Developer : People Can Fly
Release date : February 22, 2011
Synopsis :
Bulletstorm is a 2011 first-person shooter video game developed by People Can Fly and Epic Games and published by Electronic Arts (EA). The game is distinguished by its system of rewarding players with “skillpoints” for performing increasingly creative kills. Bulletstorm does not have any competitive multiplayer modes, preferring instead to include cooperative online play and score attack modes. Set in the 26th century, the game’s story follows Grayson Hunt, a space pirate and former black ops soldier who gets shot down on a war-torn planet while trying to exact revenge on General Sarrano, his former commander who tricked him and his men into committing war crimes and assassinating innocents.
Development of the game began in June 2007. Adrian Chmielarz and Cliff Bleszinski served as its director and designer respectively, while Rick Remender, the author of Fear Agent, wrote the game’s story. It was originally envisioned to be a cover-based third-person shooter, though the core combat loop and gameplay perspective went through multiple revisions. Pulp fiction, Burnout, Duke Nukem and Firefly all inspired the team during Bulletstorm’s development. The team experimented with competitive multiplayer modes and campaign cooperative multiplayer mode during production, but decided to remove them because of technological constraints.
Upon its release in February 2011 for Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the game received positive reviews from critics who praised its setting, graphics, action, pacing and gameplay, but was criticized for its story, writing and multiplayer modes. It has amassed a great deal of controversy during its release window for its depiction of violence. Bulletstorm was a commercial failure for both Epic Games and Electronic Arts, selling one million copies by 2013. Gearbox Publishing released a remastered version of the game titled Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition in April 2017 for Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and a version for Nintendo Switch in August 2019. A sequel was put on hold as the studio reallocated its resources to work on Gears of War: Judgment.
Bulletstorm takes place in the 26th century, where the universe is run by the “Confederation of Planets”. Grayson Hunt (Steven Blum) is the leader of Dead Echo, a black ops team under the command of Confederation General Victor Sarrano (Anthony De Longis). Dead Echo assassinates a man named Bryce Novak and accesses his personal files; they discover Novak was not a criminal “separatist” as they had been told, but a civilian reporter, documenting evidence of Sarrano’s corruption and his use of Dead Echo to eliminate his political and personal enemies. When Sarrano tries to have them killed for questioning him, Grayson and his team desert, flee to the edges of the universe, and become pirates.
Ten years later, the ship carrying Grayson (now struggling with alcoholism), and his comrades Ishi Sato (Andrew Kishino), Rell Julian (Chris Cox), and Dr. Whit Oliver (Robin Atkin Downes) is intercepted by the Ulysses, Sarrano’s flagship, near the ruined planet of Stygia. In a drunken rage, Grayson attempts a suicide attack on Ulysses. Both ships crash land onto Stygia, fatally wounding Ishi. Oliver sends Grayson and Rell to find an energy cell to power the ship’s medical equipment so he can operate. Grayson locates an escape pod from Ulysses and retrieves its energy cell and a device called an “instinct leash”. They return with the cell, and Doc manages to replace most of Ishi’s body with cybernetics, including an AI processor for parts of his brain. However, in the middle of the operation, marauders break into the ship; Doc and Rell are both killed, and while Ishi survives, he is left permanently disfigured by the incomplete surgery.
Grayson and Ishi decide to work together to get off the planet, despite Ishi blaming Grayson for their friends’ deaths. As they work their way towards the nearest city, the AI processor in Ishi’s brain takes over several times, fueled by his anger at Grayson’s selfishness and refusal to give up his vendetta. The instinct leash leads Grayson to another escape pod, where they find Trishka (Jennifer Hale), a member of Final Echo, the unit that replaced Dead Echo. She agrees to work with Grayson and Ishi on the condition that they help her rescue Sarrano. Grayson eventually learns that Trishka was Novak’s daughter; after Dead Echo inadvertently saved her life, she joined the military to hunt down the “separatists” who killed him. Grayson tells her that Sarrano was in fact responsible for her father’s death, but lies about his involvement.
The three fight their way to Sarrano’s escape pod, which landed on top of a skyscraper. Trishka holds Sarrano at gunpoint and demands answers; he manages to throw her off the roof and informs Grayson and Ishi that the Ulysses is carrying a “DNA bomb” designed to wipe out all life on Stygia so it can be repopulated. He claims that the bomb is damaged and that if it is not disarmed soon, they will die before help arrives. Reluctantly, the two fight alongside him to reach the wreckage of the Ulysses. Sarrano tricks Grayson into arming the bomb and escapes, leaving him and Ishi trapped. Just as it seems they are about to die, Trishka, who turns out to still be alive, rescues them.
The three race to Sarrano’s rescue ship and get on board just as it takes off. They fight their way through Sarrano’s “Heavy Echo” troops and confront him on the ship’s bridge. Trishka demands to know who killed her father, and Sarrano reveals that Grayson and his men did. An argument ensues, and Sarrano then uses his own instinct leash to hijack Ishi’s body and force him to attack Grayson and Trishka. Encouraged by Grayson, Ishi manages to wrest back control and winds up taking a bullet meant for his friend. Enraged, Grayson impales Sarrano on the wall, but Sarrano is able to eject him and Trishka from the ship back onto Stygia’s surface. Grayson and Trishka race back to the Ulysses and board an unused escape pod. They launch it into low orbit, with the explosion of the DNA bomb propelling the pod into space. As Stygia is slowly consumed by the blast, the two talk about Grayson’s revenge, the loss of his team, and Sarrano still being alive. Trishka asks Grayson what he is going to do about Sarrano escaping, and the screen fades to black. In a post-credits scene, it is revealed that Sarrano is now a cyborg due to the extent of his injuries. Ishi also survives, albeit under the full control of his AI processor.
Source : Wikipedia
