Hey all, its another rambling review from that crazy guy, Braxis!  This episode of blood-splattering is brought to you by Bulletstorm.

Now, before things get underway, a disclaimer.  This game is CRUDE, I dont mean that in terms of graphics, its actually one of the prettiest games I've played lately.  However, this game is full of Toilet humor, swearing, crazy, over the top gore, and curiously, a system that rates how creatively/horribly you kill things... I found it hilarious, but if these things are not your cup of tea, walk away now.

Ok, now that thats out of the way: Bulletstorm.

This game might possibly be the most fun single player FPS game I've played since... hmmm, Portal? or maybe Metro 2033 (which you should check out if you haven't yet).  Honestly, this game is amazingly fun.  Its a throwback to the early shooters al-la Painkiller, The combat shies away from realism in favor of fast-paced over-the-top-ness.  Its a straight up linear shooter with a wide variety of colorfully mutated enemies, and drops you in the middle of them with a nice assortment of weapons, from a overpowered pistol to a gun that fires explosive bolos, to a giant drillbit gun that will impale people to walls, floor and ceiling!  Oh, and the shotgun is overpowered enough appear like the god killer in Drive Angry (which is a good movie, in a similar vein to this game, actually...)  

Anyways, gameplay is fast and close, with a variety of slides, kicks and throws at your disposal for quick melee dispatch of enemies.  The game uses an interesting mechanic of Experience.  Early on, you aquire a "leash" basically a laser lasso similar to the gravity gun (halflife) or the telekinesis plasmid (Bioshock), with which you can yank enemies up close for quick dispatch, or if you are feeling creative, over cliffs, into barbed wire, fire, exploding barrels, cactus', other enemies, exposed wiring... And the game GRADES you on the relative creativity of your kills, and awards corresponding xp, which you can then use to purchase ammo or upgrades from the dispensers scattered through the landscape.  Seriously, there are like 40 different skill kills, plus another ~30 for each weapon!  You can look up all these different kills at any time, which really lends itself to the person who likes to get as creative as possible with his kills.

Graphics wise, this game is beautiful.  It fits perfectly into the current batch of High Bloom console games that we are seeing, with beautifully detailed landcscapes and panorama laid out before you, just waiting for you to decorate with the dismembered bodyparts and blood of your enemies... This game was developed by the company and built on the same engine as Gears of War, and the art style shows through.  The gun models, like everything else, are decidedly over the top, and each gun has an overcharge option which only increases the hilarity (for example, the pistol has an attached flare gun which upon impact explodes, knock enemies off their feet and sets them on fire   )

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed this game.  It is quite cathartic and satisfying to blast enemies into pieces in such a dazzling variety of ways.  The humor was childish and crude, but brought forth more surprised laughter from me than any game since Portal.  If you have the money kicking around, and want a bit of a change of pace, check it out.

SSG.Braxis*BK*

If it excluded all the swearing and other innapropriate comments etc... I would totally get it. Gory games with satisfying kills have always had a special place in my heart.

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