14 DAY TRIAL // 
First-person shooters are a dime a dozen these days, with such titles practically flooding the market and the consumer.
As such, innovation is pretty much mandatory if studios want to create a shooter that will withstand the test of time and actually grow a loyal fan base.
Bulletstorm is such a game, with the team at People Can Fly working under the guidance of Epic Games and promising to deliver a first-person shooter that teaches its players to kill with skill, not just mindlessly shoot their way through the multiple levels, like in other games of this sort.
Has the Polish studio managed to deliver on its words or should Bulletstorm be shot into oblivion? Let's find out.
Story Upon hearing the premise of the game, that of a team of mercenaries wronged by a general in the government and trying to escape a dangerous planet filled with hazards, you'd no doubt believe that the story is negligible and that the plot is paper-thin.
You'd be wrong, though, as Bulletstorm manages to add quite a consistent story, filled with characters that might seem a bit cliché at first, but slowly open up to deliver intriguing stories.
Sure, almost all of them seem like they're the offsprings of Uncharted's Nathan Drake, cracking one-liners and jokes in between the firefights, but, as things progress, their reactions become more human-like, and not those of a standup comedian.
Props should also be given to the main villain, General Sarrano, one of the most foul-mouthed characters ever to be rendered virtually in a game, and one of the few female presences in Bulletstorm, Trishka, who, even if she is a bit objectified, manages to hold her own against the main character, Grayson Hunt.
Gameplay Bulletstorm starts off just like any other shooter, with a few firefights that highlight the main mechanics, before the skillshot feature gets used. In these segments, besides the story exposition that is delivered about Grayson and his team, things are quite dull.
This just goes to prove how desensitized we've become to first person shooters. Luckily, this doesn't last long, as Grayson gets a hold of the skillshot system and, from then on, things get extremely fun.
After playing a few rounds of Bulletstorm, it's hard to go back to regular shooters.
I could just kill guys by shooting their torsos or heads, but I'd much rather use an energy leash to fling them towards me, wrap a pair of grenades around their necks, kick them towards their comrades and then shoot off their heads before the grenades explode and takes out the rest of the crew.
That, plus a whole lot more is possible in Bulletstorm thanks to the skillshot system.
You get experience points for each kill, but the more elaborate and over the top it is, the bigger the reward. Killing with skill becomes increasingly important, as the points are used to buy ammo and upgrades for your multiple weapons. If you limit yourself to just playing Bulletstorm like a regular shooter, you'll run out of ammo and points soon enough.
As such, being creative is mandatory if you want to survive its challenges.
Grayson's comrades are relatively useful, but don't count on them all that much. Most of the times, because I was concentrated on completing the skill challenges, I didn't even know where the rest of my crew was or if they were actually making a contribution to the firefight.
The enemies are also relatively smart, but don't expect them to attempt complicated military maneuvers or anything like that. You are dealing, after all, with tribal gangs, which make excellent fodder for your executions. The variety of enemies is vast enough to make you change up strategies quite often.
There are some on-rails segments, but they're mostly enjoyable and won't prove to be any type of deal breakers. The locations succeed rapidly, meaning you won't get bored of the same background, and each new area has different environmental hazards, from spiked plants to giant Venus flytraps or deadly industrial machinery, not to mention a particularly interesting sequence in a miniature city that allows you to control robotic dinosaurs.
Multiplayer Bulletstorm takes a different type of approach to multiplayer, as it doesn't have a traditional competitive mode. Instead, it has the cooperative Anarchy one and a very special Echo mode.
The first is similar to Gears of War's Horde mode or Halo's Firefight one, where a team of human-controlled players work together in order to defeat the oncoming AI-controlled enemies. They need to work together in order to execute special team skillshots, so that they rack up points and progress to the next level as soon as possible.
This mode is extremely fun, especially if you end up with a team that knows what it's doing and you work together in order to reach the goals of the mode.
For those that work better alone, the Echo mode is right up their alley. In it, you go through stages of the game's campaign, without any of the story, and just try to rack up the most points possible by executing skillshots and combos.
Your overall score will be uploaded to a global leaderboard where you can see who is the most creative Bulletstorm player out there.
Graphics and Audio Bulletstorm uses the Unreal Engine from Epic Games, and it really shows that the studio also played a role in its development. The game looks stunning, and, unlike previous Unreal-powered titles, manages to pull off a wide array of colors and environments.
You'll go through the usual gray urban environments every now and then, but most of the times you'll be able to see the beauty of Stygia through sharp colors and memorable locations.
The characters are also quite polished, and the executions inherent to any skill shot look extremely good.
There are a few problems on the PC in terms of graphics, however, as the game hasn't been sufficiently tested. As such, many are complaining of 16-bit shadows and bad performance when not playing on the ideal 1280x720 resolution. We hardly encountered any of these issues during our playthrough, but many are suffering from these problems.
In terms of sound, Bulletstorm handles quite well, but doesn't stand out all that much. The voice acting is great, and each of the characters manages to convey different tones and a variety of swear words flawlessly.
Conclusion Overall, Bulletstorm is one of the most original games to appear in recent times and manages to add a new and very fun layer to the regular first-person shooter recipe.
The team at People Can Fly managed to motivate players to use their imagination, and this results in a memorable experience that will no doubt affect the way we play the next few shooters that appear after it.
It's not a perfect game, but it's a title that the shooter genre desperately needed in order to break out of its monotony.
