Bodycount

In March last year we were promised an "exhilarating sensory overload" in the form of Codemasters Guildford's Bodycount - a shooter that was toted to feature "best-in-class" gun play and all manner of high-octane explosive action. Let's be honest, we were cynical from the word go - claiming best-in-class gun play in a class that includes some of the most highly regarded games in the industry was always going to be a serious challenge. Things got worse for Bodycount's future prospects when the project's executive producer left the studio, and creative director Stuart Black - the driving force behind the whole thing - announced he too would be leaving the studio. By this point Bodycount seemed to be a game from a broken home, and the final product is representative of that: a rough, misguided shooter that fails to deliver on its promises.

Ambition can be a virtue - a kind of "reach for the stars" attitude - which presses a studio on to achieve great things. What seems to have happened here is that the Bodycount team ran out of steam (or possibly development budget) before they could make their vision a reality. This vision was based on a few key structures: score-based arcade-style combat, a high level of environmental destruction, and a thrilling story tying it all together. Had that all come together as intended this could have been a serious contender, but sadly the best that can be said is that Stuart Black and his team only got it half right. And that’s being nice.

Make no mistake, Bodycount is draped over the skeletal frame of a tight, fast paced, score-attack shooter, and to some extent it manages to pull it off, but there are bothersome gameplay issues which stand in the way. The idea of arcade-style shooters should conjure up images of a ballet of bullets and violence, set to a pounding soundtrack, as high-scoring hit combos rack up with every precise move. This uncouth shooter tries hard to be that game, but just doesn’t get it quite right. Much of this comes down to the core shooting mechanics - netting big scores means you have to rely on multipliers earned by skill shots, things like headshots and grenade kills, but the controls are a bit too clumsy for this to work fluidly; aiming is loose and targeting is imprecise.

This focus on precision is juxtaposed to the way the game feels like it wants to be played - when combat heats up, all you want to do is unleash your machine gun and raise hell, but when you do you are basically penalized on the score sheet at the end of the mission. Probably the most annoying, and surprising, aspect of the way the game plays is that you can’t move when your looking down your weapon’s iron sights. Aiming and shooting is such an ingrained element of shooters now, that to be suddenly and inexplicably locked in place like that just feels crippling. In its favour, the action is fast and quite relentless, with an almost constant hail of gunfire, either directed towards you or between the warring factions up against one another.

As can probably be expected from a shooter with arcade sensibilities, the plot which builds a playground for all of the action is hardly New York Times best-seller material. The protagonist works for the Network, an agency specializing in inserting operatives into crisis areas and turning the tide of war. As the Network's tagline reads: the world needs solutions, the solution is you. As an agent for this mysterious organization, you are sent off to a West African nation in the middle of a civil war, where an even more mysterious enemy organization, the Target, has embedded itself to guide the war to suit their own needs. And that’s just about all there is to know - for the next five or six hours you will be gunning down countless African militants, Daft Punk-esque Target agents, and eventually Asian types, should you have the dedication to keep playing long enough. The narrative is relatively weak and really only lifts its weary head once in a while, and even when it does there is a good chance that you still won’t really know whats going on. Still, without some kind of backstory there would be even less reason to persevere.

The single-serving storyline - which is over before you know it - at least sets you up for some pleasant visual variety across the different levels. The different areas each have a distinctive feel, and even though the graphics really don’t stand up well to close examinations, there is a certain charm to it all. A more diverse colour palette than we’re accustomed to in the shooter genre gives the levels a somewhat cheerful atmosphere, fitting well with the game’s arcade attitude. Things change fast too - one moment you’re gunning down African militants in dusty alleyways and courtyards, the red earth baking in the sun, and before you know it you are deep underground in a futuristic Target bunker, all pristine white surfaces, glowing neons and glass. Be warned though: it all sounds better than it actually looks. The creative clearly had some good ideas to come up with the Bodycount gameworld, but sadly it’s nowhere near as polished as it should be. We’ve come to expect a lot from our triple A shooters, on a purely visual level, and try as it may, this one falls well short.

The noise made about the proposed level of environmental destruction has also not been realised to the extent we all hoped for. Cover does often deteriorate under fire, but not all of it does, and some pretty standard materials are unexpectedly impervious to damage regardless of your weapon of choice. Even calling in airstrikes - one of a handful of special abilities charged up by collecting "intel" (colourful orbs which spew from fallen enemies, which make odd beeping sounds when you scoop them up) does little to some otherwise very flimsy looking buildings. Destruction does play more of a part in the games’ rather tired multiplayer modes though, since then at least you are up against more dynamic enemies than the mindless cannon fodder that makes up your AI opponents. Besides your vanilla Deathmatch games, an unremarkable take on the popular survival mode puts players in a co-op situation against waves of AI enemies, but compared to the frenzy of something like Gears of War 3’s Horde mode they needn't have even bothered here. The multiplayer on the whole feels like it was slapped on at the last minute because, well, you know, you’ve got to have multiplayer these days.

A substandard online component is something I am happy to overlook if it’s tacked onto a riveting campaign, but Bodycount is far from riveting. It would be harsh to call the single-player campaign a waste of time - hell, at 5 or so hours it really doesn’t waste much of your time at all - but it does feel like the project was ripped out of development well before its due date. Those aching for a quick dose of arcade shooting action will get their fix, but there isn’t enough here to really satisfy on a deeper level. There are just too many big league shooters out there to allow much breathing space for budget bin candidates like this one. With creative lead Stuart Black out of the picture now too, the chances of a sequel to try to right the wrongs are pretty scarce. And you know what, that’s probably for the best.

Pros: