to kill maybe 6-10 enemies an entire round. If your team doesn’t hit the minimum score needed to pass the level, you have to play the level again. It’s just not a very enjoyable experience with strangers, but it can be made fun with friends I suppose.
Ever get annoyed with enemies behind cover? Just pull them over with a whip!
Final Thoughts
Bulletstorm brings some innovation to the FPS table, and for that I give it my respect and recommendation. If you like the idea of stylishly killing enemies in a FPS for score (it feels like an Arcade game at times) it’s a blast. The crude humor that is actually amusing gives it some points too – other FPS games these days even seem too serious in comparison. However, for what Bulletstorm offers, I believe it is a bit too highly priced. $20 is a perfect price for this game, since it’s a relatively short campaign and the multiplayer isn’t really worth checking out.
The problem with Bulletstorm is that to me, is that while it does offer some innovative gameplay, its total package just can’t compare to other more recent FPS games I’ve played such as Killzone 3 or Crysis 2. Both of those games have more fleshed out multiplayer, and Crysis 2 offers a campaign that is about double the length of Bulletstorm’s. Bulletstorm was more worth it when it first launched since it gave Gears of War fans access to the Gears of War 3 beta multiplayer, but today, it’s better to wait until you can find a good deal on the game since it’s a “one and done” type of game.
Final Score: B
