Ready, Aim, FIRE!
You're a space mercenary, one of the roughest, toughest guys in the galaxy, but even the best can have a little bad luck now and then. So you've crash-landed on an alien planet - a real nasty one too. It's a former tourist trap gone bad, and by bad we mean killer vegetation, hundreds of murderous goons clogging the streets, and about a bajillion bullets between you and your escape plan.
Can you get off this stupid rock, transport your buddies to safety and get revenge on the man who put you here? Oh yeah, and can you do it with style, too?
That's Bulletstorm's plot: escape, and kill as many people as you can in the process. You'd expect nothing less from a collaboration between the developers that made Painkiller and Gears of War, of course.
But Bulletstorm isn't just one of the greatest shooters we've played in years - it's an ingenious action game that rewrites all the rules. It's about dealing out punishment and looking good while you do it. Is it a blast? Absolutely!
Unleash chaos!
Bulletstorm's brilliance lies with its Skillshot system: a system that sees you rewarded with points for finishing off the bad guys in as inventive a way as possible. Simply gunning someone down won't do the business here. To score big, try kicking them off a cliff, setting them on fire, or squishing them under something heavy.
The more points you get, the more you get to unlock of the game's crazy arsenal. Like shotguns? How about a shotgun with four barrels? Like sniper rifles? How about one with bullets you can steer around corners?
Alongside the guns, you'll also learn to let rip with a devastating electrical leash, perfect for yanking baddies out of cover or pulling choppers down out of the sky. Combine that will an awesome slide move, that allows you to kick enemies into slow-motion tumbles, and you're a force to be reckoned with. Get ready for hectic action, ear-splitting firefights, and amazing one-liners. Bulletstorm has it all.
You're the boss
The fun doesn't stop there, of course. Bulletstorm's gadgets may be fun to mess around with, but the game's explosive campaign is one of the best FPS gauntlets we've ever run, throwing in new ideas every ten minutes, sticking you in the middle of some seemingly inescapable situations, and layering on huge bosses that rank amongst some of gaming's most memorable. The world is beautiful to look at, the set-pieces are amazingly inventive, and the pace of the action is simply relentless.
That's not all. Once you're through with that slice of epic mayhem, you can replay the meatier parts of the campaign broken down into little nuggets of fun. This is Echo mode, and it's like Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit with guns, as you fight to beat your online friends for the highest score, maximising each run through the danger zone.
On top of that, there's Anarchy, too, which sees you and three friends facing off against waves of increasingly nasty enemies. The aim here isn't just to stay alive, but to hit a score target with each wave, and it really forces you to hone your skills, teaming up for elaborate Skillshots, and using every element of your arsenal - guns, feet, leash - to maximum effect.
It all adds up to a game that you won't soon forget. Bulletstorm will deafen you, dazzle you, shake your bones and rattle you until you can barely hold a controller. But most of all, it will bring you back for more: one more race through the campaign, one more assault on that high score table. If you like your shooters big and bold, this, then, is the game for you.
GAME's Verdict
The Good:
- Incredible weapons
- A new kind of shooter
- Amazing graphics
The Bad:
- We want more already!
- No competitive multiplayer
- Have to wait for a sequel!