Preview
Bodycount Preview (PS3)
It's not that Bodycount isn't fun: We rather enjoyed what we played at the recent hands-on session in London, but we're worried it won't be inspiring enough to generate sales. One only has to look at Bulletstorm which was officially declared a financial flop by Epic despite getting wide critical acclaim, and even marketing support. Will the same thing happen here? Who knows, but as confident as we are in this game's ability to entertain, we wonder whether it will actually have any 'presence'.
The debut title from Codemaster's Guilford (UK) studio, Bodycount is an arcade-style FPS, featuring a new IP set in a post-modern world where you are part of a group that takes care of incidents that the UN is not allowed to. It's main hooks are tactical destruction, slightly over-the-top action, a 'bodycount' metre, and kill-based rewards. Bodycount also harks back to the days gone by before the military/Hollywood shooters rose to power, with subtle retro elements and a no-nonsense arcade feel.
But at least it isn't trying to be anything more than what it is - with a story that hinges on clichés like "The Target", "The Handler", "The Nemesis", you know you're not really in store for an Iain. M. Banks novel... although you may be in store for an episode of Doctor Who going by those names. The focus is solely on the action, on the act of shooting people, and shooting through walls so you can shoot at people. Sometimes just shooting through walls just because you can. The weapons have a hyperbolic kick to them, and can send people flying.
Bodycount has a destruction engine that's more "personal" - you can only shoot through walls, and so whole buildings are safe from any DIY tendencies players might have. Codemasters were going for a more commonsense and tactical approach to destructions - they don't see the value of taking down an entire building just because you can, but taking out a wall because you need another means of escape? Sure. It works fairly well - the AI is challenging enough that running and gunning simply won't work, and they move around a lot, so opening up extra lines of movement is key.
The most interesting thing about the game is it's rather odd approach to cover. Not wanting to adopt a third, or even a first person cover system, the developers have instead come up with a method that makes the player manipulate their avatars body. Hold down the trigger all the way, and you root yourself to the spot, where you then use the movement sticks to lean left, right, up or down depending on where you're shooting. This is used so that you can lean out of from behind walls or over barricades. Or do the samba. Pull the trigger only half way and you go into a strafe mode. The whole thing can take some getting used to for sure, but it does come in handy.
In terms of supporting mechanics, as mentioned Bodycount has a meter that's used to compete against friends on a leaderboard. There's also something called 'Intel', which is basically currency dropped by enemies when you kill them. Depending on how you kill them will determine how much Intel you get, and you use this to buy weapons and ammo. Kills also count towards kill streak rewards which you can deploy on the fly in order to help out, and trust me they will come in handy because the game likes to try and swarm you, and the tough enemies can be REALLY tough.
On the multiplayer side of things, there's a main online multiplayer mode, but also a co-operative mode as well. Best described as being akin to Gear's Horde mode, you and a friend can team up against wave upon wave of enemies. Max Kant, lead Art Director who we spoke to for an interview, was fond of likening the whole experience to the film Zulu - which despite being the best film ever was a bit of a dubious reference, but we got the idea. The maps are all fairly small, self enclosed and you need to kill people, gather Intel, and upgrade your weapons and make good use of your power-ups. The multiplayer mode is going to have standard modes like Team Deathmatch, however there wasn't anything of that to play this time around, so we don't have much to say about it.
We'll say this though - kudos to Codemasters for wanting to try and inject some new IP into a genre that's getting stifled by sequels. Whether it's the games quirky attitude, subtle retro appeal, or something else, we hope this game captures enough of the public's attention. With a release date set for early September though, it's got some stiff competition ahead of it and it would be a shame to see yet another fresh IP buried under the weight of public apathy. Bodycount is due on September 2nd, for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Most Anticipated Feature: Playing co-op and spontaneously breaking out into a rendition of Men of Harlech. (Zulu reference, sorry).
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| ... Six ... |
But at least it isn't trying to be anything more than what it is - with a story that hinges on clichés like "The Target", "The Handler", "The Nemesis", you know you're not really in store for an Iain. M. Banks novel... although you may be in store for an episode of Doctor Who going by those names. The focus is solely on the action, on the act of shooting people, and shooting through walls so you can shoot at people. Sometimes just shooting through walls just because you can. The weapons have a hyperbolic kick to them, and can send people flying.
Bodycount has a destruction engine that's more "personal" - you can only shoot through walls, and so whole buildings are safe from any DIY tendencies players might have. Codemasters were going for a more commonsense and tactical approach to destructions - they don't see the value of taking down an entire building just because you can, but taking out a wall because you need another means of escape? Sure. It works fairly well - the AI is challenging enough that running and gunning simply won't work, and they move around a lot, so opening up extra lines of movement is key.
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| Click, Click, Boom. |
In terms of supporting mechanics, as mentioned Bodycount has a meter that's used to compete against friends on a leaderboard. There's also something called 'Intel', which is basically currency dropped by enemies when you kill them. Depending on how you kill them will determine how much Intel you get, and you use this to buy weapons and ammo. Kills also count towards kill streak rewards which you can deploy on the fly in order to help out, and trust me they will come in handy because the game likes to try and swarm you, and the tough enemies can be REALLY tough.
On the multiplayer side of things, there's a main online multiplayer mode, but also a co-operative mode as well. Best described as being akin to Gear's Horde mode, you and a friend can team up against wave upon wave of enemies. Max Kant, lead Art Director who we spoke to for an interview, was fond of likening the whole experience to the film Zulu - which despite being the best film ever was a bit of a dubious reference, but we got the idea. The maps are all fairly small, self enclosed and you need to kill people, gather Intel, and upgrade your weapons and make good use of your power-ups. The multiplayer mode is going to have standard modes like Team Deathmatch, however there wasn't anything of that to play this time around, so we don't have much to say about it.
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| Yeah, there's a lot of this kind of thing... |
We'll say this though - kudos to Codemasters for wanting to try and inject some new IP into a genre that's getting stifled by sequels. Whether it's the games quirky attitude, subtle retro appeal, or something else, we hope this game captures enough of the public's attention. With a release date set for early September though, it's got some stiff competition ahead of it and it would be a shame to see yet another fresh IP buried under the weight of public apathy. Bodycount is due on September 2nd, for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.
Most Anticipated Feature: Playing co-op and spontaneously breaking out into a rendition of Men of Harlech. (Zulu reference, sorry).
Comments
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Aug 10, 2011
