We are soon to be treated to a refreshing take on the first person shooter, come 22 February 2011. Bulletstorm promises to deliver with its tongue-in-cheek, machismo driven personality, laced with misogyny, sexual innuendo, and kicking enemies in the crotch. The protagonist, Grayson Hunt, (too bad his name wasn’t Mike) may very well prove to be the Duke Nukem of this generation.
In case you haven’t been keeping up, Bulletstorm is a new first-person shooter IP from the teams that brought us Gears of War and Painkiller – Epic Games and People Can Fly, published by Electronic Arts. The game’s signature tagline is “Kill with skill,” – we’ll get to why in a moment.
The game is powered by the stalwart Unreal 3 Engine and we can expect some great visuals and environments to accompany the action. Players will travel from scorched deserts to tropical forests.
The Story
The developers promise a ‘Pulp Sci-Fi Adventure.’ The script was developed by Marvel Comics writer Rick Remender (The Punisher). Key plot ingredients include betrayal, revenge and ultimately, redemption.
Bulletstorm is set in a futuristic utopia. An elite peacekeeping force thwarts the rumblings of civil war – but deception within the ranks has caused two members of the most feared unit, Dead Echo, to strike out on their own.
Now washed-up mercenaries turned space pirates, Grayson Hunt and Ishi Sato’s latest quest for a quick buck goes south. Stumbling upon their ex-commander’s warship, the Ulysses, Grayson engages this behemoth head-on. Outmanned and outgunned, his only option is to ram the Ulysses in a suicidal bid at redemption.
Narrowly surviving a crash landing and now stranded on the abandoned paradise planet of Stygia, Grayson and Ishi find themselves surrounded by hordes of mutants and flesh-eating gangs. They survive on two objectives: get off the planet alive and exact revenge on the man who sent them there.
Taking the role of Grayson Hunt, players will wield unique weapons supplemented with over-the-top combat moves.
Skillshots
The Skillshot system has been described by the developers as a ‘Blood Symphony’ combining outrageous gunplay with unique kick, slide and leash mechanics – that should give you a hint as to some of the gameplay possibilities. The environment is full of objects and hazards that can be used to deal with enemies.
Players are encouraged to string together different types of Skillshots for greater points. For example, shooting an enemy in the tackle box and then finishing him with a headshot grants a Mercy kill. One could shoot an enemy with a flail gun, which wraps explosive chains around them, and then kick said incapacitated enemy into another before it explodes, earning the Gang Bang skillshot.
There are 135 Skillshots in the game, fun to discover for oneself, or ready to be viewed at the Bulletstorm Wikia for those who can’t wait.
Weapons
So far, not too much info has been released about the weapons in the game – a good move in my opinion, as it’s fun to discover for oneself the destructive power of the promised inventive weapons. So far we know about the core weapons listed below, as quoted from the developers:
Peace Maker Carbine (PMC) – “A gun that can unleash a hundred bullets on your foes liquefying them into a skeleton.”
Boneduster – “A Four-barrel shotgun that shoots high-impact rounds with incendiary capabilities.”
The Flail Gun – “Basically two explosives attached between a chain. You can throw it at somebody, wrap it around their neck, wrap it around their legs, kick ’em up in the air and then explode them.”
Bouncer – “A portable cannonball launcher that barrels across the battlefield like a bowling ball.”
The Mini Gun (un/mountable Turret Gun) – “A Gatling gun with a high rate of fire.”
The Circle of Awesome
Bulletstorm features an upgrade system, giving purpose to all those delicious Skillshot points. Cash in the points for upgrades to weapons and use these upgrades to pull off even bigger and better Skillshots and earn even more points – a self-perpetuating circle of awesome that rewards murderous creativity.
Break out the awesome
The Bulletstorm demo will be hitting Xbox LIVE and PSN today (25 January 2011). PC gamers are left out unfortunately, probably because we’re naturally far better at shooting stuff and the console players need a head start on practice. That’s right, I said it – you were all thinking it anyway.
Bulletstorm will be hitting retail on 22 February 2011, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
Join in the Bulletstorm discussion on the MyGaming forum.
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