Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm is the latest game out from Epic Games (Gears of War, Unreal Tournament) and is available on 360, PS3 and PC. It features a new game mechanic allowing players to "kill with skill" to gain points that are used for upgrades and leaderboards. Over the weekend I picked up a copy of Bulletstorm: Epic Edition (which I believe is GameStop exclusive) which comes with the Gears 3 beta code. I enjoyed the demo so I figured why not?

The intro was amazing and fairly long. It takes about a half hour to reach the point where you have access to skillshots and upgrades, without skipping cutscenes. Also, dont play this with little children around because the character script alone was very mature. Listening to the characters interact was one of my favorite parts and I'll admit I picked up some new insults.

The story itself was on the brink of impossible. There were so many ways the main characters should have ate it, but hey, its a game. I liked the controls, but the lack of being able to duck behind cover was annoying. Epic went towards their UT roots instead of Gears on that one. Toggling crouch is sufficient at times, until multiple minibosses and main boss fights arise. Other than that the controls are fine and are set a lot like Gears (like using the d-pad to switch weapons). The leash can get iffy at times. I've found myself grabbing people I wasn't aiming for, but most of the time it still ended in spectacular kills.

Keep in mind that Bulletsorm is single player only local. Online multiplayer is setup similarly to Horde mode from Gears 2. I haven't spent much time on it, but I know you can customize how your character looks, the color of your gun and leash, and other things made available as you level up.

Gameplay: 8/10
Replay Value: 8/10
Controls: 9/10
Story: 9/10
Overall: 9/10