BPM: Bullets Per Minute Reviews
The bastard child of DOOM, Devil Daggers and Tetris Effect, BPM: Bullets Per Minute is one of the most pleasant surprises of the year and a game I’d thoroughly recommend to anyone with a hankering for something different in the FPS genre. Just don’t expect an easy ride. Even on Easy.
A bewildering mix of fun and frustrating, BPM’s neat hook belies the fact it’s a hardcore rhythm-FPS-rogue-like sure to infuriate and entertain in near-equal measure.
For the rest of you looking for a challenging 2020 game right off the bat and don’t mind investing 20 to 30 hours getting good, dig into BPM: Bullets Per Minute. You won’t regret it.
BPM is a playable metal opera where the instruments are guns and that’s just awesome.
BPM is a a combination of great ideas and for the most part it nails what it’s going for. The melding of the intense FPS combat set to the beat of metal makes for some really great moments. Unfortunately, the roguelike and RNG aspects that rule the game need a bit of work.
BPM: BULLETS PER MINUTE is an extremely fun-yet-punishing game to play, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it.
I love the core concept of Bullets Per Minute, and I admire the developers for trying to bring it to life. But…it doesn’t quite work as well as it could have, or should have. It’s like they had this awesome idea, and then glued, taped and nailed a rough game around it. It has flashes of brilliance. Moments where it all comes together and your timing is perfect and your foot is tapping. Those moments are rarer than they need to be. Between them you deal with lack of musical variety, the aggressive colouring and the rogue-like structure that doesn’t quite work. It needs more fleshing out. But I think for some people it’s going to really click with them, and for around £15 you’re getting something different and interesting. Maybe that’s enough.
Overall, I really enjoyed BPM: Bullets Per Minute. Despite the moments of frustration of having to start from the very beginning after death, I always found myself going back for more. With each run, I would learn something new or change up my strategy. Maintaining perseverance, victory was suddenly a reality, and it was oh so satisfying. As someone that isn’t a big fan of roguelikes, this one struck a chord with me, and I’m really glad it did.
Imagine sitting down in your finest to watch some ballet, only to have the opening act being your dad in a tutu flailing around like a salmon. Sure the ballet afterward is beautiful, but can you survive the opening act to see it?
BPM: Bullets Per Minute, despite having a few exploitable flaws and little reward for those seeking to replay it other than for fun, is absolutely worth your time. The gameplay is satisfying, the music is superb and Awe Interactive proves its rhythm-based mechanics aren’t just a cheap marketable gimmick like many we see. It’s a fully developed and enjoyable experience with which you’ll have fun throughout the entire time playing it. I sincerely hope the developers address the main issues with this game, so it can really become something worth putting hundreds of hours into.
BPM: Bullets Per Minute is a fun take on an old genre. It’s definitely challenging and takes some time to get used to, but it’s fun. The levels are procedurally-generated, which means that the rooms can get old fast. Despite that, it’s still fun to experience all the different weapons and characters. There is not a lot of content, but it feels fresh and I can’t wait to see where they go from here.
If an Asgardian-set game inspired by 90’s shooters mixed with an awesome rock soundtrack sounds the slightest bit appealing then I’m sure, like me, BPM will probably spark your interest. The fundamentals of BPM are simple, a crosshair pulses in time with the beat. By using the on-screen signals and by quite literally playing it by ear, shots, reloads, dashes and more must all be conducted on the beat. I played the drums a fair bit when I was younger and (at least attempt to) dance every week so I know how to move in time to the beat.
There’s a lot of fun to be had with BPM: Bullets Per Minute, evidenced by the dedicated cult following from its PC launch. Ultimately, the enjoyment of the game will be dependent on the player and how well they’ll be able to cope with the rhythm-related mechanic on top of its difficulty. There’s always the option to switch to Auto if you can’t quite cope with the beat, but this is the biggest selling factor of the game and turning it off relegates it to being a generic shooter.
The hard thing about BPM: Bullets Per Minute is that it can be a lot of fun, it just doesn’t have mass appeal. A lot of players will be turned off by the design choices, low-budget look, and steep learning curve.
BPM: Bullets Per Minute is practically one of those “love it or leave it” games. Its peculiarities include: charming visuals; good, but demanding gameplay; original mechanics, but needing tweaking and polishing. If the player is agile and skillful enough, and has some luck during runs, then this will be an amazing title. Otherwise, its poorly optimized elements will make the experience punishing and uninteresting.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
BPM: Bullets Per Minute is one of the most exhilarating shooter experiences I’ve had recently, thanks to fast gameplay, varied gunfights, and a high skill ceiling to aim for via the many runs the players will inevitably go through.
Bullets Per Minutes is an absolute badass roguelike game with rhythmic shooting and traversal. The Nintendo Switch version did take a big hit in the graphics, but it still has its absolutely amazing fluidity and shooting style. The difficulty arc may make you call it the Aim Labs of the Nintendo Switch, but that is how the game was built to be. Only if you are up to the challenge, give this game a shot! To the beat!
It’s seriously not as if BPM is a bad game. Since its release, so many other games have come out doing roughly the same thing, but building upon it. It runs well on Switch, but definitely is hindered by the limitations of the system, especially in handheld mode. That definitely doesn’t mean don’t play it, because it is easy to pick up and play for one or two runs, and pick up to play on a daily basis. It’s the perfect style game for the Switch, it just needs a little bit of tweaking in order to be fully enjoyed.
A good idea sadly not executed in the best way.