Demo Showdown: Bulletstorm vs: Crysis 2

Tuesday was a good day for demos... especially if you have a 360 with a Gold account. Two heavy hitting demos were released: Bulletstorm from Epic Games, and Crysis 2 from Crytek. But in a time where COD is king and shooters are a dime a dozen, can either of these titles stand out?

I will start my mini comparison with Bulletstorm. Why? Because for the first 24 hours I was unable to actually play the Crysis 2 demo. Why? I am not 100% percent sure, but when using my wireless, the game kept freezing (on the loading screen before entering a match). To make matters worse, the freeze was a terminal one that required me to get up, walk to my TV/Xbox, and hit reset. I have only had that happen maybe once in my 360's life. After a number of failed tries I searched online and found out that others were having the same problem. The only pattern I could see was that the freezing tended to occur with people who were using wireless. Since my modem was one story up, I opted to just leave my 360 attached to my 50 inch TV... and play Bulletstorm.

BULLETSTORM:

My first impressions of the Bulletstorm demo was that it was a lot of fun. Most importantly, it did not take itself too seriously. Too many shooters take themselves far too seriously. Just relax and have fun I say! Bulletstorm reminded me of a cross between Gears of War (this is Epic...) and Borderlands (a surprise favorite of mine).

As far as the combat goes, the lasso was enjoyable. I especially enjoyed pulling someone towards me and then kicking them away, and then repeating about 3-4 times (I called it the "yo-yo"). The skill shots gave the game a different flair, but I am not sure if that it really my kind of thing. I tend to just like the run and gun... and that was fun to do in Bulletstorm, even if it made a short demo feel even shorter. That being said, I really liked the look of some of the guns. The 4 barrel shotgun (i.e. over the top) looks to be right up my alley.

Mechanics wise, Bulletstorm felt very fluid and natural. It just felt right from the beginning. There was no adjustment period. The demo was kind of easy however, although harder difficulty settings will be in the final version, so no worries.

Visually it was impressive, as should be expected from Epic. I give the graphics and art style an edge over Crysis 2 (mind you, multiplayer is always toned down with graphics...). I applaud the abundance of color... something that so many modern games tend to shy from (Gears and Fallout being obvious examples). When my wife saw the demo she sat down... watched me kick and splatter a bunch of guys... and then said "this is gross. This is NOT my kind of game" as she walked out of the room. I think the minigun to a dude's face at point blank range may have put her off.

CRYSIS 2

Today I did the unthinkable. I unplugged my 360 from my new, beautiful 50 inch TV and carried it upstairs. I dug around for some cords, eventually found my Ethernet cable, haphazardly made room on my office desk... and plugged into my 23 inch LCD monitor. "This better be good" I grumbled under my breath. As I loaded my first match I fully expected yet another terminal freeze... but no... SUCCESS! I was met with a visually pleasing rooftop battlefield, very much akin to something you would see in COD.

So how are the graphics? Does it live up to the hype? Well, I think my wife put it best when she walked in the room: "What is this?" she said. "A new demo for a new game that is supposed to be pretty good" I said. She then walked out.. "It looks like all the other games." I had to agree. I would put the graphics on par with COD. Plus, it really has the look of COD. Halo looks like Halo. Gears looks like Gears. Killzone like Killzone. Crysis (the multiplayer demo) reminds me of COD. That is a good thing in my books... but at this point in the life of the console, I wasn't expecting groundbreaking graphics changes. Boast all you want Crytek... I clearly saw those texture and object pop-ins.

Crysis 2 really does seem to be going after the COD/Halo empires. I was skeptical whether it would succeed... those are two great, yet different online experiences. In the end, I think that Crysis blends the best elements of both games brilliantly, but again it feels more like COD than Halo. I loved the "energy" meter and the risk/benefits of armor/stealth/sprint/nanovisio n. It made me think much differently than in other shooters. I also loved the ability to vault over walls... a huge innovation in mobility over both COD and Halo. Finally, I liked the class/perk/killstreak features that help make COD so addictive.

Despite some reports of laggy controls in the interwebz, I found the controls to be very tight (you can adjust how tight or loose they are). Grenade controls were not fluid however. Mind you, in Halo/COD you can throw them like candy, which has it's up and downs in games.

Online was very stable with no major lag. I did spawn in front of enemies once or twice, but overall my experience was solid and smooth. The demo was enjoyable to the point that I ALMOST forgot the evening previous with it's numerous terminal freezes.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

So at the end of the day, can either of these titles grab the attention/imagination of the Joe-shooter-public? Is there really any more room for innovation in the shooter genre? Are they worthy of your hard earned dollar?

I had low expectations of Bulletstorm. I was pleasantly surprised. Actually, I should not have been surprised, Epic makes solid games. In the end I think Bulletstorm will do just fine with it's skill-shot gameplay and ass-kicking good fun. Loved the marketing campaign! Cliff B talking about doing anything he put his mind to, and blowing out assholes, was classic. The "Believe" spoof was gold. I will probably get it when the price drops and play it through once, and then put it away. Shooters need RPG elements to keep me addicted. Still, this looks set to top Gears in my books... a game that took itself far too seriously for my tastes.

Crysis 2 may have earned a day one buy for me. I think it succeeded in blending Halo and COD (with more COD), while still adding something new and unique with the armor/stealth and increased mobility. Although I am not a big COD fan (or shooter fan in general), I admit to becoming a bit of a Halo multiplayer addict as of late. I think this demo has captured my interest by blending what I like most from shooter multiplayer games... while still bringing something new to the table.

As to be expected, both offerings look to be great games that will not disappoint. That being said, don't expect either to revolutionize the shooter genre, even if they each give their own unique spin. These games look to be evolutionary, not revolutionary.