Bullet time is one of those features that as soon as it was implemented into the video game experience it became immensely popular. It was a way for the player to feel as if they were operating with heightened senses. The world slowed down but the player’s mind sped up.
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It allowed for improved accuracy and the ability to eliminate many enemies at once. In contrary to fast-paced action, bullet time was the transformative experience that made the player feel like a true superpowered individual. Here’s a list of action shooter games that employed bullet time well.
10Vanquish
Vanquish is a very odd shooter in that it exists on both ends of the spectrum. It’s an extremely adrenaline filled, fast paced action game that forces the player to move swiftly from cover to cover. However, it also offers a very robust bullet time experience. This contrast between fast paced action and patient, bullet time accuracy creates a very tense atmosphere typical of the best Sega games. It might not have garnered much press upon its release, but there’s still a lot to like about Vanquish.
9Grand Theft Auto V
AlthoughGTApioneered a lot of different elements from the open world, sandbox style of crime games, it was fairly late to the game when it came to implementing a real bullet time system to its gameplay. When it did though, it increased the game’s capacity for action tenfold.
GTA’s strengths were always in its characters, it’s stories, and it’s car chases. It’s action lag behind a lot of its peers. GTA V changed that significantly with its bullet time addition to the popular franchise.
F.E.A.R. is a unique game that’s on this list for a couple different reasons. First off, it’sthe only horror game. And while it is certainly not the only shooter, it’s the only shooter that can activate its bullet time through purely supernatural means.
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Unlike other games, which use a purely science based or science fiction explanation for why bullet time exists, F.E.A.R. leans heavily into its horror background to give players the sense that time is slowing down around them and they truly are a super psychic soldier.
7Max Payne
Although there were several precursors to bullet time beforeMax Payne,no game really showed what true bullet time was like before it’s release. Max Payne used pills as a mechanism for him to slow the world around him.
This game was a complete homage to gritty, action noir games that were popular in the ’90s. Despite having a very intense story about a cop on the run, the game had unbelievable violence and shootouts. It’s bullet time mechanism launched the game into popularity.
6Time Shift
Before it was even released, Time Shift had garnered a lot of buzz because of a very impressive cinematic commercial that showed a super soldier manipulating time to his benefit. As a first person shooter, the game didn’t disappoint as it allowed players to run around frozen enemies and dispatch them with efficiency.
Bullet time has been used in several different circumstances before the release of this game, but Time Shift took it to a new level that would only be built upon in later years.
5The Matrix
It’s hard not to do a list of bullet time games and not include a game from the movie that arguably made it famous. The scene of neo dodging the agent’s bullets on the rooftop in the first Matrix film is one of the most iconic in cinema history.
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It was incredibly difficult to film at the time and how they pulled it off was immensely impressive. So whena Matrix video game comes out, bullet time will always be a key feature of its gameplay.
Fallouttook a little bit of a different approach to its bullet time system. It had a mechanism that it called VATS, which is more of a way to target specific areas of an enemy rather than free shoot in a hyper time environment.
Still, the ability is key to fighting off either multiple enemies at once ora single large monster enemythat is difficult to take down. So many games implement a bullet time mechanic without putting any spin on it. Fallout did something a little bit more unique and should be commended for it.
3Quantum Break
Quantum Break was a game that was all about time manipulation. Unlike Time Shift, which had a suit that allowed the player to manipulate time, Quantum Break uses time as a mechanism not just for the player’s abilities but also a theme for how the story unfolds.
So of course, bullet time would have to be a feature of its action. After years of trying to perfect bullet time gameplay, games have become very efficient in using time manipulation mechanics to increase its action and intense experiences.
2Super Hot
Super Hot is one of the most unique games on this list. It’s a game that’s as much a puzzler as it is a shooter. The concept of the game is that everything is slowed down. It only speeds up when the player moves. In this sense, bullet time never has to be activated.
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Bullet time is merely controlled by the movements of the player. This requires the player to think very quickly and utilize their surroundings in order to best dispatch the many bad guys coming at them.
It might seem kind of odd that a cowboy game would implement a system of shooting also associated with sci-fi games and time traveling. However, in a very real sense, it works perfectly. Asa classic Rockstar game,Red Dead Redemptionwas all about classic shootouts of the old west.
In this situation, only the best shooters survived another day. So it makes a lot of sense that the player would be able to sharpen his senses and dispatch bad guys in incredible fashion. This is what makes Red Dead Redemption such a great action game.
