Game Review: Bulletstorm

R18-rated Bulletstorm celebrates video game ultra-violence. Photo / Supplied

Violence in videogames - particularly first-person shooters - has started to get a bit "samey" of late. But the much-hyped Bulletstorm takes the tried and true formula and puts an addictive arcade spin on it. The storyline sets boozed-up space pirate Grayson Hunt against his former boss in a revenge mission across a resort planet that's been taken over by mutants, nasty marauders and other unsavoury adversaries, including giant, evil, bosses. Although the humour and (often very offensive) banter is good, the plot is fairly weak - but this is a big, dumb shooter, with the emphasis on big. Clever ways of killing people - called Skillshots - get more points which let weapons be seriously upgraded. One cool tool is an electric "leash", which can pick up enemies and throw them into spiky giant cacti, electricity sources, your all-powerful right boot or some serious gunfire, like "charged" shots of 100 bullets at a time. Creative kills let players tick off 130-odd named Skillshots - which include nasty requirements like "shoot enemy in the balls, then shoot or kick off his head" or the particularly grisly "Drilldo". Gray can drink any booze he finds, and gets extra points for blurred-vision intoxicated kills. No, not one for the kids.

Aside from the fairly ordinary storyline, one complaint is the contextual use of the square button - meaning no "jump", which can be useful in close-quarters battles - it's used occasionally to jump, climb or interact with things. This can really slow you down when trying to vault something to kick in a mutant's head. The circle is used to either slide or kick - both of which are handy when used in combination with Skillshots, and mean mucho points. Another negative point is the uninspired multiplayer modes which, after a few hours and once the campaign mode is complete, seem a bit on the pedestrian side by comparison.

Verdict: Bulletstorm is a totally over-the-top kill-fest, and unashamedly so. It's not setting out to redefine the FPS genre, but does manage to bring a real arcade feel to a full-sized game. It's incredibly violent, brilliantly grotesque and packed with decapitation, dismemberment and murderous insanity, all with overpowered fantasy weapons.

Rating: 4/5
Classification: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
Rated: R18