Bulletstorm Catch-All

MaxShrek wrote:

Good luck getting a pubbie to actually follow the instructions in "blue" over special targets in Anarchy mode to get more points and to finish challenges.

I played with a friend the entire time over a skype call. Problem solved.

This is commentary for a different thread I'm sure, but I tend not to co-op with people I don't know. The experience, to me at least, is about riffing the relationship in a virtual space.

I bought the game yesterday morning and rolled through the campaign (took all day, was awesome and fun).

The plot and characters are ridiculous, as to be expected, but because the game takes itself less seriously than, say, Gears of War, it sorta works. There are a bunch of those Resident Evil 5-style interactive cutscenes, which I generally dislike, but they've linked the player's response time to their skill points (the faster you hit the prompts, the more points you get... which you can then use to upgrade weapons and buy ammo / suped-up ammo). Not exactly innovative, but I've seen many more terrible implementations of quick time events.

Echos is basically Modern Warfare 2's Special Ops mode: 5 minute romps through slices of the game's single player. The echoes are identical to the SP in that the same enemies appear in the same places, etc. I see this game type as somewhat like Stuntman: Ignition or the older Tony Hawk games, where you do the same insular 'route' over and over again until perfection emerges from practice and planning. I had a great time with this, and 3 stars doesn't seem to be impossible to achieve on the echos I've tried. It goes a little like this: "Okay, so last time I just blasted these guys with the shotgun, which was cool but not that cool... this time I'm gonna fling them all up in the air with that exploding hot dog cart, then fire a rocket-propelled sniper bullet into that dude and drag him over to his friends to explode in mid-air."

Haven't tried Anarchy yet, sounds like it'll be horrible. I don't think many people have finished the campaign yet -- I'm posting echo scores in the top 500 on the leaderboards, but I imagine when I go back to play today I'll be pushed well back.

I'll be diving into this tonight (had to finish up The Lost & Damned first) so feel free to send invites/FRs for some friendly and coordinated Anarchy mode.

Some (unsolicited) tips for echo mode:

-Try to never use the same skill shot twice. Here's where the Tony Hawk comparison comes in: the more you do a particular trick the less it's worth, except in this case it's dichotomous (first time you do the skill shot = big points, every time afterwards = regular points).

-The access points that you buy weapons and ammo from in single player mode will replenish all your ammo (and thumpers!) if you leash them. So you should leash them. Sometimes you can get additional weapons from mid-points as well. If this is the case, change up your arsenal to keep your attacks fresh (assuming you've used a good portion of the available skill shots for the weapons you started with).

-Use your special ammo and thumpers gratuitously. It's unlikely that you'll run out, assuming you're leashing access points as you find them.

-Don't aim for a good score on your first run-through. Note environmental hazards you can use, big clusters of guys you can toss into the air with a thumper, etc. Figure out the level because time is a big factor: The faster you push through, the more points at the end. Most of my 'good' scores were posted on the third or fourth attempt.

Clemenstation wrote:

Some (unsolicited) tips for echo mode:

-Try to never use the same skill shot twice. Here's where the Tony Hawk comparison comes in: the more you do a particular trick the less it's worth

Well that and the fact the tricks are specific sequences of button presses that may or may no play off of bits of the environment.

Since I stayed home sick today, I got a chance to play the first act. There's something incredibly satisfying about kicking dudes. It's kind of annoying that I only had one gun for all but the last five minutes of the first act. This game screams new game + but I don't recall hearing anything about that.

My inner achievement whore and my reluctance to pay $60 for a PC game made me buy it on 360 and it's making me realize how terrible the controls are for console shooters. It shouldn't be this hard to shoot somebody in the butt.

I'd definitely be interested in playing multiplayer but will probably only be able to on the weekends. Send friends requests if you're interested in playing.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Since I stayed home sick today, I got a chance to play the first act. There's something incredibly satisfying about kicking dudes. It's kind of annoying that I only had one gun for all but the last five minutes of the first act. This game screams new game + but I don't recall hearing anything about that.

My inner achievement whore and my reluctance to pay $60 for a PC game made me buy it on 360 and it's making me realize how terrible the controls are for console shooters. It shouldn't be this hard to shoot somebody in the butt.

I'd definitely be interested in playing multiplayer but will probably only be able to on the weekends. Send friends requests if you're interested in playing.

i'm down. LIVE name is MineIsBiggerLoL

My friend Mejwell and I made it to wave 18 no problem tonight. That's an hour and a half where the longest break we had was 45 seconds between rounds. It was intense, it was carnage, it was Bulletstorm. My adrenaline is still pumping.

The game is fun fun fun. I spent most of my first run through the campaign trying to complete all the skill shots at least once. The bouncer and flail bomb are probably the most interesting and most frustrating weapons of them all. I can see lots of fun uses for them, but they can be hard to bring to practice in a real fight. The drill is just the best, especially if you can get a mob of burnouts to line up. You can just fire one shot and see the points pile on. The campaign isn't anything special, but a mishmash of solid level design and weirdly entertaining banter keeps the momentum going until the end. There is an obvious setup for a sequel at the end, but I don't mind trudging through more of the same.

From the Echo modes, I'm getting a vibe similar to Arkham Asylum's combat missions. The game play system is just attractive enough to keep me going back for more.

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Since I stayed home sick today, I got a chance to play the first act. There's something incredibly satisfying about kicking dudes. It's kind of annoying that I only had one gun for all but the last five minutes of the first act. This game screams new game + but I don't recall hearing anything about that.

My inner achievement whore and my reluctance to pay $60 for a PC game made me buy it on 360 and it's making me realize how terrible the controls are for console shooters. It shouldn't be this hard to shoot somebody in the butt.

I'd definitely be interested in playing multiplayer but will probably only be able to on the weekends. Send friends requests if you're interested in playing.

I'm on Xbox too mainly because my PC is starting to show its age. Once that motherboard starts sagging, there's only so much a bit of rouge and lipstick can do. So... anyway. I'm working through the campaign but am looking forward to some multiplayer.

MaxShrek wrote:

Good luck getting a pubbie to actually follow the instructions in "blue" over special targets in Anarchy mode to get more points and to finish challenges.

I jumped into a game with 3 other randoms last night, and after I figured out what was going on we were doing pretty well. And this was without mics (and there may or may not have been a 6 pack of cheap beer involved).

I was actually surprised at how well we started coordinating on the special targets. It should be pointed out that there are only about 5 or so 'blue' targets in each wave, so it's not like you are constantly forced to do team kills the entire time. If 2 of your team are on top of doing the special kills, you could spend the entire time running around and doing stuff on your own and still advance to the next wave.

Tagged. I'm oh so curious about this game but I'd like to hear more.

This is a great pure shooting experience. The weapons have a nice solid feel to them and the SkillShot system is rewarding for people (like me) who like competing against themselves and constantly improve at the game's system. Recommended.

Apologies if this has been posted but I feel it was worth linking to just in case.
http://arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2011/02/bulletstorm-and-you-how-to-get-it-playing-nice-with-your-pc.ars
Looks like there's a lot of configuration stuff that's been deliberately locked- for example, the framerate is locked and mouse smoothing is on by default and can't be switched off unless you edit the ini files...which are encrypted so you can't edit them without a hack.

I didn't see this posted here yet. R. Lee Ermey + Brian Posehn = double win!

Probably should go without being said, but just in case - NSFW language

I had no real interest in this, but it looks like it might be a fun diversion for a few hours or so. I may just pick this up. Still on the fence.

Wakim wrote:

I had no real interest in this, but it looks like it might be a fun diversion for a few hours or so. I may just pick this up. Still on the fence.

Me also. I have decided though, since the single player seems to be the main attraction, that I can wait until the inevitable huge Steam discount in December to check this one out. I am betting you will be able to pick this up for under a tenner.

MeatMan wrote:

I didn't see this posted here yet. R. Lee Ermey + Brian Posehn = double win!

Those videos? Those were f*cking sweet.

So I have some credit with Gamestop - is this game worth $60 dollars of it, or should I wait for the inevitable price drop? Will any of you be up for multiplayer?

I played some multi with pubbies the other week; wasn't bad. The thing about Bulletstorm, though, is that there's an 'online pass' you only get when you buy the game new. Otherwise it's a whopping 800 points (not worth it). Sorta like the Cerberus Network in Mass Effect 2.

Clemenstation wrote:

I played some multi with pubbies the other week; wasn't bad. The thing about Bulletstorm, though, is that there's an 'online pass' you only get when you buy the game new. Otherwise it's a whopping 800 points (not worth it). Sorta like the Cerberus Network in Mass Effect 2.

But that doesn't answer the question of whether or not it is worth 60 of my sweet Yankee dollars:)

SallyNasty wrote:
Clemenstation wrote:

I played some multi with pubbies the other week; wasn't bad. The thing about Bulletstorm, though, is that there's an 'online pass' you only get when you buy the game new. Otherwise it's a whopping 800 points (not worth it). Sorta like the Cerberus Network in Mass Effect 2.

But that doesn't answer the question of whether or not it is worth 60 of my sweet Yankee dollars:)

I paid 60 Canuck dollars and don't feel regretful of my purchase. A lot of replay value in those echoes. Of course, I got the Epic Edition -- mostly for the Gears 3 beta.

I'm nearly through the campaign (Act 7 Chapter 2, Hard) and am hoping the co-op multiplayer is good. The campaign was more entertaining than I expected due to the crazy set-pieces that crop up but I am not sure that the multiplayer will hold up with randoms. (If any of you non-randoms want to give it a go on Xbox, let me know)

SallyNasty wrote:

So I have some credit with Gamestop - is this game worth $60 dollars of it, or should I wait for the inevitable price drop? Will any of you be up for multiplayer?

It's definitely a fun romp, and I will for sure go back to the SP to complete the harder difficulties. And yes, Anarchy is a lot of fun and I would be most open to playing with fellow Goojers.

Unless you're too busy whoring it up with your Fable III mistress. :p

I beat the single player campaign on normal difficulty, enjoyed the hell out of it, and have been messing around in Echoes trying to nail some skillshots that I missed on my first playthrough. I feel like I have definitely got $60 worth of enjoyment from it, and I have yet to dip into multiplayer. The SP campaign took me about 8 hours, I have another couple of hours into Echoes.

Before you buy consider that:

- it is extremely linear
- it is loaded with sophomoric profanity
- the multiplayer is co-op only

If you are cool with all of that stuff, and you like Epic's current gen games, I think Bulletstorm is $60 well spent.

Another positive recommendation here. I just finished the campaign on very hard last night.

I played the demo and didn't like the game at all because I thought it was all based around scoring a la The Club. I left it in my Gamefly queue and when I played the campaign mode, I found I really liked it. The action and weapons are fun and the skillshots give a nice metagame to work on. The writing is actually pretty good in a bizarre way. It is sophomoric, but it's on purpose, and ends up being quite funny at times. The story itself is your usual actiony, revengy, angsty romp.

DrJekl and I took a couple of maps up close to level 20 in Anarchy mode. I'm not sure how long those legs will be in that mode (I wore out on Gears Horde mode quite quickly), but its definitely a fun diversion outside of the SP campaign.

Played some Anarchy for the first time last night and it was pretty entertaining. It was a bit difficult to follow all the crazy action at first as the pace is so much faster than the single player mode, but I felt myself feeling better about it towards the end of the night. It definitely takes a coordinated team to move into the higher levels.

I still don't quite know what "Blood Symphony" does though - any pointers?

imbiginjapan wrote:

Played some Anarchy for the first time last night and it was pretty entertaining. It was a bit difficult to follow all the crazy action at first as the pace is so much faster than the single player mode, but I felt myself feeling better about it towards the end of the night. It definitely takes a coordinated team to move into the higher levels.

I still don't quite know what "Blood Symphony" does though - any pointers?

Slide into as many enemies as you can. You get 250 points for each one you hit and I think it chains if you get multiple in a single slide. Bonus points if you and your teammate activate it at the same time.

Yeah, like SuperDave said. When I get into Blood Symphony, I try to be around a large crew of folks I can start kicking in every direction. Seems to work out well. I'm going to look out for you online, imbiginjapan, because I can't seem to get any further than wave 12 with pubbies. They inevitably start quarreling and doing weird blowjob animations on each other. It sucks.

How many people are in the multiplayer? is it 4 person?