Summary: When I first heard of Bulletstorm, I had little idea what to expect. It seemed like Gears of War, with the gameplay mechanics of The Club. Lo and behold, this is almost exactly what it turned out to be, just with a little alcohol thrown into the mix and no cover system. The main objective of the game is to murder with as much style as possible. This earns you skill points, which allows you to purchase ammo and upgrades. The "style" these points are earned with ranges, from shooting a dude up his asshole, to making creative use of environmental/ weapon combinations. The gameplay is fast and loose, with infinite sprint, and a slide which serves well to move the player, along with setting up enemies for skill shots. Things are further complicated with the use of a commandeered leash, which can be used in myriad ways as one would expect a leash to be utilized. The planet of Stygia is a wasteland of foul-mouth debauchery, but its a hell of a good time if you're looking to mess some mutants up. Nothing within the game is especially impressive as the brutal kills eventually become a grind for pints. But there are no glaring faults either; you'll have a good time with it, but it's certainly not blockbuster title.
Story: It begins with the main character, Grayson Hunt (every time I hear his name I think of the c-word, coincidence?), attacking his former commanding office in the hopes of carrying out some sort of drunken revenge/ retribution/ stupor. Following the attack, the player is introduced to some background on the character, and insight into why Grayson is in the position he is. The story continues on with Grayson and his partner, the now mechanized Ishi, making their way towards the downed escape vessel of General Serrano in the hopes of rescue off the planet. Along the way they pursue Trishka, who can help them locate the General and make their way there. Naturally, there is a sort of sexual tension between her and Grayson, which is awkwardly never really explored. Even in a situation where Grayson is given "1 wish" if he completes an objective in time, and the game actually stops to zoom in on Trishka, he asks her to forgive his partner. This is a drunk space pirate, you're telling me that's what he'd ask for? The writing falls short relatively often, especially in regards to Ishi. Following the initial altercation, which leaves him battling for his mind against an AI, his behavior changes radically. He threatens other characters, and makes it clear that he will survive, even if he has to kill them all. Then randomly the old Ishi pops in, especially towards the end, saying he forgives Grayson and he'll stand with him. Opportunities for a struggle for control are completely unexplored, and what could have been interesting story elements were completely glossed over. More than this, in the beginning it is made evident that Ishi needs to siphon power from electrical sources to survive. Except he does it once, then never does it again. Yet another opportunity for an interesting tension completely gone to waste. Grayson has very little personal growth throughout the story, as he was never that bad in the first place. Indeed he was drunk (and why nobody stopped him from attacking a military star ship is beyond me), but he had the right intentions. Serrano betrayed him and his team, and he wanted revenge. He was never a bad character who would face an epiphany, he had his heart in the right place, which is difficult for people to connect to as there is no development really. The ending left a very bad taste in my mouth unfortunately, and seemed like an obvious launching point for the sequel. The nature of this hardened military veteran is completely ignored, as he doesn't even check to see if the job is done after an interesting and lengthy end sequence. This seemed to clearly point to them wanting to keep their main antagonist alive so that a sequel would be a given.
Gameplay: As mentioned before, the main currency of the game runs off of skill points earned from skill shots. These are peformed by using a combination of the kick, slide, environment, weapon, and leash mechanics. The player can pull the enemies into certain areas of the environment to pin them to walls, or use the bountiful supply of explosive barrels littering the environment to blast enemies away. The kick and slide are interesting as they knock the enemies back in different ways. The kick leaves your opponent unprotected against a head shot, while slides leave your enemy's ass exposed for pounding. Weapons each have an alternate fire, called a charge shot, which allows for my skill opportunities. I feel that some of these mechanics were introduced at the wrong times, for example one of the skill shots requires decapitating an enemy while they have a parasite on their head. But you only find out in the last 2 hours that the only way to perform a decapitation is the charge shot of the Flail Gun. The leash has the standard pull function, while also allowing you to use the Thumper mechanism. Enemies can be flung into the air, and combined with new kill mechanics. This is especially handy against certain enemies who are too fast to be grabbed by the standard leash. I understand that variety is needed in the enemy types to increase difficulty, but is it really realistic that these enemies could be so fast that they could evade an energy leashed controlled by a dude's mind? That's like being able to dodge eye-lasers. The Thumper is also useful in downing heavier mini-bosses, so that the weak spots on their back can be exploited. Bulletstorm's greatest strength is in its balls out, fast paced action. Much like The Club, you want it to be like driving a car; go fast and steer, and never stop. Unfortunately there are more than a few sequences where you are forced to hide from snipers, completely halting the action. Even worse than this is that you have to physically steer bullets when you counter snipe, and every enemy dodges. This makes the sequences that you just want to get past so you can get back to the fun even longer! removing that dodge would go a great way in fixing a pretty annoying mechanic, and return the player to the action much faster
Graphics: The world of Stygia is a visual delight, and in no way hurting for personality or content. From sprawling landscapes to dank caverns, there is an immensely diverse offering of environments. The draw distance is excellent, and the developers take every opportunity they can to display immense vistas in the distance and give you the feeling of really being on an entire planet, rather than just a single city. Stygia was intended to be a vacation planet, which shows in certain areas meant to be attractions and the beautiful environments. The once blossoming city has been since overgrown and devastated, but it never lets itself be muted down into dull greys and browns. This game has color to spare, and its works greatly in its favor. At the same time, the characters leave a lot to be desired. Grayson looks like he's straight out of Marcus Fenix's squad from Gears, even down to his gravely demeanor. They just didn't even make an effort on his armor, it is literally taken right from the Gears universe. Trishka is the standard video game heroin/ love interest, as in quite attractive despite the situation, and leaving her torso entirely unarmored so you can take a good gander at her sweater puppets under a tank top. She's taking bullets on a daily basis, and she's wearing a fucking tank top. Ishi is the most interesting, as his cyborg components blend awfully in just the right way with his body. Part of his skull is exposed, legs and arms have been replaced, and half his face was transplanted. It is such a patch job fix and looks fantastic in just the wrong way. Technically, the game falls short in certain areas. Towards the end of the game, about act 5 or so, when the action got too intense, I was hit with a few short loading pauses in the middle of the fight. This is clearly incredibly jarring for a game that ran relatively well up until that point. The cut scenes are shot in such a way that there seems to be trails on everything, which is almost uncomfortable to watch at certain points.
Sound: Let's get the easy stuff out of the way; there is a lot of cursing in this game, and not cursing but just nasty words. It doesn't always sound like it should be there, but it rings true. Serrano is the best of the bunch in terms of insults, laying down puke-nuts better than the rest. Most of the insults sound like they were put through a random generator, combining two superfluous words to end up with new ridiculous ones. More than this, all the audio is relatively crisp and comes across well. The music is exactly what you would expect, but it is not as loud as I would have liked. When I hear metal, I expect it to take over the game and plow through the dialogue, but in the few situations you hear music, it blends into the background. Nonetheless, the guns have a decent crack to them, enemies howl as they should, and things go boom. Now the dialogue is where things fall apart. When the characters aren't pissed off and cursing at each other, it almost sounds like it is being read off a page. None of the speech holds any weight, and it makes the already throwaway story even less believable.
Multi-player/ side modes: There are 2 modes of gameplay aside from the main story; Echoes mode, and co-op multi-player. Echos mode is literally The Club. No cut scenes, no story, no dialogue; just murder for points. The faster you make it through the level and the more stylish your kills, the higher you score. Also, the drop kits where normally upgrades are received functions only to refill your ammo. There are no upgrades so everyone is on the same level. The major problem with this mode is that there is no player. How does this happen? It is a speed run, score attack mode, but there isn't even couch co-op? This seems like a huge oversight. The multiplayer proper is co-op only, there is no competitive component other than to see who contributed the most to the team. I understand this, given the slowdown and effects that occur when an enemy is knocked into the air. It would never work if there was an actual human behind it, as the person who slid the most would win. Regardless, the multiplayer is wave based, and the team competes to reach a certain benchmark score. If that score is not reached, the wave is reset and the team is given another chance to murder better. The team gets 30 seconds at the beginning of each round to upgrade their character and guns, but these purchases are not persistent throughout your career. Throughout each wave there are a few sparse opportunities where team specific skill shots are pinpointed, where if completed properly, landed huge points for the match. My personal favorite was me sliding into a guy, shooting him in the dick (not sure if that played any part in the combo, just thought i''d throw that in there), and having a teammate leash him into a giant pressing machine.
Buy/ Rent/ Pass: It's a hell of a game and a really good time. Absolutely worth playing, but it definitely doesn't have the staying power to justify a full purchase. Bulletstorm is a rent, but a recommended one.
Story: It begins with the main character, Grayson Hunt (every time I hear his name I think of the c-word, coincidence?), attacking his former commanding office in the hopes of carrying out some sort of drunken revenge/ retribution/ stupor. Following the attack, the player is introduced to some background on the character, and insight into why Grayson is in the position he is. The story continues on with Grayson and his partner, the now mechanized Ishi, making their way towards the downed escape vessel of General Serrano in the hopes of rescue off the planet. Along the way they pursue Trishka, who can help them locate the General and make their way there. Naturally, there is a sort of sexual tension between her and Grayson, which is awkwardly never really explored. Even in a situation where Grayson is given "1 wish" if he completes an objective in time, and the game actually stops to zoom in on Trishka, he asks her to forgive his partner. This is a drunk space pirate, you're telling me that's what he'd ask for? The writing falls short relatively often, especially in regards to Ishi. Following the initial altercation, which leaves him battling for his mind against an AI, his behavior changes radically. He threatens other characters, and makes it clear that he will survive, even if he has to kill them all. Then randomly the old Ishi pops in, especially towards the end, saying he forgives Grayson and he'll stand with him. Opportunities for a struggle for control are completely unexplored, and what could have been interesting story elements were completely glossed over. More than this, in the beginning it is made evident that Ishi needs to siphon power from electrical sources to survive. Except he does it once, then never does it again. Yet another opportunity for an interesting tension completely gone to waste. Grayson has very little personal growth throughout the story, as he was never that bad in the first place. Indeed he was drunk (and why nobody stopped him from attacking a military star ship is beyond me), but he had the right intentions. Serrano betrayed him and his team, and he wanted revenge. He was never a bad character who would face an epiphany, he had his heart in the right place, which is difficult for people to connect to as there is no development really. The ending left a very bad taste in my mouth unfortunately, and seemed like an obvious launching point for the sequel. The nature of this hardened military veteran is completely ignored, as he doesn't even check to see if the job is done after an interesting and lengthy end sequence. This seemed to clearly point to them wanting to keep their main antagonist alive so that a sequel would be a given.
Gameplay: As mentioned before, the main currency of the game runs off of skill points earned from skill shots. These are peformed by using a combination of the kick, slide, environment, weapon, and leash mechanics. The player can pull the enemies into certain areas of the environment to pin them to walls, or use the bountiful supply of explosive barrels littering the environment to blast enemies away. The kick and slide are interesting as they knock the enemies back in different ways. The kick leaves your opponent unprotected against a head shot, while slides leave your enemy's ass exposed for pounding. Weapons each have an alternate fire, called a charge shot, which allows for my skill opportunities. I feel that some of these mechanics were introduced at the wrong times, for example one of the skill shots requires decapitating an enemy while they have a parasite on their head. But you only find out in the last 2 hours that the only way to perform a decapitation is the charge shot of the Flail Gun. The leash has the standard pull function, while also allowing you to use the Thumper mechanism. Enemies can be flung into the air, and combined with new kill mechanics. This is especially handy against certain enemies who are too fast to be grabbed by the standard leash. I understand that variety is needed in the enemy types to increase difficulty, but is it really realistic that these enemies could be so fast that they could evade an energy leashed controlled by a dude's mind? That's like being able to dodge eye-lasers. The Thumper is also useful in downing heavier mini-bosses, so that the weak spots on their back can be exploited. Bulletstorm's greatest strength is in its balls out, fast paced action. Much like The Club, you want it to be like driving a car; go fast and steer, and never stop. Unfortunately there are more than a few sequences where you are forced to hide from snipers, completely halting the action. Even worse than this is that you have to physically steer bullets when you counter snipe, and every enemy dodges. This makes the sequences that you just want to get past so you can get back to the fun even longer! removing that dodge would go a great way in fixing a pretty annoying mechanic, and return the player to the action much faster
Graphics: The world of Stygia is a visual delight, and in no way hurting for personality or content. From sprawling landscapes to dank caverns, there is an immensely diverse offering of environments. The draw distance is excellent, and the developers take every opportunity they can to display immense vistas in the distance and give you the feeling of really being on an entire planet, rather than just a single city. Stygia was intended to be a vacation planet, which shows in certain areas meant to be attractions and the beautiful environments. The once blossoming city has been since overgrown and devastated, but it never lets itself be muted down into dull greys and browns. This game has color to spare, and its works greatly in its favor. At the same time, the characters leave a lot to be desired. Grayson looks like he's straight out of Marcus Fenix's squad from Gears, even down to his gravely demeanor. They just didn't even make an effort on his armor, it is literally taken right from the Gears universe. Trishka is the standard video game heroin/ love interest, as in quite attractive despite the situation, and leaving her torso entirely unarmored so you can take a good gander at her sweater puppets under a tank top. She's taking bullets on a daily basis, and she's wearing a fucking tank top. Ishi is the most interesting, as his cyborg components blend awfully in just the right way with his body. Part of his skull is exposed, legs and arms have been replaced, and half his face was transplanted. It is such a patch job fix and looks fantastic in just the wrong way. Technically, the game falls short in certain areas. Towards the end of the game, about act 5 or so, when the action got too intense, I was hit with a few short loading pauses in the middle of the fight. This is clearly incredibly jarring for a game that ran relatively well up until that point. The cut scenes are shot in such a way that there seems to be trails on everything, which is almost uncomfortable to watch at certain points.
Sound: Let's get the easy stuff out of the way; there is a lot of cursing in this game, and not cursing but just nasty words. It doesn't always sound like it should be there, but it rings true. Serrano is the best of the bunch in terms of insults, laying down puke-nuts better than the rest. Most of the insults sound like they were put through a random generator, combining two superfluous words to end up with new ridiculous ones. More than this, all the audio is relatively crisp and comes across well. The music is exactly what you would expect, but it is not as loud as I would have liked. When I hear metal, I expect it to take over the game and plow through the dialogue, but in the few situations you hear music, it blends into the background. Nonetheless, the guns have a decent crack to them, enemies howl as they should, and things go boom. Now the dialogue is where things fall apart. When the characters aren't pissed off and cursing at each other, it almost sounds like it is being read off a page. None of the speech holds any weight, and it makes the already throwaway story even less believable.
Multi-player/ side modes: There are 2 modes of gameplay aside from the main story; Echoes mode, and co-op multi-player. Echos mode is literally The Club. No cut scenes, no story, no dialogue; just murder for points. The faster you make it through the level and the more stylish your kills, the higher you score. Also, the drop kits where normally upgrades are received functions only to refill your ammo. There are no upgrades so everyone is on the same level. The major problem with this mode is that there is no player. How does this happen? It is a speed run, score attack mode, but there isn't even couch co-op? This seems like a huge oversight. The multiplayer proper is co-op only, there is no competitive component other than to see who contributed the most to the team. I understand this, given the slowdown and effects that occur when an enemy is knocked into the air. It would never work if there was an actual human behind it, as the person who slid the most would win. Regardless, the multiplayer is wave based, and the team competes to reach a certain benchmark score. If that score is not reached, the wave is reset and the team is given another chance to murder better. The team gets 30 seconds at the beginning of each round to upgrade their character and guns, but these purchases are not persistent throughout your career. Throughout each wave there are a few sparse opportunities where team specific skill shots are pinpointed, where if completed properly, landed huge points for the match. My personal favorite was me sliding into a guy, shooting him in the dick (not sure if that played any part in the combo, just thought i''d throw that in there), and having a teammate leash him into a giant pressing machine.
Buy/ Rent/ Pass: It's a hell of a game and a really good time. Absolutely worth playing, but it definitely doesn't have the staying power to justify a full purchase. Bulletstorm is a rent, but a recommended one.