I am not enjoying the physics in this game. And the level design is wack. But lets see if i can get a handle of it. The game adds a couple extra modes like ice hooks and para-gliders which distract too much from the skating and tricking.
Sometimes you get good runs, sometimes you wipe out. It seems that the only way to win is to never fall. Just keep doing tricks constantly like a madman. If the objective is to win the race then do not do tricks at all. I do not think I will be playing this game very long.
An example of how distracted this game is they included a downhill challenge where the camera view is reverse perspective. This game is a curse on society. I mean why would you add something so dumb? Simply concentrate on the level design and gameplay. Stop with the gimmicks!
The level design is so annoying in this game. It suppose to be a downhill but if you miss a ramp you will hit a the wall of a crevice on the other side. You should not need a ramp just to make it across. Its not enough to say that the design of these levels are not "natural", it is better to say that they are simply contrived. You play a game like this to slide down slops - not to be constantly dodging death pits! I like the Antarctic level but it quickly turns into madness.
Playing these levels might be a waste of time. Some of them are pretty but are they really worth the experience? No
For every 5 levels you will find one that allows you to go fast and get big air. The other 4 levels will be trash filled with bottomless pits around corners and under lips, sharp turns that send you into a wall. The game doesn't want you to have fun.
Conclusion
The game is not fun. 4/10. The level design is terrible, the gimmick levels are a waste of time. When you combine bad level design and gimmicks that stop you from having fun you end up with an annoying mess.
Strategy
Do not play this game. LT let's you grind on the edge of holes but if you need that it's just a sign that the levels are trash. You can skip any race and move to the next if you fail 3 times. Skip the annoying levels.
Right off the bat its giving me a Gears of War vibe even without having played GOW. Not a cover shooter but more of a bro shooter. The enemies seem like bullet sponges but the game runs smooth so we will see how this goes as I get further in to the game. Hopefully I get some better guns to deal with these spongy enemies. I did get a Rage video from one of the levels so there is hope.
The game does get better and the enemies less spongy when you get more weapons. There are alot of variety in the enemies and stuff to look at. BS is a tunnel shooter but its fun to shoot and when you learn about the "skill shot" system you get further incentive to mix up your play style.
Conclusion
Bulletstorm is a fun FPS shooter that doesnt take itself too seriously. It takes about an hour to really get the vibe of the game but after that you really get what the devs were trying to make. Rating 8/10 would recommend, hidden gem. If you like shooty shooty games without unnecessary tasks and pointless additions then this game is for you.
Strategy
Of course I am playing on easy, mostly pistol head shots and thumper for crowds. In some sections you can stand in such a way that you can kick waves of dudes into spikes or off ledges. Its lots of fun.
I was hesitant towards getting another xbox 360 racing game after my experience (or should I say boredom) with Forza 4. But I can safely say PGR4 is "fun" for a game released in 2007. It has the vibe of Metropolis Street Racer from back in the dreamcast days - with the kudus system - actually its done by the same devs. But thats not the only thing; the race courses are interesting and have that retro ps2/dreamcast flat lighting vibe that more modern photo realistic racing games are missing.
The tracks are not as immense as Forza but there is this vibe in the city tracks. It is hard to describe; the city spaces feel very "gamey", like PS2 GT but in a persona 3 flat polygons way - fake but representative of something real. The night scenes, the day courses And it has weather changes too which is always an impressive touch in racing games.
The game UI is something out of windows XP but you wont be spending much time in the menus. The UI exists to get you into the race which is where you really want to spend your time. I jumped right into the arcade mode. There is no, tutorial or button layout bs. The race loads up, counts down and you race - no bs. The bikes are a little jarring at first but the handling is easy to get in to and is very CONSISTENT. Consistent handling in a racing game is chefs kiss.
I am currently ranked 10th in the PGR4 championship and the races are getting longer and more challenging - even while playing on easy but I will stick with it a little longer. I jumped ship on burnout paradise because I got what that game was about very early but PGR4 scratches a special nostalgia itch that is hard to replicate.
Conclusion
The game is fun 10/10. Allows you to take screenshots.
Strategy
Play it on easy you will have more fun. Adjust the engine sounds so that they are lower than the music.
Converting the screenshots
The screenshot files are essentially "jpeg". If your screenshots saved to the harddrive you will need to go into dashboard-system-storage find the PGR4 game folder, then copy the files one at a time to a usb flash drive.
Once the files are on a usbdrive then you can easily insert into a computer. On the computer search the entire usbdrive for anything with the file extension=".p". Once the files are found, make a copy of them on your desktop or another folder because you will need to edit each of them. Editing them while on the usbdrive will make them unreadable when the drive is put back into the xbox.
On the desktop (or where ever you copied them) each file is padded with some pre-text that you will need to remove in order to see the image. to identify the pre text you need to open the file in a text editor (notepad does not work) which can handle "binary" files like editplus or something else, with the file open, search in the file for the text "jfif", move 7 characters back then erase everything before "yoya". Save the file and change the extension to ".jpg". all done. the file will now be viewable. The image dimensions are 1280x720 pixels.
