First person shooters are an interesting bunch. There are many of them and all too often they fall into a series of clichés and traps that often leave them feeling stuck in a rut. Then we have Bulletstorm, a game that tried to offer something different but went unnoticed on first release. It was over the top, outrageous and it was insane, but just didn’t catch on. Now on the Switch we have the remake, Bulletstorm: Duke of Switch edition. Its prettier, runs better and has a lot of bonuses to make it better. But is it very good?
Bulletstorm knows what it wants to be. It is all out action, insane destruction and full of hype and holds nothing back. The weapons are great, the visuals stand out far better and best of all, the game runs well on Switch and is well optimized. Admittedly, the story had some stupid moments, but that was part of the charm. But that isn’t what you are all here for, are you? You want to know how was the game when played as Duke Nukem. Well to put it bluntly, this plays as a much better Duke Nukem game than Duke Nukem Forever did. This is a classic style run n gun game reinvented for the fps era, and playing this gives a feeling of being back in the arcade.
Duke Nukem just fits right into the game. The dialogue doesn’t change really aside from Duke remarking about how he is n a new situation, and reacting to people calling him by the name of the game’s actual protagonist. It is actually funny how they handled it. Duke still does feel like a bit of a relic from the past, and his dialogue is cringe worthy at times. This is annoying given that games like Shadow Warrior show that this type of character can be done well in the modern day. It feels like the writers refuse to make Duke more up to date, but want him to reflect modern gaming as well. The truth is that Duke doesn’t need to lose his personality, but as stated, Shadow Warrior took a similar character and made him hilarious in modern games but focusing his character in a specific way. It is all about how the character is written.
Bulletstorm is fun. There is no debate about that. There is the occasional framerate drop and screen tear, but nothing too severe, and those occurred on PC and Xbox as well.. The textures are a bit downgraded on Switch but not to a major extent and the game is still gorgeous. The game controls very well on Switch and I had no issues using any weapons or dealing with enemies. Everything felt natural to me on Switch, and the game ran extremely well, minor issues mentioned before aside. The developers did a great job optimizing this and I have to commend them for it.
Overall, I did like Bulletstorm. Its a fast paced game, with great combat, and the addition of Duke Nukem was inspired. I think this is worth looking into, even without the Duke Nukem mode, which will probably be what attracts most people.
Disclaimer: A review key was provided