If ever a game earned its Mature rating, it's Bulletstorm, developed by People Can Fly and published by Electronic Arts. Vulgar humor, excessive violence and gore are the game's selling points and what differentiates this shooter from the rest of the games in the overcrowded shooter genre.
Upon first inspection one may assume Bulletstorm is nothing more than yet another mindless shooter with no redeeming factor. And to be honest, this is exactly how the game starts off. Right off the bat, the game doesn't do anything to hook the player. Instead of starting things off with guns-a-blazing, the game tediously makes you endure a poorly executed prologue with a storyline that drowns in a pool of forced testosterone. There's so much information thrown at you that you quickly become lost and disinterested in why exactly you're blowing up bodies to pieces. It isn't until about two acts into the game that suddenly something clicks--the story begins to make sense and the gameplay becomes enjoyable.
What Bulletstorm brings to the genre is the addition of a leash weapon reminiscent of Scorpion's “Get over here!” spear made famous in the Mortal Kombat series. The leash weapon is what links the player to the game's Skill Shot database. Every weapon, and leash combination thereof, has a list of achievements that award you points when successfully executed. For example, you'll get points for killing an enemy by flinging them into a cactus, ramming an enemy to death with a hot dog cart, or by entertaining your inner-child and shooting the enemy in the groin as they float through the air in slow-motion.
The leash is only half of the equation as you also get to frag the enemy with a variety of weapons including an assault rifle, handgun, shotgun, flail gun, drill gun, sniper rifle and more. Each weapon can also be upgraded using points earned from skill shots. One weapon that will no doubt become a fan favorite is the sniper rifle which differentiates itself by allowing you to control the bullet in any direction a few seconds before impact. This bullet guiding is not an option as the enemy will always attempt to dodge the bullet. This adds a fun layer of minor strategy to a weapon that would otherwise be just another sniper rifle.
Visually, Bulletstorm runs smoothly in 720p resolution with no slowdown at all, even during the most action-heavy sequences. Sure, 1080p would have been nice, but I doubt it would have made much of a difference as what the game loses in resolution, it gains in other ways as it runs on the impressive Unreal engine. Expansive environments populated by destructible and interactive points are rendered with great detail, though there are clearly areas in which the developers skimped on detail. One section of a level may be nothing more than a drab corridor, but wait a couple minutes and you eventually make your way to a section of the level that makes you awe in appreciation.
If ever a game earned its Mature rating, it's Bulletstorm, developed by People Can Fly and published by Electronic Arts.
Overall, Bulletstorm is an enjoyable shooter that's a welcome change from the usual military shooter, though I find it hard to believe nobody at People Can Fly noticed the imbalance that hinders the first third of the game and I worry that many players may have dismissed the game because of this. Those who stick with the game are eventually rewarded with an enjoyable romp full of intense weapons, huge environments, and epic action set pieces.
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