Bulletstorm Preview

If the idea of MadWorld with colossal guns, unfettered misogyny and constant sexual innuendo makes you want to roar like an excitable grizzly bear, there's plenty to look forward to here. Sensitive types in touch with their femininity, however, might need a lie down with some Horlicks.

But then the fact that Bulletstorm is an exercise in frothing chaos and bloodshot machismo shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given that it's the bastard offspring from the makers of Painkiller - a game where you invade hell with guns - and Gears of War. You wouldn't expect anything less than unfettered mayhem.

After three years in development, this collaborative effort certainly delivers on that front, largely thanks to the unhinged 'skillshot' combat system that People Can Fly creative director Adrian Chmielarz reckons is "trying to change the FPS paradigm".

Over the course of a brief but action-packed presentation at publisher EA's showcase event this week, we see lead character Grayson Hunt engaging in a bewildering array of combat manoeuvres as he and his female sidekick Ishi Sato take down a procession of mutants.

Lost Planet says hi!

You're stranded on an abandoned paradise, but exploring this once-beautiful tourist resort becomes a battle for survival when flesh-eating gangs and towering triffid-like fauna decide they fancy you for lunch.

The next thing you know, you're whipping objects and enemies towards you, flinging and booting them back with interest, slip-sliding and kicking around the environment with oily grace, and generally blasting enemies with a hundred bullets at once. In the absence of a proper hands-on, it's hard to gauge how all of this madness works in practise, but the demonstration suggests slick mechanics that any FPS aficionado should adapt to in no time.

The game is evidently set up to encourage players to be as creative as possible, with practically everything in the environment available to use in combat. With an experience and progression system intimately tied into how often - and how well - you perform during fights, the incentive to vary your approach also seems clearly defined.

It wasn't always that way, admits Chmielarz. "Initially Bulletstorm started as a regular shooter, just with this People Can Fly/Painkiller vibe and flavour," he explains.

"Once we started to get weapons like the Flay Gun, we realised you can kill in many different ways and it can get really creative on the battlefield. So we changed it into an actual gameplay mechanic, and rewarded players for that.

"We were playing creatively - toying with enemies, playing cat and mouse, being the hunter before we had the skillshot system. So we thought if that works, then it would work if we promoted it with the skill points and started calling each kill something funny, and I think that's the most unique thing about Bulletstorm."

Every skillshot seems to have some sort of sexual reference (such as the infamous 'Gang Bang'), and Chmielarz admits, "Epic [which owns People Can Fly] believes that we must have some mental problems... so they tried to tone us down."

For the purposes of the demo, though, the main skillshot we're seeing is 'Mercy'. "I really like it! You shoot the guy in the family jewels, so he's on his knees, screaming in pain and then you have two options: either headshot him, or just kick him in the face. We have tons of skillshots in the game, some are easier, some are harder. Some of these harder ones, once you get it, they're not only satisfying, but quite visually spectacular."

With manic excitement firmly woven into every moment, it's a game where the action only lets up to deliver yet another quip. Indeed, among the assembled press at EA's European showcase, it was the uncompromising dialogue that had everyone raising quizzical eyebrows.

Relentlessly surly putdowns, barbs and wince-inducing double entendres are thrown around at every opportunity, and it's a brand of pulp sci-fi that many will find an acquired taste.

Hearing Ishi Sato jibe to her partner that "you'll never find out what this man-eater's tongue can do" was a real Too Much Information moment. But when she observes that "man-eaters love tight spots", Hunt can't resist quipping: "I'm not even going to touch that one."

The gags keep on coming.

Sniggersome as it might be to a 12-year-old just discovering puerile humour, it's pretty eye-rolling for everyone else. Or maybe just us uptight Brits.

But despite being crafted with "a nod and a wink", and done in the name of "putting the fun back in shooters", Chmielarz claims that this self-styled 'blood symphony of carnage' runs parallel to a "real drama with a certain amount of weight" and "a lot going on".

"It's not an excuse for shootouts," he explains. "We really do have a big story that's integrated with the gameplay components in our game, but on the other hand you kick people in the ass. So how do you match the two? The serious drama that's going on with this crazy over-the-top gameplay?"

Having been impressed with Rick Remender's work on graphic novel Fear Agent, Chmielarz found the perfect writer who understood the pulp sci-fi style they were shooting for. "This guy just gets it. He's the magician there, he writes the dialogue that marries the two sides of Bulletstorm to the story to the crazy over-the-top gameplay."

Only after Remender signed up for the project did Chmielarz realise that he also wrote the core story for Dead Space. "So not only did I love Fear Agent, but I already knew he worked in games, which is really important in this business. I was ecstatic, and luckily we were right, because he's bringing us something special. Rick is a gamer, and when you have such a talented creator and writer who understands what games are, that's like a dream come true. He brought it up to another level."

So is this the start of a Bulletstorm series? "I honestly don't think there's a developer in the world right now who just does the first part and goes, okay, that's it, I'm not interested in anything else," Chmielarz says.