Bulletstorm Review

Graphically impressive, this over-the-top shooter may look immature, but it does hold some potential

Posted by Christian Sorrell on March 3, 2011 - 12:23am EST

All of these different abilities play into Bulletstorm’s most unique aspect: the Skillshot system. By killing enemies in creative, interesting, or extremely specific ways, you are rewarded with a larger and larger number of skill points. These skill points can then be used at different drop kits throughout the singleplayer campaign to purchase access to new weapons, upgrade the weapon’s ammo capacity, unlock their charge shots, and even buy ammo, charge shots, and thumper charges. It takes the satisfaction of other shooter XP systems like those popularized by the Call of Duty series, compounds it with a massive list of complex achievements, and then rewards you directly for your efforts by giving you more in-game currency and therefore more ammunition, stronger weaponry, etc.

It is all the different levels of this mechanic that is its greatest strength. While the simple act of achieving these special skillshots may be reward enough for some players, the fact that the amount of currency you have to spend in game and essentially better your situation means that even those players who would otherwise stay within their game playing comfort zone to go out of their way to seek these wild and crazy kills. Beyond anything else, this mechanic is Bulletstorm’s key dynamic as an IP.

In terms of multiplayer, Bulletstorm is a bit lacking. Anarchy mode, a four-player cooperative mode that forces you to kill not only creatively but also in tandem in order to progress through each wave, is a blast to play with friends and something that really embraces all of Bulletstorm’s unique mechanics in a way that just feels right for multiplayer. Aside from this mode though, there is little more than the leaderboards tracking your scores and the scores of your friends in the game’s Echoes stages, which are portions of the singleplayer campaign cut down into individual short levels allowing for quick replayability. Playing through an Echo is one-part time trial and one-part arcade high-score shooter, and in this way, it stands out from game modes offered by other FPSs. My only fear is that it will really only appeal to Bulletstorm’s most diehard of players while a majority of players (myself included) will find their boredom growing after only a few attempts at each level.

All things told, Bulletstorm is a very fun summer game that just happened to drop at the beginning of the year rather than the middle of it. It’s got explosions, crude humor, massive set pieces, crazy weapons, and massively-muscled bros more akin to Duke Nukem than Marcus Fenix. It’s a singleplayer campaign that is best enjoyed over a few sittings when you are just looking to relax, multiplayer matches best played with friends, and a universe that manages to borrow heavily from not only Epic’s other games but some of the classic 90s shooters of yore and yet still stand alone as a unique and visually interesting setting. There are problems here or there: an oddly-serious storyline, extremely off-putting cutscenes, and moments of difficulty rubber banding that’ll have you dying instantly one time and then breezing through the next. Bulletstorm is a game best enjoyed as quickly and as carelessly as the game’s style demands it to be. Don’t think too much, just go with the flow and shoot a guy in the crotch already.