Bulletstorm Preview

14 May 2010 at 15:34:49 by Andy Alderson

“Bulletstorm puts the fun back in first person shooters,” says Cliff Bleszinski's talking head at our first look at Bulletstorm. In true award ceremony fashion, he unfortunately can't be with us today but has made this video message to offer his support to People Can Fly's shooter experiment. We're told to expect action “with a little bit of a wink and a smile” and, uncharacteristically for Dude Huge, this is somewhat of an understatement.

Since its announcement last month, I'd formed a mental image of Bulletstorm which lay somewhere between The Club and Unreal Tournament. The notion of “kill with skill” recalled the former's combo kill system and the involvement of Epic had me hoping for a fast-paced, over the top affair like the latter. From the brief gameplay section I see today, it's obvious that Bulletstorm takes things even further.

People Can Fly's Adrian Chmielarz (who, fortunately, could make it today) talks us briefly through Bulletstorm's narrative, introducing the game's two central characters Grayson Hunt and Ishi Sato. The pair were formerly members of the Confederation's elite security unit Dead Echo but, following a revelation about their employer, they find themselves in exile. We're told the storyline in Bulletstorm will be a “roller coaster ride”, filled with twists and turns, but today we're not here for the story. We're here to see the rumoured lunacy in action and Chmielarz grins as he begins to explain the special moves that will allow you to achieve some spectacular kills in Bulletstorm.

Loading up a level set in a decaying space port overrun with strangely sinister flora, we're told we have a kick ability at our disposal, a slide and, brilliantly, an energy leash. The latter can be used to grab an enemy and throw them up into the air, allowing you to then inflict all manner of pain on their floating body. Chmielarz aptly demonstrates just how creative you can get with Bulletstorm by sliding into an enemy, which knocks them into the air, before unloading a clip into their chest. Turning round he kicks another  guy into a giant cactus, before using the leash to pull one unlucky foe towards his apparently super-powered foot. As the room erupts in laughter, we realise we've just been shown the game's USP, reinforcing Bleszinski's earlier comments. Bulletstorm is about feeling like a badass and making your enemies look as stupid as possible and this is a game that, in no way whatsoever, wants to be taken seriously. That much is obvious from the dialogue which is fantastically hammy, frequently puerile and clearly aimed at those of us who are still young enough to laugh at farts. “The shit I've seen down here would turn your asshole purple,” says Hunt's nameless female colleague at one point in the demo, lodging a particularly unwelcome image deep into my mind.

People Can Fly guides us deeper into the level and we learn more about the skillshot system, as point rewards litter the screen with every kill. This is a game that encourages creative carnage, we're told, and the more novel the execution, the bigger the reward. All of the skillshots are assigned a name and Chmielarz offers to demonstrate the Mercy feature which, we soon discover, reflects the ethos at the heart of Bulletstorm perfectly. Aiming a little further south than your average gentleman, Hunt peppers an enemy's groin with bullets, immediately bringing him to his knees. Then, in a staggering act of benevolence, shoots him in the face, earning the Mercy bonus.

Not just an action shooter, Bulletstorm allows you to combine the slide, the kick and the leash to “toy with your enemies like a cat with a mouse.” However, while Hunt and Sato may be pretty badass, in the final section of the demo they find themselves in the middle of a particularly nasty boss battle against a swirling, angry mess of roots and plant matter in a beautifully-rendered atrium. As Hunt and Sato desperately try to avoid the vines and branches using the slide function, I find myself laughing at just how far they can slide, which is not even vaguely realistic. And that's exactly the point of Bulletstorm.

Comment