I don't like it, don't want to like it, don't make me like it: Bulletstorm Demo

It's rather odd to say but I really wanted to hate Bulletstorm. I think its because of reading Total Biscuit's comments on twitter about it, perhaps it was because Xbox Live struggled to download the demo, maybe I've just not been getting enough fibre in my diet. No matter the reason, I sat down expecting to thoroughly loathe Bulletstorm. Sadly I was disappointed when I found I actually enjoyed it. How dare 'People Can Fly' and 'Epic Games' make a game I actually enjoy? The rotters.

From the start you feel that you should be expecting a standard shooter with all the usual duck and cover and frantic shoot that normally entails. Something that feels like Serious Sam and Gears of War had a strange love child, a nice simple amalgamation of arcade gun fights in a post apocalyptic setting which happens to be cartoon land. The game itself is quite happy to let you treat it as such but you will soon realise you've been missing the point somewhat. This isn't about just meeting objectives or getting to the end of the levels, no this game is about being over the top. The protagonist Grayson Hunt, voiced by the excellent Steve Blum, even tells you this as he breaks the fourth wall to introduce you to the demo.



Rather than your assault rifle being just an assault rifle it has an alternate fire that’s a shotgun, instead of a revolver you have something that can fire rockets into characters and have them fly off into space, nice. Then you find the flail which lets you pull enemies towards you who are then suspended in a state of slow motion weightlessness where they float around waiting for a rocket up the back side, brilliant. Soon you realise you can kick your enemies sending them again into slow motion but this time flying away from you, excellent. Combining these abilities lets you turn anyone you don't like the look of into a human sized yo yo, at least until you accidentally impale them on spikes, whoops.

Armed with the knowledge of how the game works you begin trying to rack up more and more outlandish kills using the above tools and any other set pieces that you can lay your hands on. A convenient trap door full of rocks placed over a bad guy's head? Why thank you Bulletstorm and thanks for all those lovely points. It's then that the realisation hits. You're hooked. Its not enough to kill someone, you have to utterly destroy them just so you get a better score for the level. Soon you will be replaying the level over and over just to get a higher score.

So that’s the demo finished and shamefully it has successfully convinced me to buy the game. Now I need to find something else to hate. If you would like to volunteer to be the target of my wrath please feel free to get in touch via twitter. Expect to be abused within 5 to 10 minutes.