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P Bulletstorm (Xbox 360)

Andrew Cretella Profile _ Twitter _ E-mail _ Homepage

Bulletstorm has a lot going for it, but not everyone will get it. The demo, recently released on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network, will be easily misunderstood by players who have grown up on the expectations that first-person shooters are supposed to be like Call of Duty. It’s entirely possible to get through the demo by taking cover, aiming down the sights, and shooting from afar. Played this way, Bulletstorm seems unspectacular, unaccomplished and even archaic -- but it’s also missing the point. Not everyone will know how to approach Bulletstorm, because the truth is that no one has ever made a shooter like it ever before. I almost missed the point myself. I knew about the game’s “skillshots” beforehand, but I judged them, perhaps unfairly, on the assumption that there should be significant degree of utility behind them. I perceived none, since a kill could be achieved just as easily whether it was by unloading the Peacemaker Carbine on fully automatic (worth 10 points) or kicking someone into live electric coils (worth 500 points). “Kill with skill” was a catchy sales pitch, I thought, but I felt that “Kill with novelty” described the game more accurately. I was all set to write a pessimistic preview for Bulletstorm, until I discovered the following video. Suddenly, I became much more aware of the game’s possibilities and the idea behind it. As a deviation from the current trend of military shooters, Bulletstorm isn’t simply an homage to games like Doom, Quake and Unreal; it’s a counter-cultural artifact. Moreover, it may not actually be accurate or helpful to describe Bulletstorm in comparison to those three games. It would probably be better understood as what Devil May Cry would be like if it were a first-person shooter -- you could kill everything with just a few basic moves, but you are rewarded for doing it in the most stylish manner possible, both with points and feelings of satisfaction. An even better comparison would be the PlayStation 2 game, Shadow of Rome, since that game, like Bulletstorm, doesn’t simply reward style; it rewards killing your opponents in the most gratuitously gory manner possible. In Shadow of Rome, it was possible to break someone’s arms, cut his arms off, smack him with his severed limb, decapitate him as he loses bladder control and pleads for his life, and then kick his still-upright corpse to the ground. The game not only allowed this; it rewarded players with points for each action and bonus multipliers for actions done in quick succession. Bulletstorm’s skillshots work similarly. The headshot is almost obligatorily among the many violent things that can be done to the game’s enemies, but the game also includes a groin shot and even an anus shot (euphemistically labeled “Rear Entry”). From what the demo has revealed so far, Bulletstorm won’t simply be a game about making it from beginning to end while enjoying the story and pyrotechnics. It seems to be a game about discovery, exploration, planning and execution (in more than one sense of the word). Discovery and exploration here is not meant in the geographical sense, but instead refers to finding and understanding the game’s possibilities. For example, the Heavenly Flail Gun shoots an explosive bolas that stuns enemies and can be detonated manually or after a certain amount of time. You could just detonate and be done with it -- but it’s also possible to take advantage of the stun time to inflict the aforementioned groin and butt shots, or to boot your enemy into the air, effectively turning him into a flying meat bomb (which leads to the “Homie Missile” skill shot). There are more skill shots in the demo than the ones listed here, and the full game will contain many more. The skill and difficulty in Bulletstorm comes from linking these skill shots into spectacularly gory combos in order to achieve high scores, which will require knowledge of the levels and available skill shots, and the ability to execute them in a successful run. Since there is a point bonus for finishing levels quickly, going for high scores in Bulletstorm will also take the form of speed runs, a traditional gaming challenge that often requires practice and planning. It may be hard and not everyone will like it, but if the 23,000 point demo run above is any indication, it can also be an awesome feat to behold, and this is Bulletstorm’s hook. The game’s release is only two weeks away now and the time will soon come to see if it will live up to its potential. Bulletstorm will probably receive critical acclaim, but as mentioned at the beginning of this preview, some people won’t understand it. Consequently, the game probably won’t sell especially well, and it certainly won’t top Call of Duty. This could end up being a bit of an embarrassment, given the recent potshot the developers took at the gargantuan shooter franchise by developing a short PC game just to spoof it. There is one part of the parody that seems to sum up Bulletstorm though, better than the “Kill with skill” motto that it’s been advertised with. It’s the message displayed immediately after completing Duty Calls, right before the Bulletstorm trailer: “Putting the fun back in the gun.” Bulletstorm may be exactly what the genre needs.

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