Bulletstorm

I know I've been covering a lot of newer games recently, but I'll get back to the old school stuff soon. I guess Bulletstorm is almost 10 years old and I've covered 7th generation games before, so it still fits, right?

Besides, this week's entry feels very timely and it's a logical continuation from some of the other stuff I've covered recently. In case the title didn't make it immediately apparent, Bulletstorm is a first person shooter, released originally for the PS3 and XBox 360 in 2011. I myself played the "Full Clip Edition" on the PS4, one of the many PS Plus games I downloaded yet never touched. But having just come off my playthrough of Goldeneye, I wanted to sink my teeth into a modern FPS as something to compare it to. Just as Goldeneye featured all the hallmarks of 90's FPS', Bulletstorm was a quintessential modern take on the genre. However, it also called to mind my review of Hollow Knight, as it also aped several film tropes.

In that review, I mentioned Hollow Knight's take on "Oscar Bait" in video game form. Well, Bulletstorm is the opposite of that. This is the video game equivalent of every macho, brain dead but incredibly fun, things go boom action movie that you've ever seen. If Hollow Knight was trying to be "The Shape of Water" or "Parasite," Bulletstorm was trying to be "Rambo" (or "First Blood" or whatever the movie is actually called). It's dumb, mindless fun, not revolutionary by any means but a worthwhile investment of a few hours.

Bulletstorm puts you into the shoes of Grayson Hunt, a former special forces commando turned space pirate with a sizeable bounty on his head. After he and his squad discovered they were being used to assassinate innocent people by the nefarious General Sarrano, they are branded as traitors before they can confront and expose him. Grayson and crew travel the galaxy, hellbent on getting revenge on Sarrano for manipulating them. So great is his obsession that Grayson orders a suicide mission to take down the general's flying fortress with his tiny space frigate. The ensuing crash sets into motion the start of the game, with Grayson stranded on an outer planet, two of his crew dead and his last companion, Ishi, battling for control of his mind with a rogue A.I. They set off on their quest to get off world, battling hordes of mutants, freaks and other unsavory characters along the way.

So yeah, it's a dumb action movie right down to all the tropes. It's filled with horrible one liners, buckets of blood and neverending explosions. Both Grayson and Ishi are comically muscular and macho, they swear up a storm and constantly trade sarcastic barbs. You do get to learn a little about both men's past and motivations, and the writing does a surprisingly good job of humanising them both, but those moments are few and far between and the violence starts up again relatively quickly. Again, it's every action movie character trope you know and love, only this time it's a video game. One trope I will say the game avoids is its characterization of women. It's no secret that these kinds of films usually treat them as damsels in need of rescue at best and objects at worst. That isn't the case here. Trishka, who Grayson and Ishi quickly meet, is certainly no damsel and is most definitely not in need of rescue. She's as skilled as her male counterparts, both in battle and in spewing foul language. If Grayson is John Rambo, then Trishka is Ellen Ripley. I really liked the characters, they were extremely one note but the game did a great job of making them all likeable.

Gameplay is solid as well, the gunplay is fun and each battle is exciting. While the selection of weapons is small, the few you have are well designed and each brings something to the table. You also have what the game calls a leash, a weapon that allows you to lift and throw enemies and objects with the push of a button. The big differentiatior here is the skillshot system, which rewards the player for more unique and innovative kills. You get more points for things like using background objects or shooting enemies out of the air after you leash them. You use these points to buy weapon upgrades and ammunition, which you will need plenty of. It's not like the tasks you have to do are hidden either, you can see a full list of skillshots in the pause menu at any time. It's also nice that they are different from weapon to weapon, incentivising you to try different things. It's fun discovering all the different things you can do and ways you can score points, though it does wear a bit thing towards the end of the game. 

The controls are responsive, it's standard stuff for an FPS of this era. I found the looking and aiming to be just right and the hit detection to be spot on. That's important in any FPS, but moresoe here because of the precision that some of the skillshots require. Graphics and sound were slightly above average for their time, the visuals were pretty cool and I like the whole abandoned resort vibe. I think the voice actors did a pretty good job too, this wasn't exactly Shakespeare they were working with but they all owned their characters, each was just serious enough without being too serious. Enemy design was pretty cool, but I do wish there were more enemy types. Once you figure out the patterns of the seven or eight or so different enemies, they become pretty easy to dispatch. There are a lot of quicktime events here, but the game doesn't punish you harshly for failing them and none are particularly difficult.

My biggest problem here is the layout, the same thing I complain about with all modern FPS'.  I talked a bit in the Goldeneye review about how most post-Halo FPS' follow the same structure: you shoot enemies in a big open area, you walk in an uninterrupted straight line, you shoot enemies in an open area again, lather, rinse repeat. I really wish I could have explored the world a bit more, it really feels like you are just being led from setpiece to setpiece without any room to explore. There are a few hidden items and side missions, but they usually don't require straying much from the designated path. There are mission objectives, but they are just for show, it's not really possible to actually fail them. At least those setpieces are fun, chaotic and well done, but it all feels like you are giving up so much control. I guess it was a little less pronounced here, they really were trying to make Bulletstorm feel like a cheesy action flick and this layout kind of adds to that.

I will also caution that this game is incredibly violent. Heads explode, blood gushes, limbs get ripped off, enemies burn alive, you get the picture. I've been gaming for a long time and I've seen worse, but its pretty bad. It's no worse than what you would find in a similar movie, but again, its still pretty bad. Between the vulgarity and violence I wouldn't let my kids play this and I'm not generally the kind of person that would say that. It's not just the violence, it's the violence for violence's sake that's the issue on that front. Spec Ops: The Line is always the game I think back to when it comes to extreme video game violence. But there, the violence is used to make a point; war isn't glamourous, it isn't pretty, there are no real winners, etc. Bulletstorm plays up its violence for laughs, which completely changes things. Again, it doesn't bother me, but it might bother you. The vulgarity is also so over the top sometimes its ridiculous. Skillshots ask you to "shoot your enemy in the nuts" and stuff like that. I am convinced someone on the dev team tapped their 13-year old son to write some of these. Again, doesn't bother me, I am already preparing myself to have this kind of language in my house in 8-10 years, but it might be offputting to others.

Overall, I have to say I had a lot of fun with Bulletstorm. The skillshot mechanic differentiates it just enough from its contemporaries to make it worth a playthrough. I know the game caused a great deal of controversy and sold poorly, so it's unlikely we will ever get a sequel (which is doubly a shame because the game ends on a cliffhanger). There is multiplayer content, but I didn't really touch it and it doesn't seem like there is too much appetite for it. I have said it before, I will always prefer the older style FPS' to modern ones. But this is still a good modern one. It's over the top violent and ridiculous, but its that way because its supposed to be. Just as I said it was good to ocasionally have "Oscar bait" games, its good to have stuff like this thrown in there too. It's a few hours of dumb, mindless fun. Not revolutionary, but worth a look.

8/10