Reviews// Bulletstorm

(Yeah, I said 'creative' a couple of times. Bulletstorm encourages you to be creative in the way you kill enemies. I'm not going to get into the ethics and tastefulness of it all except to say that it comes with an 18 rating and it's all sufficiently tongue-in-cheek to make it, to me at least, not overly offensive.)

It's the skillshot system that adds the extra layer of tension, too. Entering each skirmish, there's constant push and pull between the urge to efficiently dispatch the enemies swarming towards you – many of whom will be trying to shoot you, some who'll be trying to maul you – and the urge to maximise your points. A number of my in-game deaths could have been avoided if I'd just conceded a few points to be a bit more straightforward and efficient in my tactics. Those points are just so tempting, though...

Bulletstorm is also a well-designed game. The graphics are solid while the environments blaze with colour and decayed, epic grandeur. The levels are very linear, occasionally a little frustratingly so, but People Can Fly has done a good job of not making it too horribly obvious that you're being guided down a very particular route. While you can't fall down holes, there are no other invisible walls. Rubble's handy for that, I guess.

The script from comics writer Rick Remender is similarly solid. The story won't get anyone overly excited, but it serves the game well. The dialogue, for the most part, is irreverent enough for the over the top tone of the game without falling into the realms of annoying. There are occasions when some of the lines sound a little ridiculous, but that stems more from voice actor Steve Blum's insistence on playing Gray with the same gravelly voice every other shooter lead character has than from the script.

The AI can be a little painful at times. The co-op mode, obviously, dodges the problem, but in single-player your AI teammates are a bit useless. The damage they inflict on enemies seems to be fairly neglible, and enemies return the favour by relentlessly targeting you over the AI. And there are odd moments when they get in the way that, given this is a frenetic sort of a shooter, we could really do with out.

There are also bugs to be found. I got inexplicably stuck once, had a crash and hit one point where the gate that was supposed to open at the end of a section and just didn't. The bugs aren't crippling, but they're annoying.

The lack of competitive multiplayer to complement the co-op will be a gripe for many. It's not in there, apparently (and sensibly) because hanging in the air at the end of someone else's leash while you get shot into something ragged and meaty isn't much fun. Bulletstorm has plenty of meat to it without multiplayer, though, and the temptation to chase get higher scores offers replayability.

Conclusion
Bulletstorm offers fast, ferocious, flesh shredding fun. The combination of the leash and skillshots is delightful in all sorts of ways it shouldn't be and the tone fits this perfectly. There are gripes to be had, but overall Bulletstorm is immensely satisfying.

SPOnG Score: 88%