Bodycount

With a smile, {Bodycount}'s producer Andrew Wilson says that the game he's working on primarily revolves around "guns, bullets and their effect on the world." And that becomes quite obvious when I, in the game, tear through a wall using a machine gun and take out the two generically designed enemies on the other side.

The house doesn't collapse, though. Bodycount doesn't focus on laying buildings to waste, like in {Battlefield: Bad Company 2}. Instead breaking down the cover your enemies might hide behind is a strategic element. It's still a straight first person shooter, though - from the first second I sit down it, I understand what the developer wants me to do. That might sound boring, and it could very well be, but once I've been released into the single player campaign I find myself right in the middle of a conflict between a militia and an army and get a taste of its dynamically active opponents.

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Dynamic in this case means that the two parties are constantly locked in battle with each other, in a war that can change and flux depending on the situation. Your enemies can also be distracted when you attack which can turn the fights into your favor. It's also easy to sneak past them undetected.

Bodycount does feel like an arcade experience though, and for most players it won't be hard to get into. The story, divided into acts, will take us to places like Africa and Asia as we work for the organization known simply as The Network. The game also includes a combo system which will be hooked up to some global leaderboards which will keep track of both singeplayer and multiplayer - longest kill streaks, highest combo, most skill kills... And of course, your bodycount.

While the weapons are fairly standard (shotguns, machine guns, assault rifles, etcetera), the shooting is far from boring. The game uses a clever cover system, where you're able to use both thumbsticks to move around, which will offer a lot of freedom when it comes to dodging enemy bullets. It looks great, but the question is how popular it will turn out to be and how many players will use it - it does make it a bit difficult to aim accurately, so people that will instead opt to stay on the move will probably be the rule and not the exception.

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As most modern shooters, the game features different classes - medic, commander, psycho-tank, scavenger and thief. All of them come with their own specific strengths and weaknesses, but Codemasters have yet to reveal any details about what those might be. As expected, your choice of role will play a large part in multiplayer, which will offer up the standard game modes of deathmatch for up to twelve players. There will also be co-op, but not throughout the campaign, instead Bodycount goes for a Horde-like mode where you and your friends have to fight off wave after wave of increasingly stronger enemies.

The graphics in Bodycount are decent, but they are not very impressive. The levels and the settings can feel a bit generic. The main character is pretty stylish though, in his black and red armor, and we hope that he - and the fun shooting - will deliver a solid game once it's released.