Bulletstorm

Bulletstorm is a stylized sci-fi shooter that focused on creative kills instead of plain aiming and shooting. Playing as mercenary Grayson Hunt on the abandoned planet Stygia, the player uses an electric leash, kicks, and the environment itself to send enemies flying into the air, onto spikes, into turbines, or otherwise dispatch them in the most inventive way possible. For this the game awards points called Skillshots, which unlock special weapon abilities and equipment upgrades. Weapons like the drill gun or the flare gun that fires a swarm of darts offered dozens of environmental combinations, turning every fight into an opportunity to invent a new way to finish off an opponent.

On PS3 the game ran on Unreal Engine 3 and offered a colorful, tropical world full of decaying spaceships, ruins, and lush vegetation, complemented by brisk action with no unnecessary downtime or long loading screens. The game's humor was deliberately crude and over the top, with dialogue full of swearing and black comedy underscoring the B-movie, self-aware tone of the whole story about revenge, betrayal, and survival on a hostile planet. The scoring system for creative kills motivated players to experiment with weapons instead of mechanically mowing down enemies, and the game also offered a two-player co-op mode.

Critics praised above all the original combat system, which differed sharply from the cover-and-precision-aiming style that dominated military shooters at the time, even though the game didn't perform commercially as the publisher had hoped. Bulletstorm nonetheless became a cult favorite among action shooter fans and is still cited today as an example of how playfulness and a reward system built around style, rather than mere accuracy, can be brought into the genre. Today it feels like a refreshing reminder of a time when shooters could still poke fun at themselves, didn't take themselves deadly seriously, and weren't afraid to experiment with their own identity.

Why play it: Thanks to an original combat system that rewards style over pure accuracy, and the nerve to make fun of itself, Bulletstorm is a refreshing reminder of less self-serious shooters.