* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: Sarrano is defeated with a series of quick-time events. In a game where PressXToNotDie is ''not'' in effect and all that happens upon failure is that you miss out on points.]]
* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** The game's got shared lineage with ''Painkiller'' and ''VideoGame/UnrealTournamentIII''.
** The score's real standout is the epic [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqfB9OcKC_w main theme]], which plays over the main menu.
* BrokenBase: The dialogue. Is it crass, rude and so completely over the top that it isn't funny, or is it ''so'' crass, rude and over the top that [[RefugeInAudacity it's hilarious?]]
* CatharsisFactor: The game is all about killing enemies in the most over-the-top manner possible. If a normal playthough doesn't satisfy you, there's [[NewGamePlus Overkill Mode]], which starts you off with every weapon in the game available from the start and no three-weapon limit. And if you're still not satisfied, performing every single skillshot with a particular weapon unlocks infinite ammo for that weapon, meaning that a player that's done all of the skillshots in the game will basically be unstoppable.
* ClicheStorm: Possibly the game's alternate title. The design team have eagerly labeled the game as an homage to scifi schlock, with every trope in attendance writ large for the purposes of crass humor and ludicrously excessive violence. The result can be described as 1st Edition ''TabletopGame/RogueTrader'' by way of ''VideoGame/MadWorld''.
* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad General Victor Sarrano]] is a [[InsaneAdmiral high-ranking]] member of the Confederation and a [[PsychopathicManchild childish psychopath]] with a love of creative brutality. The leader of Dead Echo who sends his men out to kill innocents under the guise of justice, Sarrano orders his men to kill reporter Bryce Novak for attempting to expose his operation, causing [[PlayerCharacter Grayson Hunt]] to betray him, and for Novak's daughter Trishka to seek vengeance on him. Tasked by the Elysium hotel resort's corporation to plant a DNA bomb that will wipe every living organism off the apocalyptic planet Stygia, Sarrano [[BadBoss leads his men to die]], refusing to grant them supplies unless they generate creative kills, and tricks Grayson and Ishi into arming the DNA bomb. Later mind-controlling Ishi into murdering Grayson against his will, Sarrano attempts to leave Grayson and Trishka on Stygia to die from the bomb's blast.
* CrossesTheLineTwice: It's even encouraged by the game to get extra points. Shoot a guy in the head with the assault rifle? Nothing special. Launch him in the air, then fire a sniper round into the guy's dick as he's falling down in slow motion? Kick a guy into a man-eating plant and watch as he cries in agony as he's getting eaten alive? Expose a heavy brute's butt and then fire at his crack so that he'll die farting fire? Hilarious.
* CultClassic: The game didn't sell very well upon release, but it still has a dedicated fanbase who like the game for its crass humor, colorful aesthetic, brutal violence, and unique, fun gameplay.
* GameBreaker: The [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter Boneduster]]. It takes a long time to unlock its charge attack, but once you do, you can easily clear rooms of enemies with a single shot, and rack up more Skillpoints than it costs to buy a charge attack from your next dropkit.
* GoddamnBats: Burnouts. You're supposed to shoot one of the glowing spots on their body to kill them, but they move around so fast that those spots are a major pain to hit, making explosives and level hazards the only reliable way to kill them.
* HilariousInHindsight: VideoGame/DukeNukem is notorious for the kind of game which Bulletstorm is, and the kind of over-the-top ridiculousness is much more Duke's thing than ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''... so, for the Full Clip Edition, they put him into the game in Grey's place, and fans get the full Duke Nukem experience, complete with his coarse humour in a game seemingly tailor made for him!
* LoveToHate: Sarrano, again. His [[PsychopathicManchild hatable]] [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain characteristics]] are so blatant and over-the-top that he swings all the way around the curve and comes back to loveably evil.
* MoralEventHorizon: Sarrano plows right through it time and time again. The first time, it's when he orders Gray and Co. to [[spoiler: assassinate Trishka's father.]]
** Hell, he's crossed it long before then. [[spoiler: Trishka's father]] was just a reporter doing an exposé on Serrano's corruption, and he compiled a list of every hit Dead Echo had carried out. The targets were all innocent people. Serrano had been using Dead Echo to do that (and lying about the targets, so Dead Echo didn't even know) ''long'' before then.
* ScrappyMechanic: A lot of people ''really'' hate the fact that you can't jump (in spite of the fact that there's no real need to jump at any point in the game, and it would serve no real purpose) enough to turn them off the game completely.
** Some players dislike the spongy crouch system.
** And a handful feel like the Skillshot system is basically a mandatory AchievementSystem that's forced onto the player.
** The RegeneratingHealth system. Ironic that a game whose dev team loved to take the piss out of modern military shooters at every opportunity would utilize one of its most iconic gameplay elements. Especially since the standard model of regenerating health that it uses encourages defensive play by hiding behind cover, which flies in the face of the hyper-aggressive, "kill everything as awesomely as possible" style of play that the skillshot system encourages.
* SpiritualAdaptation: ''Bulletstorm'' is considered to be a better ''VideoGame/DukeNukem'' game than ''VideoGame/DukeNukemForever''. The main character, Grayson, is seen as a throwback to protagonists like Duke and his ilk. It's even more ironic now, since the ''[[UpdatedRerelease Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition]]'' has Duke Nukem as a playable character. There are others that see it as an [=FPS=] version of ''VideoGame/MadWorld'' or ''VideoGame/Wild9'' due to use of TheJoysOfTorturingMooks, VideoGameCrueltyPotential, and a [[YouWillNotEvadeMe electric, leash weapon]].