While Bulletstorm’s bread and butter is the single player, there is a multiplayer portion as well, although there isn’t much variation in modes, or any at all for that matter. Bulletstorm’s multiplayer has one mode, Anarchy. Anarchy is a mix of Firefight from Halo and Zombies from Call of Duty. The way it works is you battle waves of enemies with three other players racking up points. The point system works the same way it does in the campaign, kill with skill – so the more varied and difficult the kill the more points scored. There are new skill shots that are unique to multiplayer gameplay, such as two people leashing the same enemy at the same time for the ‘Tug of War’ skill shot. There are also special team skill shot events where you can obtain a lot of points for the team if the skill shot is executed. An example of this is a ‘Team Bulletslide’ where one member has to slide and kick the enemy into the air and another team member has to shoot them. Doing all of these things will give you points which you will then use to purchase upgrades to yourself, such as being able to take more damage, and to purchase new weapons and weapon upgrades. These upgrades will allow you to stay alive through the progressively more difficult rounds. The whole idea is to survive as long as possible.
Anarchy is a fun game and is perfect for a party setting. It definitely loses some of its appeal if you aren’t playing with a group of your friends as team work is essential to scoring as many points as possible. It is also crucial to have excellent team work because you don’t want everyone running around with the same weapons later on in the match. Killing creatively as a team means that everyone needs to bring something different to the table, and in this case it is an alternate weapon.
While I would have liked to see some other gameplay modes, Anarchy works well, it is just an issue of longevity. I am sure the developers could have come up with some other interesting gameplay modes that would still utilize the skill shot system and leash. To wrap things up, Bulletstorm’s multiplayer is an entertaining and challenging adventure that is best spend with some buddies, pizza, and a whole lot of liquor.
