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It might be called BodyCount, but from what today's press release promises, this is the spiritual successor to 2006’s mega realistic shooter Black. It’s being developed by Codemasters Studios Guildford and headed up by Stuart Black, who acted as the big boss man on… eh, Black.
The game will be powered by the publisher’s EGO engine, which ran last year’s gorgeous Colin McRae: DIRT and ultra hard Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising. We’re also promised online multi-player modes, which was one of the most glaring omissions from EA’s PS2 and Xbox FPS.
Above: Blowing the shit out of stuff was Black's big selling point, but it was pretty limited.Hopefully BodyCount's destruction will be more expansive
Thankfully, the developer is saying balls to brown too, with BodyCount set in a hugely colourful Africa. It could yet share similarities with Far Cry 2's take on the continent. But the almost otherworldly green tint seen in the screens suggest the game will have a unique visual style all of its own.
From the screenshot below, it also seems Black’s boring balaclava bastards have been given the heave-ho, with BodyCount replacing average Johnny Terrorist with beefy, tribal-looking warriors.
Above: More video game wrong 'uns should sport some face paint. It's a good look
Apparently, the game will also put as much focus on the power of its bullets as Race Driver: GRID does with the purity of its racing. Expect almost everything in the environment to be fully destructible – not just a few carefully placed explosive barrels like in Black, then. Stuart Black promises: “The environment is constantly changing as the game world is shot to hell; it’s going to be a huge amount of fun.”
The plot also sounds loads more interesting than its spiritual predecessor. With the game’s press release describing an epic struggle between a super sneaky global corporation who are trying to wipe out mysterious enemies known as ‘Targets’. Sounds a bit like Avatar to us, but, y’know… not shit.
Black was technically ahead of its time, no doubt. But its story was about as captivating as reading the phone book and it looked as drab as the toilet from Trainspotting. But if Codemasters can replicate the earth-shattering power of that game’s bullets, with a colourful, ever changing world, this could well deliver on the lofty promises Black couldn’t quite keep.
Mar 9, 2010
