If, like some of the team here, you’re thinking the first person shooter genre is getting as stale as the smell of gunpowder, Bodycount might be right up your baddie-laden street. Taking cues from Black and ensuring that there’s never a dull moment, Bodycount manages to feel both relevant and unique by ensuring it never loses its focus: being bombastic, fun and – dare we say it – a little throwaway.
It’s like an eighties action movie shoved into a console, full of gratutious dives over balconies and explosions the size of houses – oh, and bullets that rip right through pretty much every bit of cover you’d normally find solace behind in any other game. Move, aim, fire, move, aim and fire.
[drop]We had the chance to play through two levels of Bodycount recently, both apparently from the beginning of the single player campaign but both about as different in style and direction as you could imagine.The first, a neon-lit underground bunker, was full of techno stylings and plenty of close combat action, processed mainly with the help of a wickedly powerful shotgun. Set against a strict time limit, the player must constantly make his escape whilst taking out handfuls of enemies intent on ensuring you don’t make it out alive.
We missed out the first time (by a couple of seconds) but didn’t have a problem on a retry, having figured out how the various perks and attributes work (like boosting adrenaline) and remembering that the game wanted us to keep on our feet the whole time.
The second level was a marked departure. Starting off in a wooden hut, our first job was to down a huge cannon-wielding individual who not only soaked up plenty of regular bullets but also managed to dust off land mines and grenades too. Tank characters are great fun when handled well, and the tight confines of the environment (an external, dusty affair) meant that we had to keep switching tactics to stay alive.
Once he was out of the way, the game shifted to a long range shoot-out where two factions were already in the middle of battle – our presence only served to mix things up a little and show off the game’s neat leaning mechanic (hold the trigger half way) which meant moving from cover to cover was as easy as could be.
[drop2]We were shepherded around the rest of the level by the developers, clearly not wanting us to see certain bits of the level that were to remain a surprise, but we can say there were explosives to place, snipers to take out and lots of running. The game prides itself on ensuring that the action doesn’t let up, and it very nearly works – the aiming felt a little wooden and the movement a tad slow given the nature of the game, but it’s still early days and it’s obvious there’s a fair bit of potential here.What does work is the weaponry; each gun feels like its got a real kick and the enemy reactions to getting shot are tactile and punchy. The story too, at least what we saw of it, seems laden in conspiracy theory and double crossing, which could be a real treat.
With some neat ideas – skill kills like headshots get you more of the in-game currency than just regular shooting and a deep combo system means the game will have a heavy emphasis on score challenges – Bodycount could well find itself the centre of attention.
And like we said at the start, the FPS genre needs a little bit of a reboot – maybe Codemasters’ latest will do exactly that.
KeRaSh
“With some neat ideas – skill kills like headshots get you more of the in-game currency than just regular shooting and a deep combo system means the game will have a heavy emphasis on score challenges – Bodycount could well find itself the centre of attention.”
You just described Bulletstorm…
Moakesice
Before i read your comment, thats what i thought, but i really like Bulletstorm, and i also love Codemasters as a dev, so could be a winner for me
KeRaSh
I meant it in a good way. I enjoyed Bulletstorm!
Tuffcub
What has Snake Eyes got to do with Bodycount?
Bilbo_bobbins
If its anything like Black, then I am in. That was a classic game I came across by accident and loved it
Forrest_01
So what type of ‘setting’ is this? Are you part of a fictional/factual war (CoD, Battlefield), is it sci-fi ish (Singularity, Bulletstorm), creepy(Fear, Bioshock) etc?
Just trying to get an idea of what to expect really…
Crazy_Del
I’m getting this day 1 been looking very closely to it. As for the answer Forrest I’m thinking like Black from PS2 by Criterion. (If you have played that game – it’s awesome everything is destructible in Black.) Oh it’s a fictional/factual war but not like CoD or Battlefield ;)
Would love to play Black 2 if possible!
Forrest_01
Ah, thanks Del – Never played Black (wasn’t into FPS until this gen!), but i get the general idea i think.
Nice one mate.
R4U Eldave0
Sounds interesting. Black was a great game but it hasn’t aged particularly well so I’m glad to hear they are going for something a little bit different this time around. The FPS market is definatley bloated however so whether I get this or not will depend on the price I find it at, certainly not a day one.
Origami Killer
looks like something new and unique, not the usual bog standard FPS. I never played Black but I liked the look of the cover :L
Boomshanks
This took me completely by surprise. I was far from blown away by what I’d seen from Bodycount before. To me it seemd nothing like Black but more like another generic shooter. After reading the article I’d say it’s something to keep my eye on though. Paint me intrigued.