Ever since Gears of War 3 Epic games has decided to take the route of kill anything that moves type approach. Bulletstorm is no exception. If anything you might as well be playing a Gears of War Clone with different characters and weapons but that isn't a bad thing. Bulletstorm is a lot of fun and does have some creative ideas that we might see in the next Gears of War game. You don't have to be a fan of a certain type of game to enjoy Bulletstorm but you do have to enjoy first person shooter games.
You take the role of Grayson Hunt, a mercenary who is hired to kill mass murderers and drug lords but was instead tricked into killing innocent people. Hunt along with his team figure this out and decide to hunt down the commanding officer who sent them on such missions. 10 years later Hunt is on the pursuit of General Sarrano but things don't go as planned and the team lands in a deserted planet full of soldiers protecting Sarrano and full of savages that try to kill you and your team.
As one of your men is badly hurt, you must escort them to the medical chamber where things don't go as planned and most of your men are wiped out except for the injured soldier who was turned into a half cyborg who goes nuts every now and then.
At first your only weapons is a fully automatic Assault rifle which can be upgraded with a charged shot which shoots hundreds of pallets at once similar to a shotgun. These charged shots give a lot of damage but you must use your skill points earned when killing enemies. Each skill point given is based on how your enemy died. You get extra points for shooting them in the head, the neck or the private area. You can also use your Leash which is a device you carry through out the whole game to grab your opponents and pull them. When the enemies are being pulled time will slow down giving you plenty of time to shoot then enemy and blow their heads off. Not all enemies can be pulled though but you can pull objects which you can kick towards the enemy. You can also kick gas tanks and shoot them while in mid-air to cause a rain storm of fire. The most fun in the game I would have to say is when you pull an enemy and kick them towards: Spikes, an electric field, off a cliff, etc. Doing this will also give you extra points to spend on your weapons.
There are not a lot of weapons in the game. But the weapons you do receive are useful for all situations. My favorite weapons to carry are the Sniper Riffle, Assalt Rifle and the cannon that shoots 2 grenades tied with a chain. You can only carry up to 3 weapons but can always exchange them at any drop point. These drop points will give you all the information you need as well as purchase upgrades to carry more charged shots and ammo clips. These are very useful as you will run out of ammo very quickly as the game does require that you kill anything that moves before advancing. When out of ammo you can always kick enemies but for enemies that are far away you either have to look for ammo or run towards them to kick them.
I will give credit to Epic for building an alien planet that like it can come to live at any moment. Besides the normal foot soldiers on the ground there are also giant monsters out to eat you as well as man eating plants. When fighting a Boss running out of ammo is almost guaranteed if do don't know what you are doing. When this happens the game will give you extra ammo as your ammo becomes depleted. At times you will use an enemy dropped weapon which is a machine gun. The machine gun can only be used by the amount of time it gives you. It doesn't matter how many bullets you waste so when you get the machine gun just go crazy because even if you don't use it the time will still run out.
The AI in Bulletstorm isn't the best. Your partner will help you about 20% of the game and the rest of the time he will just be doodling like running against the wall or shooting at random spots. Its great that you don't have to babysit him or the he doesn't die. The enemy AI isn't all that better either. Most of them will try to hide but it's easy to just sneak up on them and kick them or pull them towards you.
Graphically the game is amazing. You are thrown into this world where anything can eat you that looks like it's been deserted for years. Watching buildings come crashing down is remarkable as the game does give you a sense of how big everything in this world is. The attention to detail that Epic took to make this world come to life will leave you with your jaw on the floor. What really amazed me most of all through is the city that Epic created on earth. This city is full of skyscrapers and moving cars but it's only used for about 10 minutes, then we never see or hear anything from this level again. The enemies also look like they belong in this type of environment, like they own it and we are invading their territory. However one problem is that the in gama graphics are better than the CG graphics. There are only a few CG movies in the game but when they are played, they look pixelated and horrible compared to the in game movies.
Great graphics need a great sountrack to go along with it and Bulletstorm delivers. Even with the smallest speakers on the planet the game sounds amazing. Each crackle and rumble that you hear in the game brings you more into the action. Every time you hear a grunt, you are always on guard. Every time a plant east an enemy soldier you hear the crunching sound the bones make.
Multiplayer features a mode called Anarchy Mode which pins you up against 3 other groups(including your group that’s 4) which is similar to co-op but it's also a competition to see who gathers the most points. I think Anarchy is just a fancy way of calling the hoard mode which is almost the same. A group of enemies come towards you and try to kill you. You in turn must kill them in the best way that you can and earn the most points per kill. You can customize your character from head to toe and there are items that you do unlock the more you play. If you find this mode entertaining, it can brings you extra gameplay time but if you don't then the single player should be enough to play one more time. Bulletstorm is a long game and it will take you several days to beat the game unless you strap yourself to your seat and never leave until the game is complete. There isn't anything extra to collect while playing making this game very linear.
Verdict: Buy
Bulletstorm is not Game of the Year but it does warrant checking it out. The environments are huge, the weapons although limited will keep your trigger finger happy. There are millions of ways of killing enemies and Bulletstorm gives you the chance to explore each and every single way. Multiplayer falls short but single player is where it shines and I can honestly say that this is one game where the Single Player is the main attraction.
GamePlay: Killing enemies has always been fun but Bulletstorm lets you splatter them all over the wall. FPS lovers should feel at home. 9/10
Graphics: No detailed was left unchecked and if it was it would be impossible to find. Nicely rendered environments and effects with smooth animation. Bulletstorm pushes the UE to the max. 10/10
Sound: Bad Jokes aside from the cast, Bulletstorm features orchestrated music as well as metal music to get you in the mood to shoot something. 9/10
Story: Not the strongest point of the game but enough to keep you entertained. A few scenes could have been executed differently for the better but overall not a bad story. 7/10
LifeSpan: Single player is the main even which should bring 8+ hours of gameplay. Multiplayer is very limited but still fun nonetheless but it can get boring after a while. 8/10
Total Score: 86/100
For PC Users:
System Requirements
- OS: Windows XP (SP3), Windows Vista (SP2), or Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo, AMD Athlon X2, or equivalent, running at 1.6 GHz or greater
- Memory: 1.5GB
- Hard Disk Space: 9 GB available
- Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible, 256 MB of VRAM; NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GS, ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro 256 MB, or greater
- Sound: DirectX 9.0c compatible, 16-bit
- DirectX®: DirectX 9.0c
- Network: Internet (TCP/IP) connection
Minimum:
- OS: Windows Vista (SP2), or Windows 7
- Processor: QuadCore 2.0 GHz
- Memory: 2 GB
- Video Card: DirectX 9.0c compatible, 512MB of VRAM; NVIDIA GeForce GTX260, or ATI Radeon 4870
Recommended:
No comments:
Post a Comment