Bulletstorm

17 Mar 2011

Occasionally just the name of a game can bring intrigue and the feeling that it may just be something special. Bulletstorm conjures up such a thought. As the game was splashed across the cover of issue 78 of the 360 Magazine, I was immediately drawn to the preview.

I was between games when I got my hands on this so I dived in straight away. In the single player campaign you play Grayson Hunt (which could just qualify in the double-entendre stakes) an ex-mercenary on the war path to exact some bloody revenge on his previous employer Colonel Sarrado who ordered him to kill a bunch of (innocent) people who were claimed to be enemies of the state. You’ve both crash landed on planet Elysium which is inhabited by a bunch of mutants who you, and your sidekicks Ishi Sato and Trishka, have to eliminate in order to catch up with the General and get off the planet.

The big difference between this and other FPS is that in this game killing becomes fun. The emphasis here is on killing with skill. It’s not just a case of picking someone off at a distance (which you do get to do with a nifty sniper rifle which has bullets which you can control), you get to be up close and personal with your enemies where you can kick the shit out of them. You use your guns as well as the environment to kick-ass. Kicking enemies off ledges, kicking enemies into fire, slicing enemies through wire, impaling enemies on spikes and kicking enemies into man-eating plants - you get the picture. Sometimes the gun takes a back seat to your size 10 boot.</p><p>The game works on a points system and what do points make? Prizes, well in this case it allows you to purchase weapons upgrades. The more you combine the skills the more points you get. Although the weird array of guns (7 of them) are very entertaining I found most fun using the leash (which you can use to pull distant enemies towards) and the power slide which allows you to flick enemies off the floor teeing them up for your finishing combo. The only slight disappointment is that you can only carry 3 weapons so it was difficult to utilise them all however thankfully there are sporadic ammo crates as well as dropkits (which allow you to swap weapons and re-supply ammo) located around the levels. OK there are some clichés like the obligatory on-rails section, flying section and one where you control something (in this case a giant remote control Godzilla clone called Mechaton) but they’re still immensely fun.

I found the characters a bit boring. The swearing and smack-talk got a bit tedious. It certainly wasn’t humorous, not like GTA IV or Crackdown 2 for example which I found to be very humorous. I also found this game a little short in single-player mode but I guess that’s normal for games which have more emphasis on multiplayer. I tried one of two of the Echo missions but on single player they are bit pointless as they just repeat the levels which you’ve already done. I can’t comment on XBL as I don’t have it. Overall I enjoyed the game and feel like it would still be a pleasure to complete it on some of the harder settings as well as trying the Echo missions if nothing more that to practice the skill shots. Paying full price for this game might be a bit excessive. I would wait until there are some pre-owned versions kicking around the £20-£25 mark which would be more appropriate.