Bulletstorm

There was a very specific template for first-person shooters around 2011. They were serious, they were grey, and they were absolutely meant to be played in multiplayer. While there were still a fair number of single-player games out there, they tended to hew close to the design decisions of the hit-makers. This was the era of Call of Duty, with a little bit of Halo still kicking around. If you wanted to see a successful game, you'd be prepared to look at a lot of very serious, brown environments. Unless, of course, you decided to play Bulletstorm. Bulletstorm is, in many ways, a throwback. This is a spiritual descendent of 1990s games like Duke Nukem, full of bright colors, bad jokes, and excessive gore. It's almost as if it comes from a world where fun was the aim of shooters instead of realism, and where character building actually played a role. It shouldn't come as a surprise that it was beloved by critics even if it wasn't picked up by many gamers after its release. A huge part of this game revolves around another lost concept - getting a high score. The game's major system is Skillshots, which are awarded when players do something particularly impressive while mowing down enemies. While some of these points come from old standbys like getting headshots, others encourage spectacle and creativity. Players are encouraged to combine a range of odd weapons with their tether, a whip-like tool, to boost up their scores as the game goes along. This is also a game that eschews the silent protagonist trope. Grayson is, above all other things, loud. He can be grating if you don't like the game's humor but he always has something to say. It's a fantastic change from most of the games that were released at the time, especially for those who missed protagonists who weren't afraid to spew out the one-liners. Unfortunately, there was a little too much throwback in some parts of the game. Bulletstorm is almost depressingly linear and it's also quite short. It's an experience that clearly calls for a sequel, though it doesn't seem like one will ever be made. As it stands, though, Bulletstorm is a great game that takes players back to the headier days of gaming - warts and all.