Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm has been kind of under the radar recently. What with releases of other games from better known studios, announcements of other games around the corner, etc.

The demo was overshadowed by the release of other demos too, sadly. Crysis 2 and Dead Space 2 being the culprits. However, Bulletstorm is a game that I've been looking forward to due to the fact that it's being developed by none other than People Can Fly. Who are People Can Fly(PCF) you ask? They're the masterminds behind Painkiller. If you don't know painkiller, first person shooters everywhere need to slap you in the face.

When I rate games, I rate them by their Story, Gameplay and Graphics. This system falls apart when games don't even TRY for one of those categories, this is where Painkiller (and probably...Bulletstorm) come in. They're not trying to have a story. If anything, they'll throw together some dialogue as an excuse for characters to go from point A to B....Their focus is on Gameplay. And holy shit do they deliver.

Bulletstorm takes killing to the next level by providing many, many, many ways to kill creatures and baddies coming at you from all angles. The Demo showed quite a few of these ways, some painful to look at, others hilarious. A few to note: Voodoo Doll - Kicking an enemy into spikes. Fireworks - Shooting an explosive into an enemy suspended in the air. Mercy - Shooting an enemy in the balls, then kicking their face to put them out of their misery.

All of these kills gain you skill points. A currency that will be used not only to brag to friends, but upgrade weapons, buy new ones, expand skills, etc. Who knows what kind of things it'll bring.

Just on the demo, my friends and I have been competing to get higher and higher scores. The demo features a single Echo (mini-level used for competing) and only 3 weapons. All in all, a single play of the demo lasts about 6-7 minutes, or 3-4 if you're going for speedy finishes. But I've wasted hours on it already, replaying it, trying to top scores I've set myself, or my friends have set for me.

February 22nd is the release date...I have mine pre-ordered already.