Like Bulletstorm before it, Bodycount revels in the over-the-top sensation of shredding scads of enemies in violently creative ways. As a well-armed operative for a mysterious military corporation, you'll pop into Africa, Asia, and a handful of sleek, futuristic bases to extinguish civil wars and eliminate armored foes from a rival organization.
The incoherent storyline never quite connects, but the setup offers some thrills along the way. Downing enemies with explosions and other skillful shots earns you a score multiplier, and fallen foes disperse intelligence icons used to trigger special abilities such as brief invulnerability, explosive rounds, and even air strikes. The end result plays a bit like Crysis 2 and looks like a less stylized Brink, although Bodycount's impressively destructible environments and speedy combat give it a somewhat distinct feel.
Even with tense firefights and interesting boss battles, though, the campaign isn't hugely memorable, and the hurried, arcade-like pace results in a lot of frustratingly quick deaths along the way. Plus, the inability to move forward and backward while aiming down sights (though you can strafe) makes for a tough transition from other shooters. Sadly, there isn't much on the multiplayer side to justify such a move, as genrestandard deathmatch and team-deathmatch modes - along with a two-player survival mode - seem simply tacked-on, with just four maps shared by all.
Despite some unique elements, Bodycount never feels like it goes far enough in developing its ideas. It's a decent experience for core genre fans, but not consistently sharp enough to stand out from the competition.
+ Combo system and power-ups give game a distinct feel; solid campaign with diverse states and unique boss fights.
- Multiplayer is laughably lightweight and feels tacked-on.
? Wait, what just happened in the story?
