A game for the fans not the industry.
1. This game has not been in development for fourteen years. At least not consistently. It has been in developmental hell and just recently picked up and finished in roughly two years.
2. This game is not for the industry. It is for the fans. Scream fanboyism all you want but that is what sells a game, especially of this type.
3. It is a "true" throwback. Bulletstorm takes some old school ideas and wraps them up in a today style game. DNF isn't trying to be "today" it is trying to be classic. Yes, I agree the shields and the two weapon system ala Halo isn't what this game needed and impedes on its style, but it isn't enough to make the game bad.
In no way am I saying this game is amazing. It isn't. But i'm enjoying the hell out of it. I'm a gamer who can still whip out my n64 and have some great fun with it and this game does a good job of bringing back those old school feelings and updating it just enough to maintain that feel for today's standards of gameplay.
Younger gamers who haven't experienced or enjoyed old school shooters like DN3D or Doom etc will likely hate this game and I fear that some critics feel the need to give it a bad review mostly because of this reason. They wouldn't want to give it any praise when the majority of today's video game consumers won't feel the same way. Never the less, this game is for a certain group of people, a large one in fact, that want to relive a bit of the old days when you didn't need a blockbuster style plot, or cutting edge technology, all you needed was a shotgun and some shells to pump into some aliens!