Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm is a huge mash up of elements you have seen before. The environmental kills of 'Mad World', the bawdy un-pc script of Duke Nukem, the armour and weapon aesthetics of Gears of War, and something very similar to the gravity gun from Half-Life 2. When you break it down like this, you would be forgiven for feeling less than excited about the prospect of playing such a derivative title - But wearing its influences on its sleeve does not prevent this FPS from feeling like a breath of fresh air.

Most importantly this is a well designed game. The guns feel solid, they are balanced in terms of power, and have excellent uprades and second functions. The Levels in Campaign mode are well put together, and the environments, whilst not jaw droppingly rendered, are still pretty enough to create a 'real' world in which to tell the story, which is well voice acted, wittily scripted, and about as intricate as a brick :-D

The gameplay is a blast. Essentialy, 'just' killing an enemy gleans you little reward, this game demands that you combine weapon, environment, and melee attacks into a devastating combination. This is where the 'leash' comes into its own - leashing and kicking enemies sends them flying through the air in 'bullet time' allowing you time to aim precisely at their bodies and play out some pretty evil combinations of violence. For example, leash a distant enemy and as he hurtles towards you, target his neck with the flail gun (it fires explosive bolas), now kick him back into the crowd of his friends from whence he was plucked, just in time for the bolas to explode, taking out his friends with him. And that is one of the more mundane and simple possibilties presented by this game. Add remote control explosive sniper rounds, maneating plants, and a wealth of other nastiness into the mix, and the carnage becomes unrivaled by any other game available. This game will only become repetetive to those without the ability to take the time to experiment, and just rely on 'leash-kick-headshot' which will take care of 80% of enemies you encounter, but later levels do force you to use more imagination, so best break that mindset in earlier, easier times. With imagination, come rewards, in the guise of exp points, which can be spent at 'pods' that you find as you go through the game. Here you can buy ammo, unlock secondary fire options, and upgrade power and capacity of all weaponry. Doing this unlocks greater kill-combo's and so the cycle goes.

Things are not perfect though - In campaign, aside from the mandatory 'heavy gun on the back of a vehicle' escape set piece, and a couple of helicopter segments, there is no vehicle usage (and in none of those scenes do you control the vehicle, only the guns), which is a shame, because the vehicles that appear in the game look very good indeed. Maybe something for the sequel?
Also, the graphics are pretty, and imaginative, with good animations, but lack that amazing HD detail that we have come to expect from top-end titles. Thus they are only 'very good' not 'unbelievable'.

Multiplayer is a whole world of laughs, and, as you would expect from the creators of the 'Gears' series, has its own version of 'Horde', pitting you and your friends against ever more challenging waves of AI. HaloODST stole the concept and called it 'Firefight', and as this is FPS not TPS, comparison to FF is more relevant, and here it feels superior in every way, with a chance to spend exp points between rounds upgrading and changing load out to your taste for the oncoming carnage.

I have yet to try the other multiplayer options (It only came out yesterday, and I wanted to complete the campaign before writing the review), but with game mechanics this solid, and such an outrageous concept, I cannot see anything but fun coming from all multiplayer options.

This is the perfect antidote to the 'realism' of the recent glut of military shooters, and will have shooter fans grinning from ear to ear. Highly recommended.

There has been a lot of bad publicity about this game, concentrating on its graphic violence and dreadful bad language, however having played all the way through the game I don't understand why. Yes there is a lot of bloody violence and bad language, but it is so over the top that it is laughable rather than offensive. For me this is also why Bulletstorm works so well, it is just mindless bloody fun and a great game to boot.

The story line is stupid, the violence is ridiculously over the top, the language is dreadful and all of this serve to create a hilariously fun game to play. Add to this great visuals and superb shooting mechnics and this is a superb game to loose yourself in for some great fun.

If you want a game that is fun to play, and does not take itself to seriously then bulletstorm is a superb choice!

Presentation 9.5

Bulletstorm does a great job of establishing a reality and sticking to it. The story is fun right up until the end, and the Leash sells the point system.

Graphics 9
Bulletstorm sets a new standard for Unreal Engine 3 games, with some great models and texture work complimented by brilliant colour and great lighting.

Sound 8.5
Bulletstorm's soundtrack is a mix between orchestral bombast and cliche'd shooter industrial, but the voicework is fun and well acted - assuming you can deal with the toilet humor.

Gameplay 9.5
Bulletstorm plays very well, with great responsive shooting. A wide variety of ways to kill your enemies and extra cool 'weapons' e.g. alcohol make this game awesome. The combo system is also great probably the best i've seen in my life as it really gets you hooked into improving your score by replaying. Unfortunately, Bulletstorm gets a bit repetitive in its last act and the ending is a bad shock but overall a fantastic unique game.

Lasting Appeal 9
Bulletstorm is seriously short as it only took me 5-7 hours to get through the campaign but with the different gameplay this game offers you will come back to the campaign for more, echoes mode is good fun, and anarchy mode is great and will keep you hooked till the eagerly anticipated gears 3 beta.