Bulletstorm (PC) Review - Bulletstorm (PC)

There is fair bit of geometric complexity throughout the massive levels with wide panoramic views that show off the engine effectively. Bulletstorm leverages the Unreal Engine well with great colored lighting, satisfyingly real explosions and godawesome god rays galore. The game has a good mix of typical FPS industrial tracks and well composed orchestral themes to mark the somber and violent themes that the game swings between. The explosions are loud, the guns have a satisfying thump, and the screams and sounds of flesh being ripped apart in the many environmental hazards is all nicely done.

Gameplay and Skillshots

The gameplay and combat elements, as you already know, are closely intertwined in an innovative system in a way that's unprecedented in this genre. The "Energy Leash" Grayson acquires from a fallen Confederate Elite plays a major part in the gameplay mechanics. The Confederation of Planets had sent in elite tactical teams to sanitize the planet, but in a nod to Darwin, the units would be resupplied on the basis of how well they performed in battle. Regular shooting just wouldn't cut it; points would be awarded for skillful and ingenious means of murder dubbed Skillshots, which would be evaluated by the AI embedded within the Energy Leash.

The gameplay is set up so that the game forces you to refrain from just shooting enemies to death - do that and you'll soon find yourself out of ammo and dying a lot. Ammo drops are virtually meaningless and the only way to resupply is by spending skillpoints at the resupply "Dropkits". The Energy Leash plays a pivotal role in earning these skill points. The leash is a rope of energy projected from Grayson's left hand. It fulfills a range of gameplay elements like activating devices and traps, pulling enemies towards you, and certain special abilities like slamming down a ball of energy that launches all nearby enemies into the air.

Regular gunplay just won't cut it; Bulletstorm fills up the scenery with baddies and environmental hazards that can be manipulated into innovative ways of dispatching enemies to earn skill points. Apart from the leash, Grayson can also kick enemies with his gravity boots and slide into them, which causes them to slow down in stasis like mode allowing you to get creative by either kicking or leashing them into spikes and man eating plants or use one of the many weapons to gib, electrocute or maim them in ways that are just limited by your imagination.
Weapon Design

Weapons are relatively small in number, but quite wide in the variety of homicidal choices they offer you. Your primary weapon is the Peacemaker carbine that's used to deliver basic head, jugular and crotch shots and also features a charged mode that makes it a single shot dealer of death. Each weapon, in a similar fashion, has a primary firing mode and a charged mode that can be activated by purchasing charges from the Dropkits. Each weapon is a different mix of primary and secondary charge modes like a high caliber magnum that doubles as a flare gun, or a sniper rifle that lets you control the bullets and subsequently the enemies that you can explode into another group of enemies for massive bonus.

In Bulletstorm, the world is your canvas with the weapons and environmental hazards the means to splatter enemies into gory art pieces. Drop a bouncing mine within the crowd and use your leash to turn it into an explosive morning star gone haywire. Shoot a rocket propelled drill (yes, rocket propelled) into an enemy and sheesh kebab him into another enemy with a kick. Drive the same into a boss's armor and kick it in to deal the coup de grace. The Flail gun shoots two explosive bombs tied together with a chain to incapacitate enemies and explode them with a click as you wait for more enemies to converge on the poor bastard. An enemy trapped by a flail gun round can also leashed into the nearest bunch of enemies for explosive crowd control.