BPM: Bullets Per Minute (PC) Review

You are a Valkyrie. Forget about the graceful maidens of Norse myth. In BPM: Bullets Per Minute the iron clad warrior you are in control of carries six-barrelled revolvers, machineguns, rocket launchers, and other lead-spitting death sticks. If the thought of a Valkyrie blasting away monsters in the dwelling of the Viking Gods isn't metal enough, then what do you say for some actual metal? Awe Interactive's creation is a rhythmic FPS, where one needs to fire to the beat, with the beat being some fine rocking riffs plus some heavy-hitting drumming. Many will find 'Into Asgard,' the theme of the very first stage, and its most popular one, to be extremely tasty, and the rest of the OST doesn't disappoint either. You'll want to rhythmically shout "hail" as if in a Manowar concert, and, yes, that's a good thing in case you were wondering.

Most things can happen only when done to the beat, indicated by a pulsing crosshair - although your ears will suffice. While the Valkyrie can freely look around, move and - double - jump, she can only fire or dash away from danger by hitting the button in the right moment. Shooting can also be done on half-beats, which is a helpful mechanic that also adds to the immersion of being one with the soundtrack. Reloading is the same. A few people will hate how most weapons require multiple presses to reload rather than just one, but that is what makes this otherwise simple action feel so freaking awesome. Generally, doing things side by side with the OST is something that will take some time to get used to, as all your gaming instincts will initially make you want to push on that darn trigger. Soon enough the opposite will occur: your brain will synchronise with BPM, making it hard to go back to "normal" games.

Note that this was made with veterans in mind, or at least those experienced in action titles that require absolute concentration and agility. This is surprisingly unforgiving, and without any difficulty curve whatsoever. You begin, and it's all or nothing, even in the first areas the Valkyrie will traverse, as health is in short supply, and damage quite heavy, even by minor spiders and flies - in fact, tiny, hard-to-hit foes seem to be the main source of aggravation here. Some annoying trial-and-error is needed as well, especially when it comes to bosses, as it will initially be hard to read their telegraphed attacks and thus miss that sweet spot where it was possible to dodge, leading to one more failed run. That's the least of your problems…

Each "arena" provides a small reward in the form of coins, health, and keys, and occasionally something juicier, like pieces of gear to place on the four available slots and add all sorts of boons and abilities. Scattered inside each stage are shops and special rooms that, again, provide a shiny, helpful thing. Now, while completing a run or not is partly dependent on one's skill, the stuff one can acquire from Lady Luck can either break the game or, more often than not, be so useless that it'll make you cry for the hard-earned resources that were spend to get them. Simply put, anything that buffs your offensive capabilities, like infinite ammo, explosive shots, and so on, combined with a fast weapon makes it easy to dominate the battlefield. The rest? Not so much…

Beyond the issue of unbalanced finds, there's also the trouble of not knowing what does what. There are items and abilities that are self-explanatory: infinite ammo, critical multiplier, auto-aim, regenerating shield, etc. - and then there are those that not only their description doesn't say much, but it's also hard to understand what they do in action. This is even more annoying when it comes to the weaponry on offer. The difference in some is obvious. If you come upon a minigun or a rocket launcher, for example, they will do what you expect them to do, but the rest are, again, quite unbalanced, so most will find themselves trying out the same four or so weapons, as the rest simply don't work that well with the challenges on offer.

In the end, one can adapt to the unfair RNG… sort of. What about visuals that hinder your gameplay, though? By far one of the worst flaws here, if not the worst, is that all stages are coloured in overexposed/bleeding hues of red and yellow (and even dark grey), with the enemies blending in as they use the same colour scheme. There's the option of decreasing the saturation, which improves the view, but doesn't remove the problem, as it still looks as if everything uses the same colour. It's a shame because design-wise this is relatively pretty, yet the stylistic choice of making Asgard and the rest of the realms of the Norse mythology almost monochromatic makes it hard to appreciate the talent behind it all.

Variety is also a flaw one needs to be aware of, because after the eight-hour mark is hit there aren't many surprises left. Apart from some additional challenges (with very few of them being any fun), new Valkyries get unlocked (some male ones as well, for some reason), which can be viewed as new difficulty modes, since they add a heavy disadvantage next to an advantage - and like everything here, are somewhat unbalanced. Most just need a change of tactics, like how Freyr must focus on finding health-increasing potions as soon as possible, while Skuld needs to keep on killing enemies to replenish her health as it drains with every passing second. Others, however, feel more unfair than challenging, like Odr, who has no health whatsoever and can't even buy shield points, or do anything else besides… well avoid getting hurt.

Now, you know what's really weird? After all this complainin' about the many flaws, this is still a solid recommendation. Why? Because it's so darn fun, that's why. The controls are flawless, movement and gunplay feel fantastic, and like all great rhythm games, the feeling of "dancing" in sync with the soundtrack once again increases the enjoyment of it all, especially since the soundtrack in question belongs in the realm of Metal, aka the Music of the Gods. Is that enough to erase the issues at hand? No, most certainly not, yet you'll find yourself keep coming back to it for a couple of more runs. And then one more. And another one…