Jay’s Internet Log

I came into Bulletstorm almost knowing that it was going to be a game of over-the-top craziness that doesn’t take itself too seriously.  After putting a few hours into it, I think I summed it up pretty well.  So far I have played about a third of the campaign, a few Echoes time trial runs, and just a single round of Anarchy multiplayer.

The game is a first person shooter, but on top of that it rates the way you make your kills, so just getting headshot after headshot won’t get you far.  It wants you to mix it up and use different weapons and pieces of environment to earn big points.  You don’t have to play it this way, but it’s the way the game was designed, and it was designed well.

The campaign is broken up into I believe 7 Acts, and after a few hours, I was done with Act 3, so it isn’t a juggernaut of a story, but it’s a game that is hard to put down.  For instance, Dead Space 2 is a fantastic game, but I have found myself only being able to play it for up to an hour at a time because of its intensity.  This isn’t the case with Bulletstorm; sure it’s intense, but it’s so exaggerated that it’s laughable, but the important thing is that the game doesn’t get old, at least it hasn’t so far.

After the story is all complete, maybe a few times, the replayability comes in the forms of Echoes and Anarchy modes.  In Echoes, which was demoed in the past month, you have to fight your way through the single player levels, but you’re timed and scored on how well you fare.  In Anarchy, you and a group of friends take on waves of enemies until you can’t any further.  Both modes are fun, and seem like they are well suited for repeat play in order to earn achievements.

Bulletstorm may not be the next Call of Duty, but it shows off successfully, a new way to play a shooter, and it does so very well.  All in all, Bulletstorm is a well-produced title, and actually much better than I had originally thought.  I have a feeling that we’ll see this style in future games, which will in the end, tell the success or failure of this venture.

I played through the first two chapters of Dead Space 2 last night, and honestly, didn’t want to stop.  I only did because i had to go to bed an hour later and didn’t want to be awake from fright all night.  The game comes on two discs (for 360), and I installed them both to my hard drive.  EA requires you to input a code that comes with the game.  This is designed in order for EA to make some money off of used games as they charge $10 to play online if you don’t have this code.  It makes sense from the company’s point of view, but probably upsets consumers who like to purchase used games.  From what I’ve heard, Dead Space 2′s multiplayer isn’t spectacular, and I plan on playing primarily the single player game anyways.

Okay, so after playing a few hours with the iPad game, I had a feel as to what to expect, and as soon as it got dark out, I fired up the game on the big TV and cranked the surround sound.  I watched a short video that comes with the game and tells of the happenings in Dead Space 1, since I never played that game.  The opening sequences set up the story well and somehow throw you into the action while you’re still in the middle of them.  It’s done seamlessly, and before I knew it, I was walking around this space station that’s in complete ruins.  At first, you’re in a straight jacket, running from crazy mutated people, and the sense of helplessness is very real.  You’ll walk by an area and see people getting maimed in all sorts of different and awesome ways, then they will start attacking you.

I’ve upgraded a few of my weapons and found schematics for others.  The schematics unlock the weapons in the shop, so I can buy them from now on.  I’ve upgraded a few items, but it seems as though the Power Nodes that are required to upgrade items are few and far between, and the upgrades seem to need a lot of them.  I suppose that there will be more later on, or that the game is set up to earn more on subsequent playthroughs.

If there was just one aspect of the game that I would call the best, it would be the sound design.  Walking into a room and having steam blow down on me wouldn’t have such an impact if not for the calm ambiance turning instantly into a loud “whoosh” that made me jump back over a foot, literally.  This is where the game seems to really excel.  It’s not just all monsters coming at you; it’s the environment that scares me the most.  Sometimes I’ll hear whispering behind me.  Sometimes I’ll be in an elevator and the lights will go off, then the game will throw some crazy image up that I just didn’t expect at all.  The game does this so well, and I look forward to finishing it up, then playing it through again.

Disclaimer – I’ve never played a Dead Space game

This past Christmas, an iPad arrived at our house, and over the past month I’ve been buying games for it here and there.  Two days ago I purchased Dead Space 2 from Amazon and it should be arriving today, so look for my impressions on it tomorrow hopefully.  From doing some research, I learned that Dead Space on iPad would unlock something in Dead Space 2, and the reviews of this game in iTunes were mostly very excellent, so I decided to pick it up.  It’s $10, which is on the more expensive end of the price spectrum for iPad games, and so far, I can say that it’s worth this price.

Dead Space iPad drops you onto a mining station in the middle of space.  At the beginning, you are tasked with having to find a weapon, so you walk around using the iPad touch controls.  With your left finger, you move forward, back, and side to side, and with your right finger, you look.  It works just as if you had a controller, and it works VERY well, though takes some getting used to.  Once you attain your weapon, you tap the screen with your right finger to bring the weapon up, then tap again to shoot it.  You can tap various glowing areas on your back to use secondary attacks, and reload your weapon.

I’ve made it through Chapter 4, and I believe that there are a few more chapters.  So far, one of them has given me problems, but I got through it.  I’ve upgraded one of my weapons and my suit a few times, and from playing in pitch black with headphones turned all the way up, I’ve screamed out “ARGH!” more than twice.  It really is creepy, and all I can think of is how crazy Dead Space 2 will be on the big TV with the system cranked tonight.  If you have an iPad, check this one out.