14 DAY TRIAL // Bulletstorm is the latest creation from the People Can Fly, the studio behind one of the most popular, yet overlooked shooters of yesteryear, Painkiller.
The game promises to make the shooter genre fun again by doing away with the classic 'go there, shoot the enemies, survive' cycle, and emphasizes killing with skill.
Basically, instead of just going into a firefight with the single goal of killing the enemies, Bulletstorm adds its skillshot system, which rewards players that execute their opponents through the most imaginative ways possible.
You can shoot a guy in the body or aim for a headshot, but it's much more fun to shoot him in the groin, pull him towards you with an energy leash and then kick him into a bed of rusty spikes, thus earning a massive combo.
With such mechanics, it's easy to catalog Bulletstorm as being just a mindless shooter, especially since it comes from the creators of Painkiller, a title with one of the most barebone stories ever made.
Fortunately, that isn't so, as the game has quite an interesting story and manages to implement all of the features, including skillshots or the energy leash, into the narrative of the game.
You'll still find many of the classic shooter tropes, including space marines, groups of mercenaries bent on revenge and corrupt generals, but the title does manage to sprinkle in new things and keeps players motivated to go forward, not just to unlock newer skillshots.
Graphics look extremely sharp, as you can tell that Epic Games oversaw the development of Bulletstorm and pulled out all the stops in order for its Unreal Engine to showcase all its features in Bulletstorm.
The gameplay feels quite right, and the opening sections really show that if it was just another first-person shooter, Bulletstorm wouldn't have been that important.
Expect our full review at the beginning of next week, but until then feel free to check out a video of some gameplay from the opening portions of Bulletstorm (spoilers are kept at a minimum).