The Bulletstorm Demo: Why It BUGS me!

by : GrathiusXR

©2011 Arthur Kotsopoulos

So by now many of you have downloaded and played the demo for Bulletstorm, the new EPIC FPS developed by People Can Fly, and judging by the leaderboards everybody seems to be loving it.

Unfortunately I can’t help but continuously play through the 3-5 minute demo and knit pick at the faults and uncanny problems the game seems to contain, despite my great enjoyment.

You could say the demo’s bugs, well…bug me, and these days there is too often a ‘we’ll fix it with a patch later’ mentality.

Sure the guns are cool, the blood is groovy and the sound on a 5.1 surround sound system is godlike but there are certain faults within this demo that just frustrate me to no avail.

The lack of an ability to jump seems to be a step back in my opinion especially in this generation of gaming. Yes it’s a frantic no holds barred shoot ‘em up adventure where a jump mechanic isn’t necessary but it’s always nice to have that option available to the play is it not?

So what’s my main ‘Bug’

Where my main problem within the game lies however is the Skillshot system.

Whilst this does add countless replay value meaning you’ll be playing the same level over and over again to better your friends’ high scores, it does seem to have an annoying bug within it that makes points magically disappear.

I’ve spent roughly 6-8 hours playing the Echo Demo level and after obtaining anywhere from 1000-2000 points after gang bangs, flyswatter and sadists and landing the elevator on a pack of uglies my points seem to magically disappear..?!

If I had a capture card I’d be able to show what I mean but these photos taken from my phone will have to suffice for the time being because this really is a problem that I can’t seem to find anywhere that any one else is having.

Yes I know that if you do the same Skillshot more than twice you get less or no points at all but in certain cases I’ve waited until the elevator to use the flail gun as well as lighting up most enemies and then flyswatting them and STILL my points just disappear.

I’ve gone from obtaining a total of 3000 points for the elevator area and getting 8500 points nicely sitting in the bottom left hand corner of the screen to only a few short moments later having 6250..

I don’t know how this works or what reason there is for the points just decreasing but for the gamers like myself who wish to rack up a high score and climb the leader-boards this just doesn’t sit well.

Another bug I’ve encountered within the demo is after you crouch through confined space and emerge to kick the red cupboard to continue on your killing way, the first 2 enemies just fall down and die.

No blood, no limb removal they just grunt then drop to the ground just like that. The box that you kick isn’t anywhere near them so there’s no way that could kill them so what strange death comes about here?

You don’t receive any Skillpoints either so that only leaves the fact that I’m either running through the demo too fast to get a good time bonus or this bug within the demo just loves to show its face when I have a good amount of points to hinder my chances. Whatever the reason behind these instant enemy deaths it’s happened in more than 1 place.

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After I had called for the elevator to squash any remaining enemies in the shaft I walked up the ramp to find 2 enemies were still alive and running towards me.

When I equipped the flail gun the closest enemy to my person turned around grunted and then they both fell down to the ground and died instantly! Again I garnered no Skillpoints and that was it- I went on my merry way.

Strange, no?

Not exactly bugs that ruin the whole gaming experience but ones that if present in the retail build of the Echo game mode and Single Player campaign will definitely cause a upstir in those hard-core gamers like myself wishing to rack up combos.

Hopefully they get addressed or a post-update is available after the game’s launch to fix these or else for the select few who are currently experiencing these issues it won’t be pretty.

February 24th can’t come soon enough for me though to get my hands on this AND the Gears 3 BETA.. Going to be a good year for gamers and Bulletstorm will get things off and rolling with its frantic gun blazing, leash grabbing head popping boot stomping, slide kicking gameplay!

©2011 Arthur Kotsopoulos

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