The folks behind the upcoming over-the-top weapon-fetish video game Bulletstorm have put up one of the most innovative pieces of marketing that industry’s ever seen. To show the stark difference between Bulletstorm and the bestselling first-person shooter (FPS) series Call of Duty, they built an entire parody game named Duty Calls.
Okay, the game’s only one short level long. It actually takes longer to download and install the three-quarters of a gigabyte file than it does to play through the entire thing. But if you’ve ever played any of the ubiquitous Call of Duty games—or really any FPS based in a historical or modern war—it’s hilarious.
Duty Calls relentlessly mocks the conventions of the wildly popular military-based FPS. Every time you fire your gun, it says, “Boring!” The enemies jump out and point guns at you, but you don’t actually have to shoot any of them to progress. The plot-heavy voiceover at the game’s lead-in includes bits like “blah blah blah nuclear weapon.” At one point, a sympathetic GI points at you and announces he’s being killed to help heighten the drama.
Check out the video for a sample of the fun. If you have the time, download the game and give it a crack. Once you’re done, you’ll see a trailer for Bulletstorm, which is—at least from the point of view of the developer (People Can Fly)—the whole point. You, though, can enjoy it for its own silliness alone.
Matt Forbeck is the author of thirteen tie-in novels, most of them having to do with Dungeons & Dragons or Blood Bowl. Angry Robot recently published his first original novel—Amortals—and his second—Vegas Knights—is due out this spring.
