February 17th, 2012

Bodycount

Bodycount is a very straightforward shooter game. As a player you will be handed guns, virtually an unlimited supply of ammunition coupled with enough explosive power to destroy an entire country, and persuades you to go shoot people in the face. By doing so, it throws several environmental destructions your way, so that you can physically feel the repercussions of your actions. While this may sound good on paper, Bodycount’s implementation suffers a great deal thanks to the repetitive level design, dumb artificial intelligence and overall lack of polish.

In Bodycount, you play as a member of a group called The Network. What is important to know is that you are one of the good guys, who are sent around the world to thwart the wicked plans of a group called The Target. Around the world involves shuttling from an unreal war torn African city to a rain-soaked Asian city, since the game’s lacks a lot of diversity. From time to time, you will suddenly find yourself in the ultramodern underground bunkers of the Target Head Quarters that for some reason, feels greatly inspired by the world of Tron.

Bodycount is a very simple shooter game. You just have to move from point A to B, shoot anything that moves and make your way to the extraction point. Unfortunately, the game is weighed down by an insane amount of backtracking, so instead of just moving from A to B, you will have to move from A to B, then back to A again, get sent to C, come back to A visit B again, and then if you are lucky end the level. Because of this, Bodycount which could have been an entertaining gambol becomes a complete pain in the neck.

For a game that is all about blowing stuff up, it is strange that the game doesn’t allow you to swap weapons on the fly. This means that you will be stuck with whatever weapon you choose at the start of the level till you end it. Granted ammunition is plenty, but this is still a very restrictive game play design that forces players to stick to just two weapons throughout a game/level. As you progress through levels, you will unlock newer and more powerful weapons that can neither be upgraded nor customized.

At the end of random chapters, you will also be bestowed with new abilities that allow you to call in airstrikes, move faster, deploy explosive ammunitions or emit sonic radar that messes with your enemies’ heads. Because the AI of the game is very dense, most of the time, enemies will just barge at you, pleading you to put an end to their dumb subsistence.

Towards the end of the game, you will probably die a lot, not because enemies miraculously grow a brain, but because the game just cheaply spawns them behind you, ambushing you to mask this glaring flaw.

Visually the game looks similar to an upgraded version of a PS2 game. It is blurry and has washed out visuals. Bodycount will not gain any accolades in the visual department, but you will forget about the visuals the min you start blowing up stuff in the game. If you are in a mood for some mindless explosive action, then Bodycount is a game for you.