Reviews// Bodycount

That said, the wide open levels and fact that you're a lone gunman mean that taking cover can be a tricky proposition. The lack of linearity means that while cover may offer you protection from the guys in front of you, there may well be guys behind you more than willing to shoot you in the arse.

That's another great annoyance about Bodycount – being shot from f*ck-knows-where. I can't help but wonder whether, given the fact that Bodycount's non-linearity means that enemies can quite easily be behind you and out of sight, it might have been better as a third-person shooter. That way, you'd have at least slightly increased visibility of what's going on around you.

Adding to the frustration, things get unbalanced in places, too. There were a couple of sections – a spawn point outside an African warehouse really leaps out – that were just punishing. I'd be quite prepared to admit that this was a case of me being shit if it wasn't just a handful of anomalous points that, regardless of what you do, give you a right old spanking.

At other times, however, the AI makes it far too easy for you. Sometimes they'll stand at a window, staunchly refusing to acknowledge you as you wander up and shoot them in the face. At others they'll run at you blindly while you just keep filling them with lead. Cover is pretty optional for these guys. Generally speaking, they don't value their lives too much. At these points, it's only the sheer number of enemies that stops Bodycount from being a cakewalk.

The game rewards you for skillshots. Annihilating baddies with things like headshots and environmental kills is a good thing, apparently. So is chaining kills. You're told so with the grade you're given at the end of a level, which you can then share online. It's a very pedestrian system when compared with the bloody creativity on show in Bulletstorm, though.

There are a handful of perks you can use that need mentioning for posterity's sake – adrenaline, that makes you a bit more damage-resistant, explosive bullets, air-strikes and a pulse that kills off any enemies in the immediate area. They're there. They don't have a massive impact on the game. That's all there is to say about them, really.

There are also competitive multiplayer and co-op modes in there, but with this review being pre-release I'm not going to pass judgement on them.

Conclusion

I'm being hard on Bodycount, I know. It's not totally without merit. There are some fun moments to be found. Working your way through the open levels can be quite rewarding, and when you get on a roll with your murdering ways Bodycount is very satisfying. Unfortunately, there's just too much wrong with it and not a lot to make it stand apart from the pack. I suppose Codemasters was hoping that the cocktail of destructibility, open levels and skillshots would provide a unique, zingy enough flavour to make Bodycount stand out. Instead, it's just a bit vanilla.

SPOnG Score: 61%