Bulletstorm

The mainstream media love to complain that too many video games are violent, bloody and overrun with swearing. So, here’s another one. People Can Fly and Epic Games (the latter creators of the Gears of War franchise) have developed a first-person shooter that tests the limits of the ESRB’s Mature rating. Most games give you points for killing wave after wave of baddies; this one rewards you for killing them creatively. Dubbed Skillshots, they range from shooting an enemy in the ass (Rear Entry) and blasting away the upper torso (Topless) to drilling an enemy into the ground (Break Dance) and killing two or more enemies with a single flail (Gang Bang). The debauchery doesn’t end with the violence. There’s more creative gratuitous swearing (“pussyzilla,” “murder boner,” “fungal rimjob,” and “sushi dick”) than a dozen games combined. It may seem like a gimmick to sell games, and it is, but this is actually a refreshing take on the genre. The action is epic, the levels are beautiful, and R. Lee Ermey’s (Full Metal Jacket) voice acting is hilarious. Multiplayer is bare, but the Skillshots are fun to pull off with friends. More than another example of immoral excess, this is a killing spree with style.