Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
Great game, unreasonable price tag
Developer PeoPle Can Fly publisher Gearbox SoFtware price $ 49.99 USD AvAilAble At Steam bulletstorm.com
Bulletstorm was a rad game when it was first released in 2011, thanks to a winning combination of puerile humour, fast and rewarding shooting mechanics and some excellent action setpieces. The Full Clip Edition takes this original game, puts a shiny coat of paint on it and then charges you way too much for a six year old game. The constantly exciting and creative combat is still very appealing, but the simple fact that the game is being sold for the same price as a newly released AAA title (or more if you get the Duke Nukem DLC that initially appeared to be an integral part of the remaster) makes it somewhat difficult to recommend.
For those of you that missed Bulletstorm the first time around, the game follows Grayson Hunt, an ex-special forces killer turned renegade after being betrayed by the brass and blah, blah, it doesn’t really matter. After doing something suicidally stupid and getting most of his crew killed, Grayson and his one surviving friend, now a homicidally angry cyborg thanks to some rushed surgery, find themselves stranded on an abandoned resort planet hunting the very man who betrayed Grayson in the first place. The planet is home to warring tribes of wasteland psychos and other threats. You kill them in stylish ways for points.
The central combat loop is based around four things: the energy grapple that allows Grayson to grab opponents and throw them towards him, a kick that sends them flying away, the weapons that he currently has equipped, and the environment. Combining all these
murder combos grant bonus points, so it really rewards creativity, and not a little bit of cruelty
things in creative ways rewards the player with points that can be spent upgrading equipment to unlock more potential murder combos. The first time you uncover one of these specific murder combos grants bonus points, so it really rewards creativity, and not a little bit of cruelty. Kick a guy into a cactus. Set him on fire and then shoot him in the balls. Drag a guy into the air with the leash, kick him away and then blast him with a shotgun into a wall. The more you try the more points you rack up and the more you can try.
The remaster is great. The game looks fantastic, and while not necessarily up to the standards of modern AAA titles there are more than enough great looking vistas and impressive setpieces to keep eye candy fans happy. The Duke Nukem DLC is fitfully amusing, mostly because only Duke’s voice files are different, so half of the dialogue becomes Duke correcting people that he is “Duke Fuckin’ Nukem” when they repeatedly call him Grayson, or, in the best line of the DLC, refuses to accept blame for something because, “I’m not even meant to be in this flashback”. Despite how good the remaster is, it still doesn’t warrant such a high price tag, and the fact that the original version is no longer available on any digital service thanks to a convoluted copyright issue makes it seem a bit like a crude cash grab. DANIEL WILKS