Bulletstorm is definitely a breath of fresh air in an otherwise getting stale genre that is First Person Shooters. After playing tons of the same old military shooters, Bulletstorm rises above them all and says “Here I am!” Bulletstorm was created by the Independent game studio “People Can Fly,” along with help from “Epic Games.” You may know Epic Games by their own titles like Gears of War and Unreal Tournament. The two teams work together beautifully to create this gem. But before buying this game for your kids, you should know it has a very mature theme.
Bulletstorm’s gameplay revolves around killing people in tons of unique ways. Use different weapons and environmental surroundings to pull off 1 of 131 “skillshots.” Each skillshot has a raunchy sounding name, such as the drill weapon’s “drilldo.” The environment definitely looks good on the Unreal Engine 3.5, not to mention the smooth gameplay. Unfortunately, there are only 8 weapons. This limits the gameplay just a bit. There aren’t too many different surroundings to keep the gameplay fresh for long either.
The game ships with three game modes: Campaign, Echoes, and Anarchy. Campaign is the story mode obviously. You play as a former spec ops soldier in the future, gone rogue due to a corrupt General. He’s now a space pirate bent on revenge. He and the General wind up crash landing on an abandoned planet full of mutated flesh-eating gangs. Echoes allows you to play snipits from the campaign in a score attack game mode. There are 20 levels that can be played and up to three stars earned on each level. Anarchy is the only online game mode. In Anarchy Mode, you and up to three friends face 20 waves of mutant gangs. The goal isn’t to survive, however. Instead, you and your team must meet a score limit before the enemies run out. You can find players online or play in private matches. Either way, you can level up to level 65. For more on Anarchy, you can check out our Anarchy Mode guide.
As stated earlier, the visuals are stunning. They’re not meant to be photo realistic like some games, but they do look colorful and detailed. I didn’t come across any frame rate drops either or any other visual problems. This game runs smooth, especially for the fast paced action it has. The audio is pretty decent, but a bit loud. All my audio bars were in the middle meters by default. The characters would talk fine, then the gameplay would blast through my surround sound. Still, the sounds are great. You can hear blood squirting and flesh being torn apart. Speaking of all that, let’s get back to the mature content. There is a lot of dirty speech, sexual innuendos, and nasty general gameplay. If you’re a kid, you won’t be able to get through a campaign mission with your mother in the same room. Even the online has a voice saying something naughty and various intervals. The game allows you to kill people in various ways, some dirty in a sexual way, some normal. Some skillshots require you to play dirty. I know there are at least two that require you to shoot your enemy in their junk. Either way, there is a lot of blood and gore. This game is not for children.
In conclusion, this game is great. It is very unique and colorful. As I said earlier, it’s a breath of fresh air in the stale FPS genre. Unfortunately, this game won’t last too long. It can easily be beaten in a week. Then players will most likely move onto something else. I know 131 skillshots sound like a lot, but you’d be surprised how fast you can go through them all. If you want something fun and original, you should definitely pick this game up.