|

Bulletstorm is the latest first-person shooter from Epic, the same team that brought us the fantastic Gears of War franchise. Read on to find out if this foul mouthed, tongue in cheek Sci-fi shooter lives up to the hype or should have its mouth washed out with soap..
Bulletstorm pits you in control of Grayson Hunt who is the leader of an elite army called Dead Echo. Dead Echo has been the Linchpin for the Confederation of Planets’ General Sarrano. On their latest mission Hunt learns that Sarrano has been ordering the execution of innocent people. The missions that follow are an revenge filled ass kicking, kill with skill, crass romp that is plenty of fun and dishes up a few laughs on the way.
Kill with skill is the name of the game with Bulletstorm. Killing with skill comes in many forms and varieties such as using the environment to leash and impale your opponents. You will constantly be looking explosive barrels for splash damage, man eating plans and opportunities to generally wreak havoc. Not only are these kills satisfying to pull off they also work you towards ammo, weapon unlocks and much much more.

The characters are all operating at the mental capacity of a ten year old but Ishi is a stand out. Ishi a member of Dead Echo gets severely injured during a ship crash sanctioned by Sarrano. Graysom is his infinite wisdom manages to turn Ishi into half man half cyborg. The forthcoming conflicted and unpredictable natures offers up some humorous cut scenes. Saying that the humour is over the top in a Crank (Jason Statham) movie type of way but doesn't quite hit the mark and will not be many gamers cup of tea.
But.... the reason we are here isn't to have a detailed story its to have some fun escapism and Bulletstorm definitely delivers a barrage of that. The roughly six-hour campaign has plenty of different environment’s to explore and one incredible set piece with a sky 5 story tall remote control dinosaur. Blowing shit up has never been so fun as with you own personal dinogun.
Weapons have the usual fare you have come to expect such as assault rifles, shotguns and pistols. Some of the more exotic weapons such as the flailgun offer a more satisfying experience however. The flailgun operates by firing two grenades linked together by a chain. Once fired it wraps around your helpless victim before resulting in a meat shower of your enemies.

Bulletstorm does a good job of making you feel good about your own abilities, as there is always a skill shot or fun achievement to aim for. The boss battles don't offer up a real threat to progressing the story mode, with the usual glowing parts to shoot at and sliding to get the flock out of the way.
Level design is bright and contrasting, it isn't often we get to battle in a world that once had a lush and vibrant landscape. The latest revamp of the Unreal engine does an excellent job of dishing up pretty lighting effects and jaw dropping landscapes that achieve scale very well.
Multi-player comes in the form of Horde... but they call it Anarchy. The concept is the same, bunker down and kill off the waves after wave of enemies. The interesting side note is that the team with the most points wins. This focus on teamwork encourages you too pull off ridiculous skills shots to ensure you get over the line. Lag has been a noted problem and this was also present in my experience.

Finally Echoes mode offers some re-playability where you aim to meet skill shot objectives, score copious amounts of points and get through these bite sized chunks of set pieces from the story mode as quickly as possible.
Bulletstorm is fun, it doesn't take itself too seriously and is well worth a look. It sports a good looking engine, a large array of skill shots and is rounded out with the Echoes mode which adds up to being quite complete package.

|