Review: Beats, Bullets, and Brutality in BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE
Along with all the other roguelike games I’ve reviewed this year, BPM: Bullets Per Minute brings a lot of intense gameplay and replayability in an extremely unique package. This game is a first person shooter, rhythm game, and a roguelike all wrapped up together. There are some minor issues with progression and some lack of variety, but the overall game experience is a lot of fun.
To review this, I’ll just break it down into the three different game genres it pulls from. The first person shooter part of this game is pretty tight and feels a lot like the modern iteration of DOOM. Between dashes, demons, and constant movement, this game will keep players on their feet and have them extremely engaged every second that there is an enemy in the vicinity. Some more or better options for camera movement, turn acceleration, and crosshairs would’ve been really nice, but the shooting, in general, feels great, but not the best.
The roguelike aspects follow a tried and true formula of random rooms with a variety of enemies and upgrades at each level with a boss room at the end. Players can choose to encounter the boss or other difficult challenge rooms on their own, whenever they want in their run. Being able to know where the boss is and challenge him/her/it at your own pace is a nice change of pace. This gives players the option to continue to hunt for more items, gold, health, or just take a risk and fight the boss. The various stores, treasure rooms, and idols to pick up new items/upgrades and health do their part fine, but I found items to be a little too expensive or not enough gold dropping throughout the run. It felt very sparse, and by the end of the level, I barely felt any different except maybe a little more range, damage, or a different gun. I think it wouldn’t have taken away from the game if players could become notably stronger and faster earlier on in the run.
The out of “run“ progression is the biggest problem. The things that really only seem to roll over are the shops’ availability of items. It is nice that players have more options as they go to the shops and spend more, but those options are normally far more expensive and don’t really contribute that much, sometimes they just aren’t worth getting. I think things like permanent health boost or a slow progression of gold or other collectible items and abilities could incentivize players to keep coming back, knowing that their hours of play meant little to nothing.
The last thing to address here is the rhythm aspect of the game. I’m terribly impressed with how well shooting, reloading, and dashing to the beat of the song worked, like at all. I fully expected to have some major difficulties and deal with a huge learning curve. However, after a few minutes of running through the game, it all came pretty naturally. I did find myself still frantically trying to dash or shoot when being attacked by many enemies, but that is just me losing my nerves. The music pumps hard and works well with the game’s atmosphere. It is easy to hear/feel the beat, but I just wish there was more variation. We wouldn’t even need more songs, just some slight changes in instruments or something to not have the exact same song playing for 15+ minutes.
I think the overall experience of BPM: Bullets Per Minute is extremely refreshing and unique. I think it has some kinks to work out, but if with some patches, the game could easily entertain for hours, days, and weeks. Some stronger sense of progression would also add to the longevity and enjoyment of each run. For fans of rhythm games and shooter games, this is a fantastic purchase and loads of fun that will put your skills to the test. Just be aware that this game pulls no punches and makes you work hard for your advancement and progress.
