Review cover BPM: Bullets Per Minute (PlayStation 4)
Official GBAtemp Review

Product Information:

  • Release Date (EU): October 5, 2021
  • Publisher: Playtonic LTD
  • Developer: Awe Interactive
  • Genres: FPS
  • Also For: Computer, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S

Game Features:

Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative
Shooting to the rhythm. What could possibly go wrong?

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Bullets Per Minute is an action game like no other. Combining thump-heavy rock music and a gothic feeling FPS experience, Playtonic Friends, the publishing arm of Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic, has certainly deviated from publishing their expected collect-a-thon-platformers and branched out into something quite different altogether thanks to AWE Interactive's input.

Firing the game up you are met with a Rocksmith-like timing screen that you have to configure to ascertain your TV hardware latency. After a few seconds of smashing the button to the beat, you get a readout and the game adjusts itself accordingly. Delving into the settings you can also adjust the rhythmic window within which you have just a split second to unload your lead into the sprawling enemies.

The premise is simple, you shoot on the beat, reload on the beat and skulk around dungeons destroying enemies in time to the rhythm; however, this honestly sounds more simple than it actually is. As an FPS player from the moment I learned that such a thing existed; I have been blasting, dodging and reloading my way to victory across numerous titles over the decades, and I would go as far to say that FPS or First-Person Shooters are my main, my comfort zone, my favourite genre to partake in. This made next to no difference for me as I got entirely frustrated with Bullets Per Minute and pretty much gave up on it until I could still my anguish and come back refreshed to learn the ways of the rhythm.

Personally, I was absolutely no good at any of the musically oriented games, such as Rock Band. Having failed miserably at Guitar Hero, I found solace in the then-freshly released drum kit, but I still struggled to get any enjoyment out of it and really never succeeded past any intermediate difficulties. It’s ironic really as I taught myself pretty much everything I know about music production, and in specific genres saturated with drum and/or bass.

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You begin BPM with Göll, a rather Devil May Cry-looking female Valkyrie with the simplest of move sets and the one of the highest value health bars. The aim of the game is simple: shoot, move, and reload to the beat, and either using audio acuity or the visual aid of the reticle that pulses in and around your gun sight, you simply have to clear each room of the attacking foes.

While this sounds simple, I really struggled to get my head around this concept. Having just levelled up to 90+ on Predator for PS4 recently, the switch to this style of shooter was incredibly difficult and honestly a lot more taxing than I ever thought it would be. I’m not going to skirt around it: I died 20-30 times in a row before making any sort of progress with BPM. Even with a pretty atypical FPS control scheme and feeling great to run around in, it was the learning curve that kicked my ass repetitiously, and I really didn’t get any satisfaction out of any of the challenges until I slowed myself down and took a deep breath. I can’t tell you how degrading it feels to get killed by the likes of “Baby Bat” or “Worm”; it’s utterly demoralising.

Clearing rooms yields coins, keys and chests. Coins can be offered to shrines scattered around the map to buff abilities such as accuracy and agility, or they can be exchanged in the store for health upgrades, amulets of power, or masks of destruction. You can also find keys and choose which chest to open with the said key, depending on your health, where you can backtrack the basic roomed layout of the map to unlock a chest that you otherwise might have overlooked.

There are a plethora of characters to unlock as you progress, including Freyr, Hildr, Njord, Odr, Skuld,  Geri, Herfjötur, Run, and Sanngriðr. Each have their unique pros and cons for you to discover, but initially, you start out with Göll who has a double jump ability that I only discovered late on into my playthrough, and this seriously opened up the game for explorative adventure. I was now able to scale tall rooms and reach previously hidden artefacts that were just outside of normal view. Exploring gave me a little more to do in this game, as going room to room basting the same hoards over and over whilst dying in a repetitive loop was really stressing me out.

One aspect that impressed me was that the game appears to be semi-random with its dungeon generation. Playing the first time I thought I would try the same path again the second time only to find that the room I expected was no longer in that direction and that instead there was a shop in its place. You can collect coins, keys, nerfs and buffs throughout your gameplay and spending these coins in the shop unlocks various new weapons, of which there are over 60, and crazy new features to help you get around quicker. With a total of 29 trophies to unlock on your adventure, you should definitely make sure to toss a coin and make a tribute to ensure you make it further into the dungeons, and thanks to the Overdrive update bringing the original release of the game further difficulty levels, a new chapter and more, BPM is rounding off to be a behemoth of content and challenge for such a nominal price

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Once you have slain every foe and obtained the necessary number of keys you can tackle the dungeon bosses. With nine of them to slay you have your work cut out ahead of you to retain your metrical assault. Going in underpowered makes everything way tougher so ensuring you are stocked and loaded makes for the best experiences here. Bosses have increasingly massive energy bars to deplete, and strafing, dodging and studying their unique attack patterns is an absolute must in order to vanquish them efficiently, else it just becomes a frantic blood bath and you will not last long at all.

The soundtrack is the game's strength here, with an absolute headbanger of an OST that blends metal with rock and opera to forge a retro-gothic-sounding, hard as nails line up that will keep you bopping way into each play session. The soundtrack will begin to get repetitive if you continually fail, so my pro tip here is to GET GOOD and progress to each new dungeon asap to avoid musical fatigue..

Overall I can see the merits of a title like this, but it is simply not one I find pleasure in. That said I managed to enjoy finding the hidden secrets, attempting to try different things every time I retried, but ultimately the frustratingly constricted gameplay made me not want to play it anymore, it just sapped away my morale much more than I expected any game could. There are things in life that I will never be good at such as rhythmic gymnastics, tight rope walking, and fondant icing a cake above a remedial level; I will leave them well alone as they are not for me, and nor, unfortunately, is BPM. If you try this game out and enjoy it, I really do wish you all the best with your endeavours; I will not be joining you.

Verdict

What We Liked ...
  • Interesting gameplay mechanics
  • Plenty of secrets to discover
  • Challenge modes bring extra replayability
What We Didn't Like ...
  • A difficult learning curve for regular FPS aficionados
  • You gotta git gud!
7
Gameplay
A great concept which I was crap at. I understand the constraints, I get the mechanics, but I just could not comfortably do it! There is an exciting blend of rhythm and shooting here that will definitely appeal to some more than others.
7
Presentation
Beautifully gothic, enigmatically puzzle-filled, and monstrously devilish bosses await. The presentation is top-notch, but the music can get repetitive if you're rubbish at it like me.
8
Lasting Appeal
There is definitely heaps of replayability here thanks to hidden items, alternate routes and modes. The difficulty levels and range of characters all offer unique challenges too.
7.2
out of 10

Overall

I want to like this game more, but I simply didn't enjoy it because of my own lack of rhythm and timing. There is something special here, something that should definitely be given a chance, but it's up to you to unfurl the fun within its core pillars of gameplay.
Sounds like a good game and the devs created an interesting new genre.
Pretty sure I'd $uck at this game though coz am rhythmically challenged.
 
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I don't know that I would particularly seek such things out, mainly as if you want to throw down for worst rhythm on the site I will take that challenge, but playing similar things during the DS homebrew lifetime* I do still get it even if I will never be it.

*links for the curious https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Everlasting_Love:_Tomorrow_Hill is a bit early and more of an alpha version of things but it is on my flash carts as much as tetris. https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/AmplituDS is probably the gold standard and https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Touch_me_(I'm_famous) is the lesser known pretender to the throne. https://www.gamebrew.org/wiki/Category:Homebrew_music_games_on_DS is not all those but many are.
 
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This is a fantastic and addictive game, the more you play, the more you want to play.
Watching videos of it, though, it's not really enjoyable. It's one of those games you gotta get and hand on approach.

And the OST... Ah, it's amazing! Down to the last boss.
I hope more games in that style show up :D
 
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Beautifully gothic? Imo that was the wrong term to use. And yes, I am 100% aware you're not referring to the black fingernail polish wearing "goth". I just don't get a "gothic" presentation whatsoever from this.
 
I just don't get a "gothic" presentation whatsoever from this.
Stuck in gothic architecture into image search (also gothic arches and gothic vaulted ceiling). Anything I see there could have been used as source material for the pictures included with the review (which I would have to assume are illustrative of the game in general and not a single level).
 
Stuck in gothic architecture into image search (also gothic arches and gothic vaulted ceiling). Anything I see there could have been used as source material for the pictures included with the review (which I would have to assume are illustrative of the game in general and not a single level).

I'm plenty familiar, which is why I made the point to say I was aware "gothic" wasn't referring to Hot Topic shoppers. Still not feeling it. My opinion and I'm stickin' to it. :)
 
Initially I loved BPM and it's attempt at the rhythm FPS formula, but i've done the mistake of attempting too many runs on a single sitting.
When I finally finished the game, I didn't feel rewarded enough to try to finish it again.
The one major aspect this game lacks is a story to tell. Sure, it's the typical "strong warrior fights against the forces of evil" but that's pretty much it. Kill the bad guys and save the day. Nothing to elaborate, nothing to expand on, no lore.
It doesn't particularly make the game any worse, but the game feels emptier without it.
 
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Review cover
Product Information:
  • Release Date (EU): October 5, 2021
  • Publisher: Playtonic LTD
  • Developer: Awe Interactive
  • Genres: FPS
  • Also For: Computer, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S
Game Features:
Single player
Local Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
Co-operative

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