Remember When Bullet Time Was Actually Cool?

[John Funk]

Remember When Bullet Time Was Actually Cool?

Is there anything more groan-inducing in a modern FPS than the half-assed inclusion of "Bullet Time" time-control mechanics? No? Then why was it so cool back when it burst onto the scene with Max Payne?

It's been almost a decade since embittered NYPD detective Max Payne dove onto the scene in slow-motion with a hail of gunfire back in 2001, and since then it seems like every developer and their dog has been hard at work putting Bullet Time-esque mechanics into their action games. Need a "hook"? Why not give players the ability to slow time? Brilliant! But as hackneyed and cliche as Bullet Time is today, it wasn't always so. In Issue 216 of The Escapist, Jordan Deam looks back at why we loved the idea in Max Payne, and why it keeps coming back.

[blockquote]In The Matrix, Neo's hyper-perceptive mind unlocked abilities foreclosed to everyone but the Matrix's A.I. Unfortunately, there's no such tidy in-game explanation for Max's uncanny reflexes. Instead, we're left to speculate. Perhaps it's the product of some kind of painkiller-and-insomnia-induced trance state, or maybe it's a conscious manifestation of Max's all-consuming desire for revenge against the gangsters who killed his family. In either case, it plays out the same; whenever you activate Bullet Time, you're exercising your character's mental supremacy over his enemies. They see a blurry angel of death who never misses and has a penchant for gratuitous diving maneuvers. You see a carnival shooting gallery minus the stuffed animals. Aren't painkillers great?[/blockquote]

Maybe there's something primal about it; maybe we just like seeing people die in slow motion. Maybe it's that it gives us an edge in combat without seeming unfair. Maybe it just works really really well with heavy-handed film noir storytelling. For the full thing, check out "Slower Than a Speeding Bullet" [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/issues/issue_216/6438-Slower-Than-a-Speeding-Bullet] in Issue 216 of The Escapist.

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[Jeronus]

I really need to play Max Payne. I actually remember bullet time getting pretty old. Bulletproof Monk killed bullet time for me.

 

[Proteus214]

Well, after the 50 billionth time you take out an entire room full of enemies in a slow motion spiral dive, it starts to get pretty old.

 

[Generic_Dave]

I dunno, I thought I had my fill of bullet time, then I played the WET demo, and I think I could learn to love it again. I suppose like anything else, it's implementation rather than the device itself, it's just been done badly so very often.

 

[Irridium]

I don't know why, but this reminds me of the first F.E.A.R.
I remember trying to take out a room full of enemies without bullet time...

didn't end well.

 

[Hirvox]

To me, what kept Bullet Time interesting in Max Payne was that it was very limited. It did give you a momentary edge in reaction time when you needed it, but the dynamics of combat remained the same: all bullets took their time reaching their destination, Max didn't move any faster than the enemies and eating a buckshot was still quite deadly.

 

[hansari]

To me, what kept Bullet Time interesting in Max Payne was that it was very limited. It did give you a momentary edge in reaction time when you needed it, but the dynamics of combat remained the same: all bullets took their time reaching their destination, Max didn't move any faster than the enemies and eating a buckshot was still quite deadly.

I was about to write that, but you've beaten me to it.

Thats the reason bullet time in Max Payne actually feels right...

 

[cleverlymadeup]

Wet and Stranglehold both do bullet time pretty good. tho i think Wet does it a bit better

 

[can't-think]

The last time I remember enjoying bullet time was in Total Overdose.

 

[ae86gamer]

I still like bullet time. Shooting people in slow-motion is awesome.

 

[DaxStrife]

I got the impression Max had the bullet-time gimick because the game was an homage to the John-Woo-style gun battles of other cop/action movies like "Hard Boiled."

 

[The Great JT]

Bullet Time's never been cool. Not even in "The Matrix." Bullet Time essentially boils down to "slow down time because you cannot tolerate the manliness required to take 20 bullets and say, 'THAT ALL YOU GOT YOU PUSSY?! and crush the gunman with the sheer awesomeness of your buttcheek power."

 

[Jandau]

The new Wolfenstein game also feature a sort of Bullet Time. Granted, it can be upgraded to incinerate everything in a several meter radius upon activation, so that kinda counts as a twist. Another redeeming thing is that the game also features other powers such as making your bullets go through walls and actually provides a reason why you can make time slow down instead of just throwing it in there and hoping nobody notices...

 

[triorph]

Are these all console games or what? Only bullet-time game i've ever played is max payne (not that I played it very far) and it really doesn't feel that over done to me.

 

[KissofKetchup]

I really need to play Max Payne. I actually remember bullet time getting pretty old. Bulletproof Monk killed bullet time for me.

Me too.

On another note, I'm noticing that nobody's groaning about Fallout 3's V.A.T.S. system. One might think thats worse than bullet time because you're actually pausing the gameplay and letting the game do the shooting.

Personally I do not despise bullet-time, probably because the only game that I've that had bullet-time was Enter the Matrix but I still think its cool to a degree.

 

[quiet_samurai]

The "wow neato" factor has worn off of bullet time. Now the only real reason I use it is to make the game easier, FEAR is a good example of this.