2011’s Bulletstorm feels like such an oasis of violence and childishness in these current times of nu-puritanism. As someone who was there at the era it harked back to, reviewing games in the late ’90s, early 2000s, it feels odd to now be almost nostalgic for those days of wanton unpleasantness, when being rude had yet to be classified as a war crime under the Geneva Convention. At the time I was so damned sick of it, rolling my eyes at your Soldier Of Fortunes and feeling exhausted by the immature antics of self-declared “troublemakers” like Take-Two. As gaming was mired in that sort of second wave of misogyny, ultra-violence and sweary derring-don’t, we were all desperate for something… nice.
I’m going to make the declaration: games are far too nice now. I’d like some more offensive games please.