BPM: Bullets Per Minute is one of those ideas that had to happen eventually. What if the 90’s shooting of DOOM, in all of its rocket-jumping, minigun-spinning glory, was mapped to the beats of a rhythm-action game? It’s a question that we’re all going to have answered soon, as Bullets Per Minute has a go – because it thinks it’s hard enough – on Xbox and PlayStation today.
We’ve all watched FPS trailers that time their explosions and boss battles to their bombastic scores, so why not make a game from it? We’re absolutely in.
Like Tower of Guns and various other FPS roguelites, BPM: Bullets Per Minute opts for procedurally generated levels and then tests whether you can survive them and beyond with seven different bosses. Each enemy will move and fire in time to the music, so you’ll have to master your trigger finger, as well as your dancing feet.
Bullets Per Minute has built up a cult following on PC via Steam in the short time it has had there, and Edge said it was a “fine calling card” in their review, which is reasonably lofty praise (expect our verdict soon).
We’ve had to wait for an Xbox version, but there’s a silver lining. We’re getting all the content that Awe Interactive have released in the interim, including five new characters, three brand new weapons with their own approaches to master, a brand new chapter, two new difficulties, and a mixture of items, achievements, and assorted tweaks. And Playtonic Games are on board now too, so that will no doubt help matters.
Key features:
- • Shoot, jump and dodge to the beat while battling hordes of enemies.
- • Fight powerful bosses in challenging boss battles that will push you to the edge.
- • Explore randomly generated dungeons.
- • Choose from 10 different characters with unique strengths and weaknesses.
- • Wield a powerful arsenal of weapons, all with different behaviour for firing and reloading to the beat of the soundtrack.
- • Battle a diverse array of enemies, each with unique rhythmic behaviours.
- • Get overpowered and fire shotgun rockets while flying through the air.
- • Utilize abilities that radically alter the way you play the game, from teleport to freezing bolts.
- • Equip over 60 items that buff your character in unique and interesting ways.
- • Experience an epic rock opera soundtrack.
- • Challenge modes for extra gameplay.
We’ve sweated through years of Unreal Tournament deathmatches and enjoyed other rhythm-action crossovers like Crypt of the Necrodancer, so we’re looking forward to some slaying mixed with Slayer.
Bullets Per Minute launches on the Xbox Store at the price of £19.99. It’s also available on PS4.
Game Description:
BPM is a Rhythm-FPS developed by Awe Interactive. Fight as a mighty Valkyrie to repel the forces of the underworld from invading the world of Asgard. In BPM, all of your actions and the actions of your enemies are tied to the beat of the music. Your enemies perform a dance-like sequence of attacks to an epic rock opera. Inspired by retro shooters of the ’90s, it is fast, frenetic and rhythmical. You can double jump, dash, rocket jump and bunny hop to evade your opponents. Your goal is to reach the end of randomly generated dungeons, collecting different weapons, abilities and items each time you play. These weapons and abilities can radically alter the way you play, making each playthrough unique. You must defeat 7 bosses to reach the final boss. Each boss moves and attacks in a unique way that you must learn to exploit if you want to succeed. Some attacks require you to jump over fields of lava, some to dodge fast projectiles, some to hold fast for a beat. Get ready to test your metal with the Overdrive update. New characters, more weapons, a brand-new chapter and all-new difficulty modes: Practice and Hellish.
