Reviews of a Nerdaholic

Bodycount

Now , Dear Readers, I recently got some valuable critique from some friends of mine about my reviews. Most of them have said the same thing: "Lewis, damn you fuckin' swear a lot don't you?" to which I reply "Yes, yes I fucking do." (I spelt fucking with a 'g' on the end this time, that's different.) You see, I like the 'No,no' words , they don't make me feel big and bad but they do allow me to express my opinion when I can't think of any more sophisticated words to use. Swearing is also a way of me letting out my rage , especially when talking about hard or shitty video games, Bodycount belonging to the former.

Bodycount was developed by Gullford Studio and is the spiritual successor to jizzingly-amazing FPS 'Black' for the original Xbox and PS2 which is a personal favourite game of mine and features the destructible nature of it's predecessor which is an aspect of 'Black' that I absolutely loved to bits. You can go up to a computer tower and shoot or melee at it until there's nothing left but the scraps of it's motherboard and PSU. You can shoot through a slum , run through it, shoot through a window and take out a group of enemies with a well-thrown grenade. Bodycount just makes you feel epic! The destruction can be furthered with a power-up that  you use your points on (more on that later) with an airstrike that decimates the waves of enemies that come flooding towards you.

The guns , like in 'Black', have a proper punch to them. Shotguns feel like Shotguns, they sound powerful like they should. Assault rifles rip straight through wood and glass, sending shards and splinters everywhere. For a fast-paced, balls-to-the-wall FPS the destruction physics that the game utilizes throughout it's core gameplay is surprisingly realistic. The destruction isn't like that of Red Faction: Guerrilla where everything is extremely flimsy and you can take out an entire wall with the butt of your fuckin' rifle but objects react quite close to how to they would in realty which is a fuckin' marvel in the best of video games.

The gameplay itself is also quite solid. Gunplay, as I've already mentioned is fun, fast and frantic and the game has a score system that likes to kick your ass until it's bloody. You get points for how many kills you can get before dying as well as multi-kill score bonuses and for the amount of destruction you cause. This all ties into a ranking you get at the end of the level , I usually got either a D or a C because, spoiler, I suck. The score system is not easy on you but when you see that letter 'A' at the end of the level you sometimes feel like you could cry. The scores also tie into a 'Score Streak' kinda bollocks where you get access to these four power ups: Adrenaline Rush (Gives you temporary invincibility and a speed boost), Explosive Bullets, Airstrike and 'Pulse Weapon Upgrade' which reveals enemy locations and upgrades your pulse weapons. It's all very simple but they add a nice flow to the game that makes it just a tiny bit more enjoyable, I just wish there was more.

That leads me to the biggest problem with Bodycount, you need more. The campaign is short, completable in just five hours and the multiplayer is extremely uninspired and just dull also there is the added fact that nobody plays the fuckin' thing. There is no meaningful story to the game to experience again so more story would've been a nice thing to include or maybe just some wave based horde mode or something. Bodycount is a well crafted experience that is held down by a lack of content and a lack of any story.

The other thing that stands out in Bodycount is the lack of variation. There is pretty much only two different environments that you'll ever experience; sunny slums and futuristic hidden bases that the game decides to switch between at what seems like random and the futuristic setting looks a lot better than the favela which is. . . weeeird.

So to conclude, Bodycount is a competent first person shooter that is held down by a lack of content , a piss poor story and a lack of variety in the games setting.

I give Bodycount: 6.5/10