1. Summary
2. Background
3. Hype

Bulletstorm, as we have said at least four times now, is a game about incredible and entertaining violence. Naturally, as we are gamers, we can't get enough of the blood-soaked landscape of most games. This is leading to a good amount of hype around Bulletstorm, even though many concrete details of the game have yet to be released. For example, only two guns have been seen so far. So maybe it's time we pulled back on the reins and examined just what we are getting excited about and see if there's any merit to it.

The most important part of any visceral, violent shooter is weaponry. This was something that Painkiller nailed, and the two guns revealed so far by the hype videos have definitely smacked of People Can Fly's unique approach to making guns. Both appear to have two firing modes: the machine-gun is also a shotgun, while the rocket launcher can shoot explosive chains that attach to enemies. While these are good, they also aren't as ridiculous as the designs in Painkiller, such as the lightning shuriken launcher. There's also the matter that Epic has a hand in the game, and Epic is not exactly known for its creative and ridiculous gun design. Still, we have a fair amount of confidence that the guns will live up to what we want them to be.

Then there's the story. Painkiller's story worked precisely because the story was lost amidst the gallons of gore that the game spewed at every turn. We're glad that Bulletstorm is emphasizing gameplay in trailers, but we can't help but feel like People Can Fly is going to try and make Bulletstorm a more story-based game. This could also be due to, once again, the influence of Epic, which turned Unreal Tournament into a more story-driven series when it was doing just fine without much of a story. Let's face facts: when it comes to violence, nobody really cares about the story. We care about how fun the game mechanics are.

Only one environment has been shown so far, and while pretty, we're hoping it's not indicative of the entire game. Level variety is important in shooters that don't have a reason for sticking to one locale. While blasting away in a ruined science-fiction city sounds like fun, there had better be more level designs. We personally hope that there are desert and alpine levels, as the possible score combinations there makes our mouths water. These levels could be on the same planet or a different one: we don't care. As long as there's different locations, we'll be happy.

People Can Fly has some major street cred. Painkiller and expansion were both great. Gears of War PC was ported well, although there's not much you can do with the PC port of a console game. Bulletstorm is only their second original game, so they have a lot to live up to. A studio that has captured our imagination so thoroughly with a single game is one worth keeping an eye on, but it also means that we have high expectations for future games. Bulletstorm looks like both a good continuation of Painkiller and a stellar sophomore effort in its own right. All we can do is wait and see.