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TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
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The Gathering :: Community Center :: :: Updates and News :: TG Articles
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TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by Cjanz Wed Feb 23, 2011 8:18 pm
The Gentleman's Harvest
Hello,
my fellow "Gathered"! I am ZIMMER1994 and I would like to present you
the first in what will hopefully become a weekly series of articles that
shall now be known as The Gentleman's Harvest. These will be articles
on anything from music, to movies, games, comics, or just life in
general. I'm going to go ahead and start things off with my first
impressions after an hour of the video game Bulletstorm. I hope you
enjoy what I have to say, but whether you do or you don't just keep
posting and make your voice heard.
First Hour Impressions: Bulletstorm
Bulletstorm
is, in one word, epic (if not a little overdone at times). The first
hour of campaign gameplay takes you from the dark depths of space, down
the side of a building in the middle of a future metropolis, through
rocky desert wastelands, down into an abandoned mine, and out again into
somewhat of a shanty town. The presentation is fun and exciting, the
gameplay feels innovative, rugged, and organic, and the design is wholly
unique. I will discuss in-depth three key areas: Presentation/Story,
Gameplay, and Graphics. I have used green to mark key things I liked,
and red for key issues. However, please make sure to read what you can
as I may not be of the same opinion as far as what is good or bad, and
what is important. Know that I have not had time to evaluate the two
other game modes in Bulletstorm: Echoes, which pits you against others
online to rack up the most skillpoints in a certain amount of time on a
small map, and Anarchy which is a horde mode similar to something like
Horde in Gears of War or Zombies in COD. Enjoy and be looking for a full
review of this game sometime in the near future!
Presentation/Story:
[SPOILER (kinda, maybe, more to get you hooked) ALERT]
Within
the first hour, not much of the story has been ironed out. What I do
know is that you play space mercenary Grayson Hunt. The story opens up
with Grayson and a crew mate interrogating a man by taking turns
drinking, after each time he refuses to cooperate, before then trying to
shoot a beer bottle off the man's head. This is actually your first
introduction to the controls. The game will ask you to look up at the
bottle, then eventually aim (or at least try, as your reticle will
wobble from intoxication), fire, and then, even after the man divulges
all information, kick him out the airlock of your ship. This
is all presented quite well, and is one of two scenes that I feel
especially sets up who you are beyond all the facial hair, BO, and
bullet wounds. After a brief movement walkthrough, with somewhat annoying dialogue between you and the Good Ol' Boy (GOB) crew mate, you are introduced to the next important character, "Gray's" best friend and pilot, Ishi. (It
would also be good to point that this game has already become notorious
for its ridiculous amount of profanity and off-color humor. It's
definitely a game you don't want to play loudly near your parents, young
children, the elderly, religious leaders, or some marsupials.) Ishi
is much more uptight and honorable than the previous crew mate and will
become your main companion very soon. Ishi alerts "Gray" to the
presence of a large warship which houses a General Sarrano, a man you
especially hate. In a bold, but reckless move "Gray" attacks the
warship. Here the game pulls you into the gunner's seat and tasks you
with destroying parts of the Warship Ulysses. Eventually you are
overwhelmed, and your ship is dealt a fatal blow.
You
are sent tumbling toward the nearest planet along with the Ulysses.
This is also where we are presented with the first instance of my
biggest problem in this game, too
many large explosions of action followed by that Saving Private Ryan
slow motion blurry wakeup. I counted 4 times in my one hour of play. I will indicate the next ones with SPR#! Anyways...
You flash back to why you hate this General Sarrano so much. This takes
you to the aforementioned trek down a side scraper via fancy magnetic
boots. You assassinate a man, who you then find out was just a civilian
reporter with information on your black ops dealings. This is the second really great characterization moment. Sarrano
has been sending your crew after civilians to take down anyone who
opposed him. Oh no! Is that a villain I smell!? During this portion, you
also have your first taste of the basic gunplay in Bulletstorm. Mmmmm
tastes like awesome! SPR2!
You
wake up on the bridge of your crashed ship to find out that Ishi has
been blown half to hell and you need to save him by going and collect a
power cell from one of the escape pods of the Ulysses. Again, more basic
gunplay and annoying babble with GOB,
and then you are taught your third technique (first two being shooting
and kicking), a power slide kick. Then you eventually stumble upon one
of Sarrano's men. He is killed by the savage indigenous people and you
take his tech, an awesome electricy-whippy-leash-thing and your fourth
battle technique. You bring back the fusion cell, and doc turns Ishi
into a cyborg. Then you are ambushed and somehow get hit and black out
before... SPR3!
You
awake to find the first crew mate you met being humiliated and tortured
by the indigenous people before Ishi pulls you away with his newfound
cyborg strength. Your humiliated friend then grabs an explosive barrel
(this wouldn't be a game without 'em), thanks you for letting him serve
with you, then asks you to shoot the barrel. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! SPR4! "Gray"
and Ishi survive and you have now reached Act1 Chapter 1: Just Like the
Good Old Days. Although I was able to reach midway of Ch. 2 on hard in
an hour, I believe I will stop here for now. Just know that Ishi is not quite the man he was before, yet I do enjoy the dialogue with Ishi much more than with GOB. Now it's time to get out there and get Sarrano, that motherf***in', maggoty a**ed, c***sucker!
Gameplay:
This
is by far the best thing about Bulletstorm. This game, plays just
similarly enough to other first person shooters that I feel comfortable
with it, yet it is unique enough to feel like a completely new
experience. Other than the short previously noted bit of space warfare
during the introductory section, the gameplay of Bulletstorm revolves
around what I would callCreatively Chaining Components of Chaos or 4C. Meaning,
you have four different battle techniques to cause mayhem with: your
gun, a kick, a power slide, and your whip/leash. By combining these four
unique actions together in different sequences and at different times
during battle you can make sure to always get the most bang for your
buck. However, not just any kill will do.
There are specific ways in which you must try and maim, pulverize, vaporize, and ultimately dominate your enemies. These
are called skillshots and as you perform them, you will be rewarded
with the reveal of their names, which are often quite funny, such as Gag
Reflex, a skill shot for killing an enemy by shooting him in the
throat. The more
outrageous the death the better your reward. Skill points can then be
redeemed at Dropkits for ammo and upgrades to all your equipment. (Skill points can also be earned for a number of other random, simple tasks. Know, however, that whenever LT is displayed as a prompt on the screen, press and hold it as soon as possible, because it will direct the camera to an important event happening on screen and will net you up to 450 points.) Ammo,
I was especially surprised to find is not nearly as abundant as in
other games, so I urge you to always check an area for dropped enemy
guns before you leave. Also, I have not found quite the number of ammo
boxes as you might expect if you have played the game Gears of War. This,
plus the beautiful graphics is a constant reminder to always be on the
lookout for ways the environment can help you take down your enemies and
save you as many bullets as possible.
However
a game isn't all about shooting, it's also about the way you move and
how the game feels overall. I'm happy to report that the developers over
at People Can Fly have nailed this as well. You
feel strong, heavy, rugged, yet never chunky, just solid. Every
movement feels organic, especially once you start chaining together
sprints, power slides, and kicks into a flurry of body armor and blood.
The gameplay of Bulletstorm is big, bloody, and brilliant.
Graphics:
I would like to note that, on a medium sized HDTV this game looks absolutely gorgeous! Every
environment feels alive. This ties in with the innovative skill shot
system (more on this later) to keep you constantly watching your
surroundings for anything you can use to bring some pain! These are, at
times, the most gorgeous graphics I have seen on an Xbox 360 (it was
built using Unreal Engine 3). Unfortunately, the more you look the more you find. Though Bulletstorm is a beautiful game, some
of its character models feel a little chunky at times, and I have
noticed pretty bad pop-ins with both characters and environments. Three
areas that so far seems immune to these graphical glitches, however,
are the enemies, bullet effects, and environmental hazards. Each
enemy feels unique, and when they are suddenly rushing at you it's a
very visceral experience. Everything down to the drool in their mouths
and the paint on their bodies is vibrant and detailed. The bullet
effects are very small, yet when you see the chaotic blur of bullets
flying past your head from the chain gun up the hill you will understand
what an effect it is. The environmental hazards, being a key part of
gameplay, are also handled quite well. Everything from your typical
explosions, to the blood and guts when enemies are destroyed (>1000 Ways to Die!), to some really incredible looking electrical hazards.
Hello,
my fellow "Gathered"! I am ZIMMER1994 and I would like to present you
the first in what will hopefully become a weekly series of articles that
shall now be known as The Gentleman's Harvest. These will be articles
on anything from music, to movies, games, comics, or just life in
general. I'm going to go ahead and start things off with my first
impressions after an hour of the video game Bulletstorm. I hope you
enjoy what I have to say, but whether you do or you don't just keep
posting and make your voice heard.
First Hour Impressions: Bulletstorm
Bulletstorm
is, in one word, epic (if not a little overdone at times). The first
hour of campaign gameplay takes you from the dark depths of space, down
the side of a building in the middle of a future metropolis, through
rocky desert wastelands, down into an abandoned mine, and out again into
somewhat of a shanty town. The presentation is fun and exciting, the
gameplay feels innovative, rugged, and organic, and the design is wholly
unique. I will discuss in-depth three key areas: Presentation/Story,
Gameplay, and Graphics. I have used green to mark key things I liked,
and red for key issues. However, please make sure to read what you can
as I may not be of the same opinion as far as what is good or bad, and
what is important. Know that I have not had time to evaluate the two
other game modes in Bulletstorm: Echoes, which pits you against others
online to rack up the most skillpoints in a certain amount of time on a
small map, and Anarchy which is a horde mode similar to something like
Horde in Gears of War or Zombies in COD. Enjoy and be looking for a full
review of this game sometime in the near future!
Presentation/Story:
[SPOILER (kinda, maybe, more to get you hooked) ALERT]
Within
the first hour, not much of the story has been ironed out. What I do
know is that you play space mercenary Grayson Hunt. The story opens up
with Grayson and a crew mate interrogating a man by taking turns
drinking, after each time he refuses to cooperate, before then trying to
shoot a beer bottle off the man's head. This is actually your first
introduction to the controls. The game will ask you to look up at the
bottle, then eventually aim (or at least try, as your reticle will
wobble from intoxication), fire, and then, even after the man divulges
all information, kick him out the airlock of your ship. This
is all presented quite well, and is one of two scenes that I feel
especially sets up who you are beyond all the facial hair, BO, and
bullet wounds. After a brief movement walkthrough, with somewhat annoying dialogue between you and the Good Ol' Boy (GOB) crew mate, you are introduced to the next important character, "Gray's" best friend and pilot, Ishi. (It
would also be good to point that this game has already become notorious
for its ridiculous amount of profanity and off-color humor. It's
definitely a game you don't want to play loudly near your parents, young
children, the elderly, religious leaders, or some marsupials.) Ishi
is much more uptight and honorable than the previous crew mate and will
become your main companion very soon. Ishi alerts "Gray" to the
presence of a large warship which houses a General Sarrano, a man you
especially hate. In a bold, but reckless move "Gray" attacks the
warship. Here the game pulls you into the gunner's seat and tasks you
with destroying parts of the Warship Ulysses. Eventually you are
overwhelmed, and your ship is dealt a fatal blow.
You
are sent tumbling toward the nearest planet along with the Ulysses.
This is also where we are presented with the first instance of my
biggest problem in this game, too
many large explosions of action followed by that Saving Private Ryan
slow motion blurry wakeup. I counted 4 times in my one hour of play. I will indicate the next ones with SPR#! Anyways...
You flash back to why you hate this General Sarrano so much. This takes
you to the aforementioned trek down a side scraper via fancy magnetic
boots. You assassinate a man, who you then find out was just a civilian
reporter with information on your black ops dealings. This is the second really great characterization moment. Sarrano
has been sending your crew after civilians to take down anyone who
opposed him. Oh no! Is that a villain I smell!? During this portion, you
also have your first taste of the basic gunplay in Bulletstorm. Mmmmm
tastes like awesome! SPR2!
You
wake up on the bridge of your crashed ship to find out that Ishi has
been blown half to hell and you need to save him by going and collect a
power cell from one of the escape pods of the Ulysses. Again, more basic
gunplay and annoying babble with GOB,
and then you are taught your third technique (first two being shooting
and kicking), a power slide kick. Then you eventually stumble upon one
of Sarrano's men. He is killed by the savage indigenous people and you
take his tech, an awesome electricy-whippy-leash-thing and your fourth
battle technique. You bring back the fusion cell, and doc turns Ishi
into a cyborg. Then you are ambushed and somehow get hit and black out
before... SPR3!
You
awake to find the first crew mate you met being humiliated and tortured
by the indigenous people before Ishi pulls you away with his newfound
cyborg strength. Your humiliated friend then grabs an explosive barrel
(this wouldn't be a game without 'em), thanks you for letting him serve
with you, then asks you to shoot the barrel. BAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG! SPR4! "Gray"
and Ishi survive and you have now reached Act1 Chapter 1: Just Like the
Good Old Days. Although I was able to reach midway of Ch. 2 on hard in
an hour, I believe I will stop here for now. Just know that Ishi is not quite the man he was before, yet I do enjoy the dialogue with Ishi much more than with GOB. Now it's time to get out there and get Sarrano, that motherf***in', maggoty a**ed, c***sucker!
Gameplay:
This
is by far the best thing about Bulletstorm. This game, plays just
similarly enough to other first person shooters that I feel comfortable
with it, yet it is unique enough to feel like a completely new
experience. Other than the short previously noted bit of space warfare
during the introductory section, the gameplay of Bulletstorm revolves
around what I would callCreatively Chaining Components of Chaos or 4C. Meaning,
you have four different battle techniques to cause mayhem with: your
gun, a kick, a power slide, and your whip/leash. By combining these four
unique actions together in different sequences and at different times
during battle you can make sure to always get the most bang for your
buck. However, not just any kill will do.
There are specific ways in which you must try and maim, pulverize, vaporize, and ultimately dominate your enemies. These
are called skillshots and as you perform them, you will be rewarded
with the reveal of their names, which are often quite funny, such as Gag
Reflex, a skill shot for killing an enemy by shooting him in the
throat. The more
outrageous the death the better your reward. Skill points can then be
redeemed at Dropkits for ammo and upgrades to all your equipment. (Skill points can also be earned for a number of other random, simple tasks. Know, however, that whenever LT is displayed as a prompt on the screen, press and hold it as soon as possible, because it will direct the camera to an important event happening on screen and will net you up to 450 points.) Ammo,
I was especially surprised to find is not nearly as abundant as in
other games, so I urge you to always check an area for dropped enemy
guns before you leave. Also, I have not found quite the number of ammo
boxes as you might expect if you have played the game Gears of War. This,
plus the beautiful graphics is a constant reminder to always be on the
lookout for ways the environment can help you take down your enemies and
save you as many bullets as possible.
However
a game isn't all about shooting, it's also about the way you move and
how the game feels overall. I'm happy to report that the developers over
at People Can Fly have nailed this as well. You
feel strong, heavy, rugged, yet never chunky, just solid. Every
movement feels organic, especially once you start chaining together
sprints, power slides, and kicks into a flurry of body armor and blood.
The gameplay of Bulletstorm is big, bloody, and brilliant.
Graphics:
I would like to note that, on a medium sized HDTV this game looks absolutely gorgeous! Every
environment feels alive. This ties in with the innovative skill shot
system (more on this later) to keep you constantly watching your
surroundings for anything you can use to bring some pain! These are, at
times, the most gorgeous graphics I have seen on an Xbox 360 (it was
built using Unreal Engine 3). Unfortunately, the more you look the more you find. Though Bulletstorm is a beautiful game, some
of its character models feel a little chunky at times, and I have
noticed pretty bad pop-ins with both characters and environments. Three
areas that so far seems immune to these graphical glitches, however,
are the enemies, bullet effects, and environmental hazards. Each
enemy feels unique, and when they are suddenly rushing at you it's a
very visceral experience. Everything down to the drool in their mouths
and the paint on their bodies is vibrant and detailed. The bullet
effects are very small, yet when you see the chaotic blur of bullets
flying past your head from the chain gun up the hill you will understand
what an effect it is. The environmental hazards, being a key part of
gameplay, are also handled quite well. Everything from your typical
explosions, to the blood and guts when enemies are destroyed (>1000 Ways to Die!), to some really incredible looking electrical hazards.
Cjanz- Admin
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Post Count : 2206
Age : 31
Interests : New music, philosophy, technology in general, culture, language, religion, and debate
Registration date : 2008-06-19 -
Re: TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by JakeTheSnake Wed Feb 23, 2011 9:40 pm
This is great man! I can't wait for next week's article. I hope to see more of these.
JakeTheSnake- Moderator
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Post Count : 1150
Age : 31
Registration date : 2008-06-26
Re: TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by Cjanz Wed Feb 23, 2011 10:45 pm
From what I've heard, this game actually got quite a bit of flack for how outrageous it is. From Zach's explanation, though, it really seems like that's the point.
I like to hear that this is actually pretty strategic (i.e. - lack of ammo abundance, skill points, etc.).
Even as a sort of parody video game, it sounds like it has a damn good story to it.
This is an awesome review. I'm so very impressed.
I like to hear that this is actually pretty strategic (i.e. - lack of ammo abundance, skill points, etc.).
Even as a sort of parody video game, it sounds like it has a damn good story to it.
This is an awesome review. I'm so very impressed.
Cjanz- Admin
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Post Count : 2206
Age : 31
Interests : New music, philosophy, technology in general, culture, language, religion, and debate
Registration date : 2008-06-19 -
Re: TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by Donald Williams Wed Feb 23, 2011 11:01 pm
Gosh, the detail in this game sounds simply incredible, I definitely want to try it out if I get a chance this summer. I confess that I was completely unaware about the intrigue that this game caused due to the humor found within its contents, but, I personally love when movies, books, or video games push the limit in terms of what is socially accepted. I personally believe that this is what causes the public to question our current social boundaries and usually allows all of us to re-evaluate what should and should not be allowed. In addition, It also sounds as though it would be hilarious and surprising to play through this the first time.
Wonderful review, Zach, I am looking forward to seeing your future work!
Donald.
Wonderful review, Zach, I am looking forward to seeing your future work!
Donald.
Donald Williams- Admin
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Re: TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by ZIMMER1994 Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:51 am
Thanks everybody! ya the gameplay is very very solid. It's almost hard to describe just the way the character responds to your commands feels heavy yet not laggy in any way and everything feels organic and very rugged. I know I said that in the preview, but still I just can't get over it. Anyway... It's a lot of fun, and if anybody ever wants to get together and play just let me know.
ZIMMER1994- Member of the Month
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Post Count : 83
Age : 34
Location : Kansas
Interests : freeing myself through unrestrained thought
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Re: TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by ZIMMER1994 Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:57 am
Also, for next week I'm thinking a review of the new downloadable game from Double Fine, Stacking. It's a puzzle platformer of sorts, where you play as the smallest of all Russian stacking dolls, Charlie Blackmoor.
The main gameplay feature is that you can "stack" into a doll who is one size larger than you, as long as you can get directly behind them. Each doll then has it's own special abilities that you can use and combine to solve problems. Plus there are many dolls unique to individual levels that you can search for, and collections that will reward you for having all 3 of a certain group in the same group (i.e. a lost little boy, his older sister, and their crying mother).
An example I found of the puzzling aspect, in the demo, was you needed to talk to some people that were in a private club, but the door was being guarded. The waitor can be heard saying as he is entering that if he sees any unwelcome guests he will kick the whole group out. 3 options present themselves: "stack" into a seductive looking doll and wiggle her "hips" to draw the guard away from the door before running around him and going inside, use a mechanic to undo a vent cover then climb through, or use a big smelly man to fart into the air vent and quickly clear the room. The game lets you know that multiple solutions exist to each problem and you are rewarded for the time it takes to find them all. Does this sound interesting to anyone?
The main gameplay feature is that you can "stack" into a doll who is one size larger than you, as long as you can get directly behind them. Each doll then has it's own special abilities that you can use and combine to solve problems. Plus there are many dolls unique to individual levels that you can search for, and collections that will reward you for having all 3 of a certain group in the same group (i.e. a lost little boy, his older sister, and their crying mother).
An example I found of the puzzling aspect, in the demo, was you needed to talk to some people that were in a private club, but the door was being guarded. The waitor can be heard saying as he is entering that if he sees any unwelcome guests he will kick the whole group out. 3 options present themselves: "stack" into a seductive looking doll and wiggle her "hips" to draw the guard away from the door before running around him and going inside, use a mechanic to undo a vent cover then climb through, or use a big smelly man to fart into the air vent and quickly clear the room. The game lets you know that multiple solutions exist to each problem and you are rewarded for the time it takes to find them all. Does this sound interesting to anyone?
ZIMMER1994- Member of the Month
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Post Count : 83
Age : 34
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Registration date : 2010-12-14
Re: TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by MasonK565 Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:24 am
Dude, you got me wanting to play so freakin' badly. We should totally meet up and hang out! This game does sound pretty sweet. I love the skillshots concept.
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Re: TG Article 3: The Gentleman's Harvest
by Donald Williams Thu Feb 24, 2011 6:17 pm
From the way you described it to me, Stacking sounds hilarious. I would love to play that game. Can't wait to see the review of it next week.
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