It's hard to believe that it has been nearly a year since I saw for my very eyes, Cliffy B, briefly announce Bulletstorm at an EA event with a presentation of the game following. Most of us there didn't know what to think.

If we go back in gaming history a bit, I'm sure you'll all recall a very exhilarating shooter called Painkiller. Created by a Poland-based development studio People Can Fly, Painkiller met with a largely positive response and to this day remains one of the company's most successful titles.

Frantic ceaseless action; solid and rather rewarding gameplay mechanics; combining weapons and achieving a variety of kills; some areas look gorgeous

The multiplayer isn't as engaging and addictive as we hoped; lack of campaign co-op; only a few relatively easy boss fights; the word 'dick' gets flailed around to the point where you consider muting the dialogue

We'd forgive you if you said you wanted a break from the Xbox 360's seemingly unending wave of melodramatic, darkly serious first-person shooters. As much as we love the genre, it sure would be nice to just cut loose and have mindless fun for a change and not have to worry about nuclear war with...

+ A legitimately fresh and fun take on the well-worn; highly competitive first-person-shooter genre; + Both ancillary modes are well worth your time

- Campaign grossly overstays its welcome; game-design pillars crumble in latter third of game, ? Will anyone buy it just for the early access to the Gears of War 3 beta

I can admit when I'm wrong. Before the Bulletstorm demo released on Xbox Live and the Playstation Network, I was pretty harsh in my criticisms.

+ Skillshots encourage creativity; + Characters are surprisingly interesting; + Great feeling of scale

Scarcity of charge ammo; No cover system; No cooperative campaign

"It's a murder party, starring me!" says beefed-up, paint thinner-drinking, bad-ass space pirate Grayson Hunt in another of Bulletstorm's overwrought, hard-pounding, frenzied stages. His overjoyed enthusiasm is one which we share.

It's official, FPSs have taken over the world. With their quick reward schemes, feel good accomplishments, and the knowledge that you're simply better than others (or maybe worse), it's no wonder but they are becoming a tad stale.

My favorite part of E3 every year isn't the new games coming out, but finding overlooked gems. Every year, I discover one or two ignored games, which, seemingly, are the most influential to future releases. Two years ago, the game on every developers lip's was The Club , a score-based shooter.

People Can Fly is a Polish developer with a relatively short resume. In 2004, they came out with Painkiller , which was and is one of the most straightforward shooters ever: you're in hell and you want out, so you'd better kill everything you see.

SUMMARY (3 out of 5) in the beginning playing bulletstorm for me was funny and to collect every possible kill variation can be very addicting, but on the other hand i was deadening very soon and for some reason i started thinking like "man why always killing in every fkn game" - don't think about...

It might seem reasonable to object to " Bulletstorm " on some moral level. Not the reactionary ignorant dissent that warbles against all violence in entertainment, but reasonable bias against the game's unabashed bad language and seeming flippacy towards gruesome death.