E3 2010: Bodycount Preview

by Ryan Clements - IGN.com | 11 June 2010 12:00
 
Bringing stylized gunplay to an arcade-loving audience.
 
As a guy who loves dancing and clubs, I was immediately intrigued by the upcoming first-person shooter titled Bodycount. From the minds and madness of the developers behind Black, Bodycount is all about having "fun with a gun" while furious beats pound out a rhythm as you take down everything in sight. With bright lights, sexually charged banter and gun-filled safe houses that emulate swanky club bars, Bodycount sounds like a special kind of shooter.
 
Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to sit down with Bodycount's Creative Director Stuart Black, who has very specific visions for Bodycount. After a brief presentation, Black let me dive right into Bodycount for myself as I desperately attempted to survive without the ability to switch over to inverted controls (yes, I'm one of those people). Despite having a severe handicap, I still enjoyed my time with Bodycount and I can't wait to see how the game comes along as the team has more time to refine the experience.
 
IGN's Martin Robinson wrote an extensive preview of Bodycount earlier this year, so be sure to read his article for an in-depth first look at the game. But for those who just want the nitty gritty, read on.
 

Black describes Bodycount as a "glossy techno thriller," which seems like a perfectly accurate description to me. With such diverse inspirations as J.J. Abrams and Lady Gaga, the developers of Bodycount want this shooter to stand out and offer an arcade-style, visceral experience. Players take control of the combat asset Jackson Delgado, a.k.a. John Doe. John will be guided by the sensual and potentially over-flirtatious operative Melanie, codenamed Jane Doe. These two heroes work for the mysterious corporation known as the Network, under the command of a Handler. During John's death-defying assignments, he'll be working towards eliminating the target nemesis, the femme fatale antagonist modeled after Lady Gaga.
 
In case you couldn't already tell from this description, Bodycount is utterly ridiculous, but in a respectable way. At the game's beginning, John accepts an assignment from the Network and is suddenly knocked unconscious, awaking in mid-skydive over the war-torn streets of Africa. In order to survive, John has to hit the ground running and take out as many targets as possible, all while maintaining the most overtly sexual banter I could possibly imagine with Jane.
 
The best thing about Bodycount is how the act of shooting and killing is made into an instantly rewarding arcade mechanic. Take down a target and glowing spheres of Intel will spill out of his body. Run over them and you'll pick them up in a flurry of musical notes and glowing light. This is like collecting coins in the Mario games, or grabbing rings when flying through a level as Sonic. It's just fun to gobble up Intel, and luckily these points serve as the in-game currency, which feeds into Bodycount's upgrade system.
 
The Network safe houses scattered throughout John's zone of operations are the player's home for upgrades and weapon tweaking. Although Black didn't go into too much detail about upgrades, I can assume that Intel is spent on making your awesome weapons even more awesome, and you just can't complain about that.
 

Make your own doors.

There are a number of other enticing gameplay tidbits in Bodycount besides the Intel gathering. By squeezing the left trigger (on the 360 controller), John will lean against the closest available cover. This locks him into place, but the left stick can then be used to maneuver him around that cover, like leaning around walls, peering up through windows and any other space that can accommodate a bullet. And if cover isn't your cup of tea (though it should be, if you want to survive), you can run in guns blazing and actually carve your own way through a level, as a good amount of the terrain is destructible. For example, if there's a rundown house that you need access to, don't look for a door -- blow a hole in the wall instead! It's "fun with a gun," as Black said.
 
My demo of Bodycount ended with one last sultry note from Jane over the radio: "I don't usually kiss on the first date, but that was fun." She then blows a kiss into the mic as John stands amidst the smoldering wreckage of a bullet-battered warzone.
 
Totally ridiculous.
 
Supplied by IGN.com