Xbox Review Code Provided by Playtonic Friends
It’s not very often a classic game genre, like first-person shooters, can offer a fresh experience. Having released on consoles only weeks ago, we were thrilled to get our hands on Playtonic Friends and Awe Interactive’s latest game port, BPM: Bullets Per Minute.
BPM is a rhythm-action, FPS, rogue-like game where you must shoot, jump and dodge to the beat of the in-game rock soundtrack. Each level attempt is a randomly generated dungeon where one missed note can lead to your death. The game is all about nailing a well-time action, coordinating your shots, jumps, and reloads to the game’s rhythm, and gain powerful abilities. Each level you’ll work like crazy to stay alive and snag powerful weapons to ultimately defeat your ancient enemy: Nidhogg.
Story
The story here is rather light and frankly comes as a disappointment. I always appreciate a brief synopsis of the game’s setting and some background on playable characters (at a minimum) along with some context of what I’m doing. When you play BPM, you’ll find no such introduction or storyline to help sink into the gameplay experience. It’s a missed opportunity to help players connect with the game and the universe it creates. As a new intellectual property in a crowded shooter genre, I think it’s imperative to set yourself apart through story and setting.
What we do know, however, is that BPM allows you to play as various Valkyries (unlocked during your playthrough) who can rock out and blow the crap out of swarms of enemies. The setting is mostly glowing dungeons and gothic cathedrals lit by torches, all procedurally generated. Unfortunately, that’s about the extent of the game’s story and setting.
Gameplay
The gameplay is unlike other first-person shooter titles, with a highly sensitive movement and shooting element that’s central to the core experience. You’ll immediately notice the controls for movement are incredibly sensitive and you’ll likely want to go into settings and adjust this to your personal preference. Even after adjusting the sensitivity of controls, I felt there was an awkward and frustrating movement to the game. It’s like you are sliding around the ground constantly, and your weapon’s bullets surprisingly have a short distance, making it all the more difficult to approach and shoot enemies. Add to this the necessity to time your shots to the game’s music rhythm (more details on that later) and you have an oftentimes frustratingly difficult game!
BPM is a roguelike, which essentially means every time you die you’ll lose all your progress and have to start the level over again. The game has you running through procedurally generated levels, trying and track down items and skills that are procedurally placed in different locations. When you die, those items and skills will end up somewhere else in the randomized level. Keep in mind, you don’t just walk in and pick up these items and skills. Instead, you have to kill enemies and acquire enough coins to purchase these improvements. It can be incredibly grindy and repetitious, which really defines much of this game.
Audio and Visuals
The game’s music is awesome and goes fantastically with the overall vibe, as you’d expect from a rhythm-based shooter. I found the music to be a highlight of the game and the timing aspect was a unique twist. More than just an enjoyable soundtrack, well-timed shots in conjunction with the music’s rhythm are a core part of BPM’s strategy. In addition to timing your bullets, you’ll also want to sync your movement and weapon reloads to the game beat too. Music is central to the game, though very little instruction is provided on this, so you sort of just figure it out along the way.
BPM’s visuals were decent enough, but I will gripe a bit about the yellow pop-in effect that happens almost nonstop on background surfaces when you’re moving around. It’s quite distracting and takes away from the ability to immerse yourself. As you get towards the end of the game you can’t help but feel there is a lot of repetition in what you’re seeing, and not all of it is good either. I was really tired of staring at the screen’s limited colors that offer little variation throughout the game. In some ways, the color scheme really strains the eyes after a few hours of playing.
Replayability
Beating previous scores and doing it all faster makes this a game worth playing again. It has the classic arcade draw, bringing you back to beat your previous high scores. No to mention, once you play through the game you unlock new playable valkyrie characters. Since the entire game is procedurally generated, you’re guaranteed to never have the same experience twice. Whether you’ll want to dive back into the brutally and frustratingly difficult game is an entirely different question.
What It Could Have Done Better
I would love to see the game offer more in terms of story and an introduction to the game’s unique gameplay and control scheme. It was all a bit unnecessarily difficult to get into the game and understand what you need to do, where you’re going, and what you’re trying to accomplish. I shouldn’t have to search through YouTube videos to try and figure out what is going on and how to play the game effectively.
I was also disappointed with the visual effects and the yellow pop-in that occurred throughout the game. It lacked polish and gave the game a demo feeling rather than a finished product. Considering this game is being ported from the previously released PC version, I had hoped this console version would be more ironed out.
Verdict
The music was awesome and the general idea behind the game is great. I’d genuinely like to see a sequel to the game and overall improvements on the next iteration. There are areas where I’d love to see the developers improve, noted above. I can’t in good conscience give this game top marks, but I do think it’s overall worth checking out to shooter fans who are looking for something that looks and plays differently.
Is the game fun? Yes, albeit frustrating too. Is it worth checking out? Absolutely, but prepare yourself for a shooter that is unlike most others and requires you to relearn the general feel of most modern shooters. This game is best played with a decent headset and limiting distractions that would otherwise interrupt your concentration. When I wasn’t frustrated with the difficulty of the game, I often found myself enjoying rocking out and striving to feel the rhythm of this explosive roguelike shooter.
The game can be picked today up for PC, PlayStation 4 & 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X|S. Give it a try and be ready for a difficult game!
