Review – Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition

This year has been one amazing year for video games so far. Within the amazing year, there have been also quite a few remastered titles that have held their own or introduced a new fanbase to a title they previously missed in the past. In this case, I was introduced to Bulletstorm. Bulletstorm was a game that released in 2011 and it is one of the games I missed the first time around. This month, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is upon us with a few extras. Does it hold up with age, or is it a good game for someone playing it for the first time ever? Let’s take a look at this review.

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition
Developer: People Can Fly
Publisher: Gearbox Software
Release Date: April 7, 2017
Genre: First-person shooter
Modes: Single player & Multiplayer
Platforms: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One, Microsoft Windows

*Special thanks to Gearbox Publishing for providing a review code and dlc code for the title.*

*The Duke Nuken DLC is 4.99 and available now.”

Intro/Story:

Step into the boots of Grayson Hunt after a crash landing on an abandoned resort planet forces him to make a hard choice: survival or revenge. An exiled member of the elite assassin group Dead Echo, Grayson’s reckless desire for vengeance finds his crew stranded on Stygia where he can finally confront the commander behind his betrayal—or get his team off the planet alive.

The story is pretty straight forward as it goes. There are small twist and turns. However, it is a story of revenge, vengeance, and redemption. The game reminds you constantly that those are the main driving points and source of motivations for Grayson (Gray) and his crew members. The story is delivered constantly in each level, and it comes along with some witty and hilarious dialogue. It strangely works from the perspective of someone playing the game for the first time around. There are some questionable points in terms of the story as it goes completely over the top. I understand the game is not meant to be taken seriously, but even for being over the top sometimes even passes that standard. It can be offputting at times, but does not fully detract from the game and puts you right back into action.

In addition to this, the game is full of excessive cursing and with over the top violence/gore. It fits the theme of the game. If it proves to be too much on the player, there is an option to turn off both the intense violence/gore and excessive cursing. Either way, you still get the same experience. There are more options as to tackling the game, but that will be saved in the replay value section.

Intro/Story Score: 4/5 – With a few over the top moments, the story of the game is a basic revenge, vengeance, and retribution story. It is delivered in a witty fashion and is enjoyable as long as it is not taken seriously

Gameplay:

As one should expect, even first time around is this game will be a first-person shooter. However, a few things occur a bit differently. You have a choice of 3 weapons that can be interchangeable at each dropbox. You can upgrade the weapons. In addition, there are more quick time events (QTEs) in this game than a normal first-person shooter may have. Personally, the QTEs do work well because they are implemented in an appropriate way. However, there are way too many of them. In addition, bullet time is a thing in this game. Nearly every action has bullet time attached to it. It fits the title well because you do provide a Bulletstorm to enemies in these bullet time moments.

In addition, in terms of your AI partner, I say this with full confidence, is quite odd at best. At some times they help immensely in battle. At other times, they just stand there and do nothing. They also run past enemies, or they shoot at walls. It still feels like a solo game despite having partners. This needed to be approved on to have the AI partners actually help out at all times than at random intervals.

One part I can recall is you are riding an elevator. These enemies are trying to destroy the elevator gears to kill you. The issue here is you are on one platform and your AI partners are on another one. They were literally not shooting at the monsters and you had to cover both sides. I failed this sequence probably 4 times before I passed it. Each time, they did not help and to this moment I have no idea how I passed that sequence. I suppose I got lucky. I am not sure if this was in the vanilla game, but this left a bad taste in my mouth.

Another aspect that was either hit or miss was the enemies being bullet sponges. At times it feels normal to have enemies die to a few bullets. Other times you would have to unload an entire clip or clip in a half to kill the enemy. This becomes overwhelming especially towards the end of the game. Towards the end of the game, you will go room to room just blasting at some insane number of enemies. You would get a number of 50 enemies (exaggerated number, but to make a point) to move into another room to fire at another 50 enemies that are bullet sponges. It feels pointless and needless. I suppose it may live up to the namesake of “Bulletstorm”.

This part will be addressed in the audio and replay value area, however, I felt the need to address it here as well. One of the extra features in the game is utilizing Duke Nukem in the campaign. At first, this seems awesome because it is THE DUKE and he hasn’t appeared in a title (besides the 20th anniversary World Tour) for quite some time. However, the issue I have with this is there is nothing unique to Duke besides his voice. It seems just a reskin and re-voice. I may have had high hopes in this aspect, but and it is good. It delivers and fails at the same time. I hope in future Duke appearances, we can have something similar to this suggestion where we get his mannerisms and actions.

Gameplay score: 3.5/5 – A first person shooter with an interesting twist on it. There are some issues with the gameplay as well with odd AI partners, bullet sponge enemies, and overused QTEs.

Visual/Audio:

Visual:
In the visual aspect, the game looks good. I compared vanilla screenshots to what I played. People Can Fly took their time to upgrade the visuals and it appears to be well done. In the environment, it seems like a bleak area full of gray and brown no matter where you go (except a few areas late game). However, this fits the narrative of the game. It is portrayed as a bleak, desolated area that is deprived of much. It works here so I cannot complain.

One issue I had when playing are some graphical glitches that occurred more often than they should have. Enemies would ragdoll then stretch endlessly at times. I would fall through the floor and/or get stuck on the floor or fence just to reload a checkpoint. The same would happen to enemies. It looks good, but these graphical glitches are an issue because they happen too frequent. Hopefully, a patch will come out soon to address it.

Visual score: 4/5 – A remaster that upgraded the visuals, but has some graphical issues and glitches that should not occur frequently.

Audio:

Main Theme

The Breaks Are Out

Usually, the first thing I look for in a game is the sound and soundtrack. I can report the soundtrack is good with some issues. In terms of gameplay, it fits. However, in cutscenes (same with just basic sounds and voice work) the audio itself just gets louder than it should even when the volume is turned down. It is high volume during the cutscenes but suddenly lowered when gameplay is resumed. I hope this is one of those issues that can be patched.

Funniest Lines

In terms of voice work, it is fantastic. They have an all-star cast doing the voice work. You have Steve Blum voicing Greyson, Jennifer Hale voicing Trishka, Robin Atkin Downes doing multiple voices, and much more. The role of Duke Nukem is also voiced by his original voice actor, Jon St. John. My only issue with voice work is that when I played the game the voice action would suddenly stop, not play at all or just cut off which would lead to the game crashing. Not sure why this is the case. I hope this can be patched in the near future.

One more issue I have is the issue with Duke Nukem. The voice work is fantastic. However, it is nothing unique to Duke. It is literally the same script, just redone with the Duke’s voice. It feels unnatural in a sense. There is no witty or unique Duke dialogue. This is a missed opportunity as it could have made the Duke campaign much more than a reskin with voice work of the same script. In future titles, (whether a Bulletstorm sequel, Borderlands game or whatever the case may be) I hope this is looked on and improved on. I would love to play a game as Duke being with unique Duke features.

Audio Score: 3/5 – a fantastic cast of voice actors. However, sound issues in terms of music and voice work hold it back. In addition, the Duke content in terms of voice work is not unique and just a recording of the same lines. It feels as it is wasted potential and a wasted opportunity.

Replay Value:

Does this game have replay value? Yes, it does. After the game is beat, you have the “Overkill campaign” unlocked. This is an awesome feature that makes the action of Bulletstorm live up to its name. In addition, you get coop missions and the full Bulletstorm experience. You also get the Duke Nukem campaign, which is an awesome feature. You will definitely get a bang for your buck. This is a packed game worth the price.

Replay Value: 5/5 – Bulletstorm is worth the money you put into it, especially if this is the first time around. you get a ton of content.

Fun Value:

Is the game fun? Despite having a few issues near end game, I had fun playing this game. I put down other huge titles that recently came out (Persona 5, Nier Automata, Zelda) to play this game. I have no regrets doing that. I enjoyed Bulletstorm for the first time ever. The game isn’t too long, fun, and worth the journey. Once again, if this is your first time around playing Bulletstorm, this is the version to go for. It is fun and worth your time.

Fun Value Score: 5/5 – First time ever playing this game and I loved playing it, even at the difficult moments. It made me put down other games I was fully invested in, and that is no small feat. If it’s the first time around with Bulletstorm, you will not regret it.

Wrap-up/Conclusion:

Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edtion is a unique title. It is fun at times, also has it’s moments where it feels repetitive. For first timers to Bulletstorm, I recommend picking up this version. It has all the content and then some. It was fun to play it for the first time around. I hope if there is a sequel, they will take the issues they had in this game and fix it for future titles. The main issues I had were graphical glitches, bullet sponge enemies, and audio issues. The addition of Duke Nukem is wonderful, but he needed to be expanded on to truly feel like Duke. Despite these issues, I enjoyed it from start to end and recommend this game to first timers and/or those who want to replay the title.

Wrap-up:
Intro/Story Score: 4/5 – With a few over the top moments, the story of the game is a basic revenge, vengeance, and retribution story. It is delivered in a witty fashion and is enjoyable as long as it is not taken seriously.
Gameplay score: 3.5/5 – A first person shooter with an interesting twist on it. There are some issues with the gameplay as well with odd AI partners, bullet sponge enemies, and overused QTEs.
Visual score: 4/5 – A remaster that upgraded the visuals, but has some graphical issues and glitches that should not occur frequently.
Audio Score: 3/5 – a fantastic cast of voice actors. However, sound issues in terms of music and voice work hold it back. In addition, the Duke content in terms of voice work is not unique and just a recording of the same lines. It feels as it is wasted potential and a wasted opportunity.
Replay Value: 5/5 – Bulletstorm is worth the money you put into it, especially if this is the first time around. you get a ton of content.
Fun Value Score: 5/5 – First time ever playing this game and I loved playing it, even at the difficult moments. It made me put down other games I was fully invested in, and that is no small feat. If it’s the first time around with Bulletstorm, you will not regret it.

Final Score: 24.5/30