Got this for $5 on the Steam sale.
Prior to playing the full game, I never would've imagined myself saying this, but after much deliberation I think this may be my favorite game of the year, and that's saying something given how good this year was. Bulletstorm is amazing. But I never would've guessed it with barely anyone talking about it.
Here's the Bulletstorm formula:
First, take a Jack Black-esque protagonist. Make him witty and self-aware... Foul-mouthed but inoffensive... Rough around the edges, but warm with a hint of pathos. Give him the boost-sliding legs of Vanquish's Sam and the grappling arm of Metroid's Samus. Call him Grayson Hunt.
Make it so you can reel in a distant foe and send him hurtling toward you, or close the distance in the blink of an eye with a high-speed slide. Either way, follow up with a swift kick from a boot the size of Kuribo's Shoe, and send the sad sap spinning away like Sonic hitting a spring.
Chances are they'll be impaled on a cactus, or tangled up in sparking wires, or sucked into a turbine, or eaten by a carnivorous plant. Maybe you quickly run forward, kicking them repeatedly in the head, their body floating in midair just long enough to keep the combo going, even as the rest of the battlefield rampages in real time. Maybe you kick a hotdog cart into them, flattening them like a pancake. Maybe. Limbs fall like rain and blood gushes everywhere, but it's so slap-happy that nothing feels mean-spirited, only spontaneous and fun.
So you can do all of that with a grapple beam and a boot. Grayson doesn't need guns, clearly, but let's give him some anyway. Let's give him an arsenal so over-the-top it's the envy of Unreal Tournament.
Let's give him a four-barreled shotgun that can vaporize a foe's musculature in a single shot, so only a blood-red skeleton remains... Let's give him the Flail, a grenade launcher that shoots two grenades connected by a chain, tying foes up if not flat-out severing them in two, the grenades detonating when you squeeze the trigger again, allowing for setups like reeling in a bomb-strapped baddie with the grapple beam and then kicking him back at his buddies before going BOOM.
Let's give him a sniper rifle where at the last second the bullet goes into slow-mo and you steer the projectile into the fleeing target's skull like a pint-sized Redeemer missile, or perhaps veer off and hit a red barrel instead.
Let's give him a cannon where the bombs bounce like basketballs until you release the trigger and allow them to explode... Let's give him a drill-tipped harpoon launcher that pins foes to the ceiling so they spin round and round like a fan, or skewer multiple foes like a shish kebab...
Give Grayson all these tools and more. Now put him in a GORGEOUS alien world that feels alive, whether it's the swaying palm trees with trunks more gnarled than a Dr. Seuss drawing, or the friggin' Cloverfield monster herself. It's a world smoldering with color -- pastel pinks, golden yellows, twilight blues -- and full of touristy charm because, well, it's a tourist trap, complete with a disco and a thrill ride featuring a miniature city with a remote-controlled Godzilla. And in the badlands beyond are the bones of giants, foothills like jagged shards of glass, and skyscraper-sized cogs that tumble along as though they fell off of God's chariot.
Take this gorgeous world full of deathtraps... This arsenal of the most creative weapons in shooters today... This core gameplay of slide/leash/kick... And structure it so the action is fast, furious, nonstop -- no filler, no fetch quests, no bullshit. The "skillshot" system challenges you to kill in creative ways, scoring points that can be used to restock ammo and upgrade your weapons at the drop-kits spread liberally throughout the world.
It pushes you to push yourself and have a blast doing so. And it's all driven by a smartly written narrative that comes full-circle so no detail is irrelevant, and that feels complete by the time the credits roll. A plot where your character actually develops; a plot that calls out the mass murder committed in first-person shooters and contemplates it, yet never takes itself TOO seriously, all but breaking the fourth wall at times and reveling in irony left and right. Every chapter has a laugh-out-loud moment. Every chapter has memorable moments or a memorable line.
As the game progresses, the set pieces become grander, the scenarios more absurd, the variety relentless, and the game doesn't overstay its welcome, nor does it conclude too quickly, with a whiz-bang finale and a great setup for a sequel... It plays with your expectations, subverts them and inverts them, always surprising, always delighting...
And yet... No one seems to be talking about this game. For me it's the sleeper hit of 2011, and the most fun I had with an action game this year. Surely I can't be the only one? I haven't been this euphoric about a new game in awhile.
Best $5 I ever spent!
Prior to playing the full game, I never would've imagined myself saying this, but after much deliberation I think this may be my favorite game of the year, and that's saying something given how good this year was. Bulletstorm is amazing. But I never would've guessed it with barely anyone talking about it.
Here's the Bulletstorm formula:
First, take a Jack Black-esque protagonist. Make him witty and self-aware... Foul-mouthed but inoffensive... Rough around the edges, but warm with a hint of pathos. Give him the boost-sliding legs of Vanquish's Sam and the grappling arm of Metroid's Samus. Call him Grayson Hunt.
Make it so you can reel in a distant foe and send him hurtling toward you, or close the distance in the blink of an eye with a high-speed slide. Either way, follow up with a swift kick from a boot the size of Kuribo's Shoe, and send the sad sap spinning away like Sonic hitting a spring.
Chances are they'll be impaled on a cactus, or tangled up in sparking wires, or sucked into a turbine, or eaten by a carnivorous plant. Maybe you quickly run forward, kicking them repeatedly in the head, their body floating in midair just long enough to keep the combo going, even as the rest of the battlefield rampages in real time. Maybe you kick a hotdog cart into them, flattening them like a pancake. Maybe. Limbs fall like rain and blood gushes everywhere, but it's so slap-happy that nothing feels mean-spirited, only spontaneous and fun.
So you can do all of that with a grapple beam and a boot. Grayson doesn't need guns, clearly, but let's give him some anyway. Let's give him an arsenal so over-the-top it's the envy of Unreal Tournament.
Let's give him a four-barreled shotgun that can vaporize a foe's musculature in a single shot, so only a blood-red skeleton remains... Let's give him the Flail, a grenade launcher that shoots two grenades connected by a chain, tying foes up if not flat-out severing them in two, the grenades detonating when you squeeze the trigger again, allowing for setups like reeling in a bomb-strapped baddie with the grapple beam and then kicking him back at his buddies before going BOOM.
Let's give him a sniper rifle where at the last second the bullet goes into slow-mo and you steer the projectile into the fleeing target's skull like a pint-sized Redeemer missile, or perhaps veer off and hit a red barrel instead.
Let's give him a cannon where the bombs bounce like basketballs until you release the trigger and allow them to explode... Let's give him a drill-tipped harpoon launcher that pins foes to the ceiling so they spin round and round like a fan, or skewer multiple foes like a shish kebab...
Give Grayson all these tools and more. Now put him in a GORGEOUS alien world that feels alive, whether it's the swaying palm trees with trunks more gnarled than a Dr. Seuss drawing, or the friggin' Cloverfield monster herself. It's a world smoldering with color -- pastel pinks, golden yellows, twilight blues -- and full of touristy charm because, well, it's a tourist trap, complete with a disco and a thrill ride featuring a miniature city with a remote-controlled Godzilla. And in the badlands beyond are the bones of giants, foothills like jagged shards of glass, and skyscraper-sized cogs that tumble along as though they fell off of God's chariot.
Take this gorgeous world full of deathtraps... This arsenal of the most creative weapons in shooters today... This core gameplay of slide/leash/kick... And structure it so the action is fast, furious, nonstop -- no filler, no fetch quests, no bullshit. The "skillshot" system challenges you to kill in creative ways, scoring points that can be used to restock ammo and upgrade your weapons at the drop-kits spread liberally throughout the world.
It pushes you to push yourself and have a blast doing so. And it's all driven by a smartly written narrative that comes full-circle so no detail is irrelevant, and that feels complete by the time the credits roll. A plot where your character actually develops; a plot that calls out the mass murder committed in first-person shooters and contemplates it, yet never takes itself TOO seriously, all but breaking the fourth wall at times and reveling in irony left and right. Every chapter has a laugh-out-loud moment. Every chapter has memorable moments or a memorable line.
As the game progresses, the set pieces become grander, the scenarios more absurd, the variety relentless, and the game doesn't overstay its welcome, nor does it conclude too quickly, with a whiz-bang finale and a great setup for a sequel... It plays with your expectations, subverts them and inverts them, always surprising, always delighting...
And yet... No one seems to be talking about this game. For me it's the sleeper hit of 2011, and the most fun I had with an action game this year. Surely I can't be the only one? I haven't been this euphoric about a new game in awhile.
Best $5 I ever spent!
