Bulletstorm
EPIC/EA
Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Bulletstorm was developed by EPIC games, the same team responsible for Gears of War. Knowing that, we can safely infer a few things about it: 1) it has grotesque yet lovely violence, 2) its foul language makes the characters sound even cooler, and 3) more grotesque yet lovely violence. In fact BS can be summed up well by comparing it to two other titles, Bioshock and Borderlands.
With an incredibly addictive style of FPS gameplay, BS has a captivating campaign whose story unfolds unusually quickly. You begin as a complete BAMF assassin sent to whack a suspected blabbermouth. In the first 15 minutes your whole demeanor changes and you're kickin' back rounds left and right, and the upgrade your gear and firepower feature is a total suck-you-in. Also, you're awarded currency for performing various acts of violence against your semi-human looking AI foes — for example, kick the dude and shoot him midair, or shoot an explosive into the environment to take a few out, earns you nice bonus dough. At various points you have the option to purchase new attachments for your weapon, additional rounds and other things.
The cut-scenes make the environments look especially grand. To top it off there's more bad language here than you'd expect, so it's easy to see the "M" rating. By all means pick this up and enjoy!
Blast from the Past
Silent Hill (1999)
Konami TYO
PS1 (1999)
I remember a time way back when ... back to the days when your local game store had shelves stocked with PS1 and N64 titles, plus the many Game Boy Pocket games we still know and love.
I recently picked up a gem from PS1, a trip down memory lane that couldn't have been any more pleasant. I'm guessing that most of us are familiar with the Silent Hill series, but I bet a majority aren't familiar with the original Silent Hill released in 1999. If not, you should be. Right off, you're thrown into the eerie abandoned town and searching for your missing daughter.
Story aside, SH is a survival horror game; its 12-year-old gameplay is enough to intimidate the most seasoned horror gamers. It pains me to see all the kids these days who've never heard of such groundbreaking titles! Kudos to the folks picking this up for the first time because you weren't allowed to play a mature title when it came out (cough-cough) ... Along with many others, Silent Hill is a title that has remained a gem, complete with tons of replayability, offering multiple endings and multiple ways to get there. The story captivates and the gameplay's ahead of its time.
