This game is just crunchy, bloody, over the top FPS fun. It may have gotten me on a list due to how much fun it was to just kill the fuck out of mutant grunts, and the game's points system encourages creative ways to obliterate enemies. The story and characters are kinda over the top stupid in what I think is a great way. It's got some uh, unique, ways to curse, but I think that adds to the charm. Honestly the background worldbuilding and ideas here could really be expanded much more in a great sequel, but this game is still the full Bulletstorm package. Tons of fun here.

It’s not too hard to see why Bulletstorm is regarded as a minor cult classic. On the one hand, it’s yet another brown-and-grey shooter from an era that was rife with them. On the other hand, it’s extremely competent and packs just enough charming flourishes to set it apart. It underperformed at launch but later gained a reputation as a solid shooter via word of mouth.

While its story won’t win any awards, Bulletstorm does offer up generous helpings of plot and worldbuilding. You take control of down-on-his-luck mercenary, Grayson Hunt, and go on a mission that’s part revenge against an evil warlord, part escape from a collapsing planet. Accompanying you are loyal sidekick Ishi and later a third party member. While your pals do provide some extra firepower, they primarily exist to deliver banter and keep the story moving forward. Thankfully they can’t die and thus require no babysitting.

The game feels like a first-person take on Gears of War, with the biggest twist coming in the form of skillshots and skillpoints. By disposing of enemies with special trick shots you can earn points that let you upgrade your weapons and purchase ammunition. Unfortunately, it’s a clever idea that never reaches its full potential, because skillpoints are too easy to earn and there aren’t enough interesting ways to spend them. Skillshots usually involve tossing enemies into hazards like electricity and thorns, or just straight up shooting them in their ahem manly parts. There are many variations on these concepts, with each weapon having its own unique skillshots, but they don’t feel different enough to meaningfully change the gameplay. Likewise, skillpoints don’t let you upgrade your weapons in any interesting ways, so most of your points will be spent increasing your ammo reserves and buying spare bullets. For a concept with so much potential, the execution fails to impress.

What the game absolutely nails, though, are the pacing and sense of scale. It flows almost like a light-gun shooter, as you run from area to area and blast through hordes of bad dudes. The gunplay is fast, ammo is abundant, and the set pieces are epic. You venture through huge caverns, run-down future cities, and mil-sim spaceships, and no two scenes feel alike. While the game is basically a corridor shooter, the massive backdrops ensure it never feels tiny or cramped. By limiting the space of play, the developers are conversely able to create environments that, in some ways, feel more immense than the open worlds that have been in vogue for the last decade plus.

While it didn’t push the first-person shooter genre forward as it undoubtedly hoped to, Bulletstorm is still a solid early ‘10s shooter with a fun campaign and high production values. If you’re looking for a palate cleanser to play between bigger games, you could do a lot worse.

For whatever reason, the game that rewarded me for choking people with a grenade bouquet, killing seven people, and getting bonuses called "Gang bang" and "Assstruction" thought it was being clever preaching to me that gratuitous violence in media is bad to a point where it makes Spec Ops: The Line looking at the character and saying "You're a murderer" look subtle in comparison.

Not a bad game, but holy shit, this is NOT how you make a thoughtful experience, especially when I counted 13 homophobic jokes in the first four chapters before giving up because I felt like I'd have a hernia if I kept it up.

Rating: C
Genre(s): FPS

Playtime: 6 Hours
Score: 6/10

I played this game at a friends house back when it originally came out and thought it was awesome looking. A first person Gears of War with how the character models and guns looked. Playing it now fully on PC however was a very mixed experience.

To start with what I did like, first off the voice acting is top notch with Steve Blum and Jennifer Hale voicing the lead characters. Steven Blum especially was my favorite as the main character Grasyon. The man was born to play grizzled soldier types. The graphics look very good with its Gears of War like aesthetic, though this "remastered" edition barely looks better then the original port. The game has aged well though with its art style. The general combat and gameplay is super fun with all the cool weapons you can use and how you can use the environment to kill your enemies. Its all very well done. Plus there's the Skillshot system that rewards you with points the more creative you get with how you dispatch enemies.

The best part of the game is definitely the story and writing as it really was engaging and I wanted to see where it all ended up. Though I did start to get bored of all the dick jokes after a while. The game does end on a cliffhanger though, which I did know going in beforehand, but since there doesn't seem like there will ever be a sequel to this, it overall left me feeling very unsatisfied especially since the game is rather short and I only cared about the campaign really. Stick around till the end of the credits as there is a post credit scene, or don't since there's no sequel?

To start with my negatives from the gameplay side which is a lot. Firstly, was the overuse of QTEs and button prompts which never ceased to be annoying. This was the time where developers were really pushing these mechanics in games, and I have never been a fan of it. You can't jump in the game, and have to do a bottom prompt to vault over things which is fine, but you can't go 10 steps in levels without running into one of these things which gets tedious. And things like climbing across rails is also button prompts you have to press throughout you climbing across rather then you just grabbing on and moving naturally. This also comes into the final boss fight which is also a QTE segment which is really bad since they did such a good job building up the villain in the story, I wanted to blast his head off, but I can't even do that without the game holding my hand and refusing to let go.

The skillshot system was also disappointing in that its very limited in what you can spend points on. You can increase how much ammo you can carry and unlock an alternate firing mode for the each of the weapons and thats it. It would have been cool if you could upgrade damage, reload speed, accuracy etc.. You don't need full weapon customization, but at least being able to upgrade them more would have been cool. The enemies are also really annoying in this game in how there are multiple enemy types that will run right up to you, which means you need to weapons like the shotgun always equipped. You can kick enemies, but its only going to knock them back unless you kick them into hazards like spikes or electrical currents. The enemies also are complete bullet sponges even on the easier difficulties. At one point there was a one shotgun enemy I was fighting and it took 4 or 5 blasts from my own shotgun at close range to kill him which was just terrible. Eventually towards the end I just spammed the leashes ultimate ability that would kill multiple enemies at once because I just didn't want to deal with them. The leash is cool weapon in that you can pull enemies towards you but later they introduce enemies that can both dodge the leash and the auto-seeking sniper rifle rounds? Okay bro.

You can also only carry 3 weapons which sucks and annoyingly, when your at a drop kit that you use to upgrade weapons and refill your ammo, if you refill for a gun you don't have equipped it will automatically equip that weapon which was very annoying. You can unlock the ability to carry all weapons in new game plus mode, but that's obviously only after you beat the main campaign. You can replay to get any killshot challenges you missed the first time and when you do for each weapon you unlock infinite ammo which is cool. The only problem with this is your constantly being attacked by multiple enemies at once and it can be a bit hard to spend time trying to perform a specific kill when you got 10 guys all attacking you at once. Another missed opportunity was co-op which would have been perfect for this game, especially since throughout the campaign you are basically always accompanied by an NPC. It would made replaying the game a lot more fun.

Lastly, this is a small thing, but whenever character sprints the camera shakes which I guess is done to be more realistic, but this at times gave me motion sickness. There's no option to turn this off or to keep the camera stable when sprinting which I was not a fan of.

Overall the game is decent but some of the gameplay design decisions the devs made, make it age badly compared to things like the story and graphics being top notch. I'd recommend it for the story, but with the cliffhanger ending, and there being no sequel, it makes me want to say skip it.

All Games I have Played and Reviewed Ranked - https://www.backloggd.com/u/JudgeDredd35/list/all-games-i-have-played-and-reviewed-ranked/

The first 40 minutes of Bulletstorm will be the most god-awful boring shit you have ever played in your life. Hand-holding, aggressively scripted, QTE's every 15 seconds with the most try-hard edgy "Gearbox Certified" dialog. Pretty much every awful design trope of the time is in those 40 minutes.

But then, out of nowhere, it gets... good?

Once the game takes off the metaphorical leash of your neck and hands it to you as a weapon, an energy whip that enables some creative environmental kills, combat becomes a joy. And to top it off an arcade scoring system is in place to reward creative kills, that's just dopamine shots directly into my hypothalamus.

It has its shortcomings, the story is dogshit, but when measured against other COD killers of the time (like Homefront) Bulletstorm is far more creative and interesting. It's a unique curiosity well worth a play, especially if you are into oddities.

[ Full review at https://bluedemonarchive.blogspot.com/2022/12/mini-bulletstorm-fullclip-edition.html ]

I played the original version of Bulletstorm back when it originally came out, and as an edgy, violence obsessed, teenage boy, I loved the hell out of it! Now, playing the remaster I found that I still enjoyed it a lot! But I also found more to appreciate, and criticize, with my more mature lens.

So to start off, the clear highlight of this game, the thing that sets it apart from so many other shooters, is the skillshot system. And it is honestly great! Killing enemies in different ways and getting rewarded for it never stops getting old; I loved trying to mix up my kills throughout both my playthroughs. They're all so brutal and incredibly satisfying to pull off, even the annoying frustrating ones.

However, despite my love for the system, I don't think it's the best it can be. In fact, I think it's far from it. While I still enjoy blasting everyone and getting rewarded for it, there isn't really much incentive to mix up the ways you kill people, other than intrinsic desire. The points are mainly used to buy upgrades and ammo, so logically, the best course of action is to just use whatever gets you the most points all the time, which is usually some kind of environmental kills or multi-kills. I think the game would benefit a lot from having something like a DMC or Ultrakill reward system, where using the same attack repeatedly will result in less points, or at least something to help incentivize more variation and creativity.

The system is also heavily held back by the strange weapon limitation. While playing the main campaign, you can only use, very bizarrely, three weapons at a time. And, even more bizarrely, one of those weapons can't be changed. So of your (honestly pretty impressive) arsenal, you can only ever use roughly one third of it at a time, which severely limits what you can actually do at any given moment. Having played through the bonus mode that lets you have access to all the weapons throughout the entire game, I can definitively say that having such a varied arsenal is fantastic, and makes the game way more entertaining. I just wish this was how the game was normally, because the three weapon system is such an odd and frustrating restriction that limits and otherwise phenomenal experience.

Aside from the skillshot system, the other two things Bulletstorm has become widely known for is its attempts at criticizing shooters at the time and its strange, curse heavy narrative. Both of which, end up falling short of their goals.

As a criticism of the game industry, Bulletstorm is just ironic, and even hypocritical. It acts as though its different from the many Call of Duty clones that were littering the market back then, but ultimately, still gives in to the conventions and general designs at that time. I could see someone who bought this game just to be free from CoD fatigue getting really upset with it.

But what I find really strange about Bulletstorm is how hard it seems to be trying to be Gears of War, not Call of Duty. Just thinking about the general design and the way the character interacts with the world, everything just made me think of the fantastic Xbox series. The waist high walls everywhere, the way you have the vault over walls to get to the next section, the fact that you can't jump, cutting the game up into acts and chapters, and even making the player press a button to look at an important thing all the time. It just hits so many of the familiar design choices of Gears, but just in first person, which mostly works out. But its still really odd. Though when you consider that playing this game got you into the Gears of War 3 beta back in the day, and the developers would go on to make Gears of War Judgement (the worst Gears game) it does end up making sense. Its just funny seeing a game try to criticize first person shooters and then replicate Gears of War of all things. Its like making fun of people for watching Family Guy and then basing your sitcom on American Dad. Just really strange.

And then there's the story, which is mostly serviceable, but doesn't really do much to stand out. Gray can be a fun protagonist, and I really enjoy his plight for revenge against Sarrano, but it doesn't really develop enough to ever get that interesting. Plus the overt cursing can get pretty boring after a while.

What I do find really interesting about Bulletstorm's narrative, however, is how you can look at it through a Marxist lens and actually pull out a lot of interesting pieces. The game seems to take a pretty strong anti-corporation and anti-imperialism stance. As some examples: we learn that the city that was built in a big thunderstorm went under because the workers formed a union and the bosses refused to meet their demands, the whole skillshot system was built to reward those who worked better and destroy those who didn't meet the quota (basically turning war into a way for employers to exploit their workers), and finally, the corporation who hired Sarrano wanted to nuke the entire planet with a bomb that only killed living things, leaving only property in tact, to make a profit with later; showing how villainously corporations value property and money over all forms of life.

I find all of this extraordinarily interesting, and it made playing the game as an adult incredibly worth it. But sadly, it just doesn't really do much with it beyond surface level stuff. The game doesn't really incorporate this into the narrative beyond just telling us about it, it just feels like there could have been so much more to it but the game just suddenly stops talking about it. My guess, is that they didn't want to risk going too hard with the Marxist messaging here, that would probably hurt their sales if it was too explicit. Oh well.

Overall, I like Bulletstorm. I loved it as a kid, and I still enjoy it a lot now. But, unfortunately, it just isn't living up to its potential. There's so many great ideas, both gameplay and narrative wise, that just don't get to be as great as they could be. In terms of gameplay, I don't think there's anything like Bulletstorm, and I really wish someone would give the skillshot system another go, it deserves a better chance to shine. At the moment, there are plenty of other FPSs you can play, plenty of better ones too, but this one is still special in its own way. If you're interested in it, you'll most likely enjoy it, but you'll probably wish it was at least a little bit better.

(Also side note: this version of the game has the Duke Nukem DLC. It's fine. I loved whenever Duke said something funny, like complaining about people calling him the wrong name or mentioning "The Flashback", but most of the time, it's just the same dialogue as the regular game, which is disappointing. And what's more disappointing, is that this is easily the best Duke Nukem game we'd had in over a decade.)

FPS divertido na maior parte do tempo, da uma cansadinha perto do fim, mas o jogo é curtinho (tem umas 6 horas de gameplay).

A mecânica do chicote pra puxar inimigos e objetos, somando o fato de vc poder chutar os inimigos nas coisas é bem legal.

Pena que a luta final é um quick time event e o game deixa uma brecha pra continuação que acho que nunca vai rolar.

Vale a pena pegar em uma promoção.

Someone needs to invent a genre for this type of game like "spectacle shooter" can we get that please the Deus Ex fans got this dumb "imsim" genre let us have spectacle shooter

Anyways game is incredibly fun, well paced, just the right length. Also gorgeous, not just a typical brown/beige 7th-gen typical shooter fare, lot of vivid colours and pretty vistas. The character models look like muppets with tissues stuffed in their mouths though.
Some corny dialogue and a predictable story but thanks to the self-aware tone the game gets away with it.