Bulletstorm Demo Impressions

Tuesday is easily the crappiest day of my week. I am at my university for 14 hours leaving very little time for movies, video games, or blogging. Even worse since most games are released on Tuesdays.

However, I was able to download the demo to the game Bulletstorm which ranked 12th on my list of my most anticipated games of the year. It's being made by Epic Games, the developer behind the Unreal franchise and the Gears of War franchise, meaning its got some expectations to fulfill. How did it fare, especially when the first-person shooter genre is so crowded?

What do you get when you turn the awesomeness of MadWorld for the Wii into a First-Person Shooter? Well you probably don't know because I bet none of you even played MadWorld. And you call yourselves gamers. X-( I kid of course. MadWorld was a game where you built up points based on stylish your kills were. Kill an enemy a certain way you get points. Do it a different way you might get more points.

That's essentially Bulletstorm in a nutshell only as a First-Person Shooter rather than a 3D Beat-Em-Up. Just plain killing them will get you the minimal amount of points whereas shooting them in the head, or getting up close and booting them and then shooting them in midair, or ass-shots (seriously), get you many more points.

Now it's not exactly like MadWorld. In MadWorld the points were necessary for your advancement. You a certain amount of points to unlock bosses and advance through the stages. This game's design works like your standard FPS, move from Point A to Point B and kill things (albeit stylishly). The points will be used to purchase new weapons or upgrades for the weapons. Think Call of Duty multiplayer in singleplayer. And while I didn't see it take effect in this one due to only one campaign stage, no extra weapons, or upgrades, the point system is in place and I anticipate the upgrades for the retail release.

From little story I can see, they are not taking it seriously whatsoever and that's not a bad thing. This is not Mass Effect or Uncharted. Just look at the title. If you expect a deep story from this, you are a terrible judge of titles. Sometimes not taking yourself seriously can work in your favor as it allows logic to be almost completely thrown out the window which can make for an awesome experience. Check out Bayonetta if you don't believe me.

As a nerd who likes to look at every avenue of the games he plays, Epic Games delighted me by putting in two of my most respected voices in the gaming industry. First up is Steve Blum who plays the main character, Grayson Hunt. Coincidentally Steve Blum also voiced the main character in MadWorld as well as numerous other games. Seriously, he's nearly 400 CREDITS on his IMDB page. Second is Jennifer Hale, who voices Female Commander Shepard (the DEFINITIVE Commander Shepard) in Mass Effect and Bastila in Knights of the Old Republic, and has also been in MGS, Metroid Prime etc. Again her list of credits is LONG. I have a lot of respect for those two and it was a nice bonus to hear their voices.

Overall, I was pleased. Bulletstorm was fast-paced, felt unique, was over-the-top (from what could tell), and has a great developer behind it. The demo is currently available on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network and its a great way to spend a badass hour.