100 Bullets-Old

It’s hard to imagine a game called 100 bullets with a little violence.  Acclaim’s third-person action shooter should probably have been called a billion bullets – there’s enough violence and shooting to keep any postal worker happy.  Based on a comic book of the same title from writer Brian Azzarello, 100 bullets is a shoot ‘em up for everyone who has ever wanted to get away with murder. 

Brandon Fish, a developer on the game, took me through a walk-through of the first level.  As soon as the level loaded, he just started shooting the hell out of everything.  The wall, the lights, people… it didn’t matter.  Bullets were flying and things were breaking.  It was trés cool.  The developers knew that shooting would be the basis for all the fun, so they designed the environment to react to it. 

The hero, Cole Burns, can perform a sick amount of maneuvers in addition to his proficiency with guns.  Wall-hugging and jumping out at enemies is a cinch, and crucial to survival.  Cole can also blindly fire from behind a wall at the cost of accuracy, but it’s very useful for tight situations.  Hostage taking is also possible, and allowing the enemy to plug their friend full of bullets is very enjoyable, but even more enjoyable is disposing of the hostage.  Brandon slammed the enemy’s head into a wall gently at first, and then really let him have it a second time, killing him instantly.  For the simpler killer, execution style killing is also possible with a single shot to the temple.  Some hand-to-hand combat is also possible, with the best part being the counter system.  If an enemy comes at Cole with a melee weapon, Cole can grab the weapon in midswing and stick his gun under the victim’s chin, sending brain matter and whatever else is in there all over the ceiling.  He isn’t the most gracious host, which makes him all the better of an anti-hero.

Fans of the comic book need not worry.  As Brandon puts it, “We try and stay as faithful as we can to the comic book, everything was written by Brian, and he’s very particular.  Fortunately, he gave us a lot to work with.”  The original storyline is filled with the familiar storylines of revenge, noir films, and bullets.  Lots and lots of bullets. 

100 Bullets will be available for the PS2 and Xbox this Fall.  I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess it will receive a ‘Mature’ rating. 

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