Do you remember the old action movies? Where the plot took second place to all out balls to the wall action and memorable one-liners by over the top characters? Well, Bulletstorm at face value is very much the gaming equivalent. But is this such a bad thing?

Essentially Bulletstorm is three different games in one. Firstly you have the campaign mode, and probably the best place to start when you begin. At heart it is an old-school shooter, with enemies charging towards you and your job being to blow them back to whatever hell-hole spawned them. However Epic have added a fantastic concept to this trusted formula. One that may well change your view on shooters.

The core element of this new system is the Skill shot concept. Basically put Bulletstorm wants you to kill in the most inventive way you can. Why shoot someone in the head when you can shoot their throat out? Bored of the enemy hiding behind cover? Slam them in the air, fire an explosive sniper bullet into one of them then steer that body into another and explode them together! And that's just two methods out of many in dispatching the enemies.

Apart from your guns, your also given the ability to kick your enemy when they're close, slide across the ground towards them at great speed and use your leash to either grab them from afar or power it up and slam them into the air. Each of these moves puts the enemy into slow motion giving you time to line up your shot for maximum points. Combining these moves with your guns and the interactive environments around you allows you a total of 131 different Skill shots to use.

But it's not just a gimmick,. The Skill points you earn from these kills allow you to purchase more ammo and upgrade your existing weapons to more powerful versions. The more impressive and complicated the kill the higher the score. After a few chapters of the game when you've got the hang of the system, you'll be regularly pulling 100+ point kills and with a measly 10 points being rewarded for a normal kill you start to feel disappointed every time one shows up.





The storyline itself is nothing innovative. You play Grayson Hunt, assassin for the government, who discovers that his commanding officer, General Sarrano, has been using him and his squad, Dead Echo, to wipe out civilians who were threatening the CO's position. Fast forward in time and now Grayson and his squad are space pirates trying to redeem themselves and take down their ex boss.

After finally finding him, they pilot their ship into his command ship to take him out but only succeed in forcing the command ship to crash land on Stygia, an abandoned tourist resort now overrun by mutants and criminals. Sarrano survives and its up to Grayson and Ishi Sato, the last surviving member of Dead Echo, to track Sarrano down and use him to escape the planet before killing him.

As you can guess not everything goes well and to be honest, there will be nothing about the plot which surprises you. But it's not important as the characters are so well written and voiced you feel for them. Whether it's Grayson's guilt about losing his squad in his thirst for revenge or Ishi's internal fight with the AI trying to take over his mind, all the characters are fleshed out enough to make them feel like people rather than bland stereotypes.

The game is also funny as hell. In line with the old style action movies there are witty one-liners everywhere and the banter between Ishi and Grayson often had me chuckling. When you finally catch up with Sarrano, the humour steps up another notch, with Sarrano sounding like the drill sergeant from hell with his constant abuse towards the heroes.

At this point its probably worth mentioning that, Bulletstorm has some of the funniest pseudo-swearing terms I've ever heard. With the likes of 'Fungal Rim-job' and 'Dick Tits' used to great effect. It's not overly offensive, though its probably best not to play in front of your kids unless you want to explain to their teachers where they learnt the phrase 'Asshat'!

The environments themselves are spectacular. As you run through the ruined city the world is bright and vibrant, and varied. Each area is distinguishable form the last and as the Skill shot system often rewards you with interacting with the environments you spend your time actually looking around seeing what parts can be used to create more carnage.

The other thing you'll notice quite soon is the bright colours all about, whether its the local fauna or the day-glo blood splatters. After spending so long in worlds which are dull and brown it makes a refreshing change.



In fact the only downside I can see about the campaign itself is its brevity. Even if you explore every inch of the levels for collectibles, you'll probably have finished this way before the 10 hour mark. There is also very little reason to replay the game once finished, except to collect achievements, however there is a good reason for this.

Once you've finished the campaign (which I'd recommend doing first),it's time to explore the other modes available. The first of these is Echoes mode. At heart its a stripped down version of the main campaign. No cut-scenes, no speech, just you and the enemies. The point of this, to get the maximum score in each section through your Skill shots.

I'll be honest, not being a huge score addict, this mode doesn't appeal to me. But I found several of my friends were getting fiercely competitive about beating each others score on each section. If your one of those guys who likes seeing their name high up on leader-boards you are going to be in heaven with this. Planning your route through the levels for the maximum score and time will take several attempts but for fans of this sort of game, this will keep them coming back for more.



Much more to my liking though is the multiplayer mode, Anarchy. Simply put this is a spin off of Horde mode. You and up to three others have to face off against 20 waves of enemies. However beating them is easy, the difficult part is to get through each wave you have to earn a set total of points to progress.

Though you can get through the first few waves working independently, as you get to the higher waves, you need to start working together as a team to get those high combos. For instance, if you grab an enemy with your leash and pull him towards a spiked wall and your team-mate then kicks him into the wall, you'll earn a team Skill shot. But best of all you both earn the points, essentially doubling the score for each Skill shot.

Playing this with random people requires everyone to communicate and work as a team, something which doesn't always happen. However get some mates together and this becomes one of the best team based modes I've ever played. Real strategy and co-operation is required to get through those last few waves and when you finish the 20th wave you feel like you've really accomplished something, which I haven't felt since the Vidmaster Achievements on Halo.



For those who like their achievements, there’s a good mix, with very few which require any tedium. There’s a couple of collectible achievements but seeing as you get Skill points for collecting them and some Skill shots require you to use these collectibles as well, it doesn't feel like a chore. Getting to lvl 65 on Anarchy will take some time, but playing with friends makes it fun to finish. 50,000 points on one wave may be a bit difficult but a good team and tactics means this is achievable. Similarly, the Echo mode based achievements are obtainable but will take a little planning and practice

All in all, Bulletstorm is one of the most innovative and fun shooters the genre's seen in a while. Although not everyone will enjoy the Echoes mode for some it will take hours of their lives away getting those high positions on the leader-boards and Anarchy mode is some of the best fun I've had in multiplayer for awhile. I'd recommend everyone tries this game out just to see what shooters are capable of becoming if developers push the boundaries. With an onslaught of carbon copy shooters on the market, Bulletstorm stands out from the crowd. Let's hope it encourages others to make their shooters a bit more fun!


Overall score : 9/10