Bullet Run Review

There’s no lack on shooters in the gaming world today, there seems to be one released for every day of year. Whether you love the genre or not, you can’t say that there are developers out there who are trying to shake things up a little bit, offering excellent, standardised action multiplayer but adding another level. Bullet Run is the latest in Sony Online Entertainment’s Steam outings, offering a free-to-play shooter with plenty of replay value, a couple of TV hosts and decent graphical performance. But is it enough to stand out from the crowd?

In this review (and the accompanying video), we take a look and decide whether it’s worth your time to try out Bullet Run, or if you’re better off sticking with your old standards.

Bullet Run Gameplay - Video Review

The Screen Just Loves You – The premise of Bullet Run is that you’re taking part in a massive, bloody TV show, complete with commentary and after-kill close ups. It’s a nice premise and one that I’ve never really seen done in quite the same way as in Bullet Run. It’s a gimmick really, something that doesn’t massively change the way in which you play the game, but it’s a good one.

Hot, Hot, Hot – Perhaps the biggest way in which the TV show premise changes Bullet Run is in the heat system, which rewards you for getting exciting kills. This isn’t massively different from the experience rewarded in games like Call of Duty – you get so much for a standard kill, a little extra for a headshot, more still for killing more than one person at once – but it’s in the way it’s measured that makes Bullet Run stand out. You won’t top the leaderboard just by having the most kills – the heat of those kills is important as well. If you’re camping and each kill you get is a knee-shot, you’ll probably come behind someone with less kills but more skill.

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Smooth Moves – The controls seem pretty smooth in Bullet Run, a point that too many shooters can get wrong these days. Getting kills is easy, aiming is a pleasure and the guns seem fairly well balanced. You just can’t knock it.

What a World – The graphics are decent enough to warrant mention, although those of you hoping to test your high-end machines probably won’t be blown away. There’s plenty of colour in there and the level design itself is more than worth checking out. There’s lot of places to hide if you think you’re being followed, and switching from the hunted to the hunter is an absolute pleasure.

The Commentators – “Huh, that was quite a funny joke. Wait, I’ve heard that one before. WHY WON’T IT STOP?” The commentators are great, to begin with. If you play in a certain way though, if you die a lot or are specifically good at getting head shots, you should resign yourself to hearing the same damn jokes over and over and over again.

Menu Blues – The menu for Bullet Run is just so overclogged with information that it can be quite hard to navigate. If it takes more than a quarter of a second to find the “play now” button, you know you’ve probably done something wrong. The focus of this game’s opening screen is on selling you something you probably don’t want, not on getting you into a game quickly.

The Community – I don’t think I’ve been in a game yet that hasn’t had somebody moaning at somebody else. Either the owner of the server suspects foul play and will kick everybody if the real hacker doesn’t own up and leave or one player will team kill another over and over again until they start playing in a fairer, more team-minded way. It’s a mess of mixed personalities and anger and it really knocks a little of the fun out of the game.

Boosters – Add this to the list of games that wants you to pay to win. The higher level you are, the better moves and guns you’ll access to. Don’t want to spend too much time in the lower ranks? Put in your credit card number and prepare to rush past others. I know that a company needs to be able to make money out of a free-to-play game but this isn’t the way to do it.

Conclusion - Bullet Run Review

Bullet Run is a good game, but it’s hard to get more excited about it than that. There’s a big community that seems to love it, so you’ll always be able to get a game, and the features within it are good enough that it’d be a great fall-back game if something else came along. It’s a standard shooter, nothing more, nothing less, and if that’s what you’re looking for, don’t hesitate in downloading today.