Let’s cut to the chase. The entire point of Bulletstorm is to “kill with skill”. This involves dispatching your targets in the most creative, often the most gruesome ways possible. Doing so rewards you with skillpoints which you can use to resupply your weapons and unlock charged shots for them. Everything else is secondary to this. The graphics, audio, voice acting and story all act as backdrops to the skill-based shooting.
Bulletstorm provides you with three tools to setup your shots. You can slide to trip your opponents. You can kick them to send them flying through the air. There’s also the leash, a hand-strapped device that you can use to pull a target towards you, handy even when there’s an obstacle in between. All of these actions trigger bullet time, giving you a few seconds to line up your targets and create ideal situations for your shots.
You can forget about shooter conventions that you’ve grown accustomed to when you play Bulletstorm. Headshots, for example, are worth a measly 25 points every time you do them. It’s recommended that you do a headshot using a charged, flaming bullet instead. If the flames set nearby targets on fire then you get even higher points. Actually, why bother with such precision shooting when you can simply ram a rocket-powered drill bit up your target’s ass? The game is full of over-the-top ways to maim and kill your targets you might find yourself surprised that the developers managed to come up with names for the skillshots you were thinking of.
The thing to note about Bulletstorm is that to get the most value out of it you have to be willing to put in a little effort. It’s possible to follow the standard FPS route and just point, aim and shoot. It works and it’s boring. If you’re okay with working for your shots a bit then there’s a lot of fun to be had. And by work I mean pulling a target in using your leash, strapping a bomb to him, kicking him back to his buddies and then detonating the bomb. It will kill him, it might kill his friends. If it doesn’t it will certainly knock them back, hopefully to some exposed re-barb or down to an unending abyss. It’s a shooter that wants you to create your own mayhem, preferably in the goriest way possible.
Bulletstorm is a throwback to past shooters where the action is fast-paced, the humor is crude and the heroes aren’t softies who die after taking a few hits. With the addition of skillshots you get a game that’s entertaining as long as you’re willing to work for it.