Saturday, 29 November 2014

Bulletstorm Review - Crackin' Jokes, Kickin' Ass

Bulletstorm Review 
Crackin' Jokes, Kickin' Ass

A very underrated game. This game was supposed to get a sequel, but EA canned the project because the original failed to meet sales target. This story is no masterpiece and the music is not mindblowing. If any, they are painfully average. However, what this game does best is with the shooting and oh boy, wasn't it fun.

Story
Bulletstorm follows the story of Grayson Hunt, a spec ops that went rogue after discovering that he is being used by his superior. One fine day, he saw the Ulysses, a battleship that belongs to General Sarrano, his superior. Blinded by revenge, and alcohol, he proceeded to shoot down Ulysses at the cost of his jet fighter. Both of them went down on this planet inhabited by mutants and savages. So our story begin with Grayson and his comrade-turned-cyborg Ishi trying to find a way to escape the planet's surface.

The setting is certainly a refreshing change from the yearly release of Battlefield and CoD. It has a sci-fi, post-apocalyptic feel to it. Something like Fallout, but much MUCH less serious.

The plot itself is a big cliche. A rogue soldier trying to get back on his evil superior. The twists are expected and it even gets a tad draggy at times. If you are looking for an excellent story, you won't get it here. However, the writing however is extremely well done. The chemistry between Bulletstorm's three main characters is very well fleshed out. Firstly, we have Ishi Sato, a makeshift cyborg with personality issues who is a serious and straight-faced guy. Then we have Trishka, a young military commander who is a vengeful tomboy. And lastly, we have Grayson who acts as the comic relief with his brainless, smash-em-all mentality.  Thought you've had enough? Towards the end of the game, another cast member joined the group, the antagonist General Sarrano who is a general that I swear uttered about half of the dirty words present in the entire game.

Yes, there are the cliched one-liners and it gets old after a while. However, the conversations are genuinely funny. I had a number of good 'wtf' moments and that usually is a good sign of a well-written game.

The campaign itself is quite short. Steam clocked me at 5 hours, but I personally think it was closer to about 7-8 hours. Also, the game did get a little draggy towards the end when the enemy gets EXTREMELY bullet spongy. So, if you are expecting a 40+ hour long campaign, the campaign will disappoint you.

Gameplay
This game is a first person shooting game and a fine one at that. The shooting was extremely satisfying with a wide variety of weapons, each with an alternate firing mode. On top of an excellent shooting mechanic, there is also the Energy Leash.
Pulling off multiple skillshots is extremely satisfying

The Energy Leash is a leash (duh.) that allows you to pull enemies from a distance towards you. It can pass through objects and hook to enemies that are within range even if they are not within you line of sight. To compliment the leash, you have your Boots that you can use to kick people away from you. Using this two tools, you can then perform Skillshots, which are basically fancy ways of killing enemies. There are various Skillshots, varying from the basic ones like headshots, to kicking enemies to spikes, cactus, ponds, live wires, grinders, power generators, you name it. If it looks dangerous, chances are you can kick enemies there to kill them. These Skillshots then grant you points and you use these points to purchase supplies and upgrade your guns (read: more ammo).

There are a few weaknesses to the game unfortunately. For starters, this game has no weapon customization system, so you cannot upgrade your gun. This becomes a problem towards the end, the assault rifle becomes extremely weak and is only usable because of the large magazine size. This is compounded by the fact that you cannot swap out your assault rifle with another weapon. And did I mention, this game only allows for THREE weapons? It's a shame considering the weapons are all interesting. In the end, I opted for the standard Sniper, Assault Rifle, and Shotgun for most of the game.

Also, although there are plenty of quick time events in this game and there is a turret segment in the game. Although I personally feel that they are well done segments and does not impede in the way of gameplay, I still feel it needs to be at least mentioned.

Fortunately, there are an overwhelming amount of positives to the gameplay.

Firstly, the Skillshots never gets old. There are only so many environmental skillshots opportunities (cactus, steel poles, and live wires), but they are so very well placed that every battle turns from just a mindless spray and pray, to a somewhat thinking game. Positioning and timing is key in surviving battles, especially towards the end where the enemy gets so bullet spongy that your assault rifle feels like it's just tickling them. Dashing, kicking and leashing quickly replaces aiming and shooting and it actually feels good. It's hectic and when you perform the big combo kills by using the explosive barrels, it's extremely satisfying.
This never gets old

The weapon variety also goes a long way to alleviate the monotony and weakness of the default assault rifle. Each weapon handles and feels differently. The Sniper has a remote controlled bullet, the Flailgun shoots remotely detonated grenade, the Penetrator shoots rocket powered drills, etc. They are ridiculously fun weapon to use and each have their own usage. Unfortunate as it may be that you can only equip 2 plus the assault rifle, they are still fun to use and there are plenty of Droppods where you can change your loadout.

Graphics
This game was released in 2011 and I think the visuals are gorgeous. The backdrops and the environments are as good as modern titles. There are plenty of open vistas and they are jaw droppingly good (it helps that they give you points for looking at them).
It is only a skybox, but it is a very good skybox.

Texture quality too was good for a game that was also released on consoles. Environment looks sharp and detailed. The developers of Bulletstorm is capable of creating a world that people could have once called paradise, even if most of them are just sets and props that are just pretty to look at, but are not actually accessible

Performance-wise, being quite an old game, it works very well on my i5-4670 and GTX760. Constant 60+ fps and no noticeable bugs.

Sound
Not much comment here. Probably the weakest aspect of the game and that is a huge compliment to the game. Voice acting is also not too bad. Overall, a decent sounding game leaving little to be desired.

Conclusion
Overall, I enjoyed my time with BulletStorm. They almost overstayed their welcome, especially with the later enemies becoming extremely bullet sponges. However, I cannot help but feel that they are specifically designed so that you have to rely on the Skillshots in order to win, which is a good thing in my opinion. 

This is an extremely underrated game and more credit should be given to it. It has been on sale several times already, and if you do see it on sale, buy it. 



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