Bulletstorm could well be 2017’s most Badass title. Its one high octane, thrill ride of an experience that you must try!
Polish developer “People can fly” return with rebooting, the greatly under-appreciated Bulletstorm, in all its fantastically remastered glory, known as the Full clip edition. Hoping to finally bring the shooter to a mainstream audience. This cult classic failed to hit sales targets back in 2011 for the ps3, Xbox 360 and PC. I for one, really do hope Full Clip edition fares much better.
Anyhow, starting off with the review, the entertaining campaign mode begins with 4 comrades on what appears to be a bounty ship with a hostage, who are all part of a team known as Dead Echo, working for a general known as General Sarrano. The team of Dead Echo are all led to believe they are assassinating criminals. However (There’s always a however!), in a shocking twist of events, the so-called criminals are actually innocent’s, and Grayson, Ishi, Doc and finally Rell have all been tricked.
10 years into the future, on a chance outing, the mercenaries, happen to run into Sarrano’s ship (known as the Ulysses), and in a moment of anger, seek to obliterate the commander and his fleet. Things don’t go to plan, and the two ships collide, as the merc’s crash on the planet of Stygia. Ishi takes a real battering, and after some much needed medical treatment, Ishi has an AI inserted into his brain amongst other augmented devices, to stay alive. (Ishi’s emotional journey through the story as half human fighting his AI, makes for interesting character development). Having now become almost like fugitives on the run, Grayson and Ishi, frantically try to survive and also escape the planet.
The game looks impressive visually, and the developers have confirmed it runs at 60fps. If gore and blood is your thing (that and the walking dead), then you’ll love this. It’s a gore lover’s paradise, decapitate, kick your enemies to death, fling your enemies into spikes, feed them to electro flies, heck even launch them into a cactus if you feel like it or just smash a barrel into them and watch the fireworks fly. Bulletstorm is the most creative shooter I’ve had the joy of playing, at times I almost felt guilty for using my gun, the electro-powered cell you have attached grants you the power to unleash a chain like an electric leash that you can use to hurl enemies here, there and everywhere. As you advance through the game, you’ll come across nifty little containers known as a dropbox. These boxes allow the player to purchase upgrades via earnt skill points, check out the statistics page, or if you’re an achievement lover, then the skill shot database is indeed your friend. The skill shot system is the real ace up Bulletstorm’s sleeve, get creative, and get rewarded for it, slide, leash and kick your way through those high skill shot combos. (You brutal bastards!!)
(You just got pricked, MATE!)
Like most games, collectables are in abundance here, coming across Newsbots, drinking bottles and swarms, completing these challenges are worth doing. Bulletstorm is a joy to behold, it handles greatly (the shooting mechanics are realistic and very responsive, and the leash is expertly implemented making it a very enjoyable addition to the arsenal of tools available), looks wise its one sexy mother******, and the character models and locations have been beautifully remastered. The games protagonists are larger than life characters whom many a time come out with crude one-liners.
From the peacemaker carbine through to the likes of the quad-barreled Bone duster shotgun, and the Head Hunter sniper rifle, each gun brings something different to the table and has a 1 hit unique shot that has awesome consequences. Progression throughout campaign unlocks more.
One standout moment was made by the thrilling chase during Act 1, a menacing wheel of death known as the gargantuan is barreling across the map hot on your heels. The hilarious moment I reached the Disco lounge in act 2, earning the Disco Inferno achievement whilst burn baby burn was blaring out, was another highlight of mine.
The fun doesn’t stop there. Multiplayer returns in all its former glory, and more. Online multiplayer pits players into a lobby for pre-match customization, before 4x players, team up to kick arse in the Anarchy mode, where gamers try to survive 20 waves of enemies across 12 maps. Will you unleash the greatness that is, the “Blood symphony skill shot”?.
Echoes mode and an ultimate echoes option are also included. These two additions are a competitive leaderboard competition. Gamers fight through maps, only able to use the electric leash, or by kicking A.I to death. (NO GUNS allowed folks!). Ultimate Echoes changes things up somewhat slightly. Complete special challenges and unlock additional gameplay rules!
A Duke Nukem Fan? Try out the Duke Nukem world tour, where you play through the whole campaign as Duke, featuring a unique script, recorded by the original voice of Duke Nukem.
At the time of this review, I couldn’t find anybody to matchmake with online, and Duke Nukem’s world tour was locked in the menus. I’ll look into updating the review after the game goes live and these modes are more assessable.
An Xbox One Review code was provided by Gearbox Software.