REVIEW : BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE (XBOX Series X)
BPM: Bullets Per Minute by Awe Interactive is the latest craze in combining genres of games that don’t have anything in common. Is this a fusion too far, or can it be made to work? Billed by the makers as “a rhythm-action FPS roguelike,” a term I didn’t expect to type anytime soon, is this a fusion too far, or can it be made to work? Is the resulting mash-up any good, and, more importantly, is it entertaining? So, let us journey to a realm filled with heavily armed angels and even heavier metal music…
The plot of BPM is typical of the type of silliness you’d anticipate from something of this nature. You’re a Valkyrie, but instead of singing and taking warriors to Valhalla, you’ve been given a gun and commanded to protect Asgard against the Underworld’s invading army. And what better way to ensure that the adversaries are destroyed than to shoot them on the beat, eh? The rhythm action aspect of the game kicks in here, with every opponent and action you perform having a beat to it; firing, reloading, and even jumping and evading on the beat is the name of the game.
This sounded like a fun notion, and I was ready to take on the nasty scum of the nether realm now that my appetite had been whetted.
Let’s start with a look at how BPM (Bullets Per Minute) is presented. The soundtrack is just up my alley as an old rocker, and the music is the excellent takeaway here. I spent years at university wearing a worn leather jacket, huge clompy para boots, and various heavy metal t-shirts with my hair down to my rear.
These days, I’m still partial to a bit of rocking out. On paper, BPM should be fantastic, with the best metal music since Brutal Legend and the ability to fire enemies to the beat; it sounds like it should be a great game.
Even if there’s nothing on display here that would make an Xbox 360 sweat, the graphics are adequate. The invading creatures are a relatively straightforward group, including Baby Bats, Worms, and a slew of others to contend with. Everything has a strange gloss to it, and being too close to a light source makes it blinding, making the rest of the game a little more complicated than it needs to be. The adversaries’ animation is also a little choppy. Using a musical term, staccato, and shooting them can be a little more complicated than it needs to be, especially with the smaller enemies.
So, on to the central part: the gameplay. How successfully has the concept of battling and shooting to music been executed? Overall, things are going nicely. It takes some time to unlearn everything you’ve ever learned about a first-person shooter, and the new manner of firing to the beat is a strange concept to grasp – but it works. You see, your targeting reticle in the centre of the screen can have indications on it (if you choose), and they show when you should act, whether it’s shooting or reloading, jumping, or avoiding.
Once you’ve figured out the beat, the next step is to train your trigger finger to fire when the sight suggests, not as quickly as possible as in every other game ever.
Considering that many adversaries have patterns connected to the beat, it’s sometimes best to refrain from shooting and instead spend time observing to discover what’s going on. The bosses, in particular, have distinct patterns to overcome, and because this is a roguelike, you only have one life before starting anew.
In terms of difficulty, BPM is a tough nut to crack. Even in the most accessible setting, it’s all too easy to be annihilated by the forces of evil, and on the more complex difficulties, you’ll need to be extremely precise with all of your moves to even stand a chance of surviving; otherwise, forget it!
Learning the patterns of any enemy is difficult, but it is not impossible. Learning the levels is impossible, though, because each run is generated at random. There are enemy-filled chambers that you must empty before continuing; clearing a chamber will reward you with a chest that may contain money or if you’re lucky a new weapon. Unless, of course, that weapon is the shotgun, which is by far the worst weaponry I’ve ever encountered in a video game. Not only on the beat, but every time you pull the trigger, you must fire, start reloading, and finish reloading.
Using this gun in a room full of foes can only lead to one outcome, not victory. I’ll take a Gnasher over a Gnasher any day!
Other weapons are available, but because the rooms are randomly organized, you’ll frequently locate the boss before finding the shopkeeper (a chicken with a halo who sells health potions) or the blacksmith (who appears to be a dinosaur with a halo) to purchase a new weapon. Did I mention how difficult it is?
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