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An Early Look At Next-Gen Shooter Bodycount

Posted by Soulskill on from the piece-by-piece dept.

If you ask fans of first-person shooters what feature they'd like to see in a new game, their answers — now and for the past 15 years — probably involve destructible environments. Game developers have tried to satisfy this demand with scripted events, breakable objects, and more crates than you can shake a rocket launcher at. However, Bodycount, an upcoming game from Codemasters Guildford, is aiming to deliver what gamers have wanted for so long: the ability to blast apart whatever you please. Quoting the Guardian's games blog from their hands-on with the game: "... it's not just about effect, it's about access. In Bodycount, you can blow chunks out of thinner interior walls, allowing you to burst through and catch enemies by surprise. You can also brilliantly modify cover objects – if you're hiding behind a crate and want to take out enemies without popping up from behind it, shoot a hole in it. Bingo, you've got a comparatively safe firing vantage. The difference between this and say, Red Faction or Bad Company, is that the destruction isn't limited to pre-set building sections. It's everywhere. This should, of course, grind the processor to a halt, but the team has come up with a simple compromise to facilitate its vision. 'The trick is that we're not running full physics on everything,' explains lead coder, Jon Creighton. ... This is tied in with one of the best cover systems I've ever seen. While in a crouching position (gained by holding the left trigger down), you can use the left analogue stick to subtly look and aim around your cover object, ducking and peeking to gain that perfect view of the war zone. It's natural, it's comfortable and it's adaptive, and it will surely consign the whole 'locking on' mechanic to the graveyard of cover system history."

14 of 238 comments (clear)

  1. The only question that counts: by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Will this also be available on a system with an input controller suitable for shooters? Like, say, a mouse?

    Else, pass. No matter how good the effects, if I can't control my character, I don't need it.

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    1. Re:The only question that counts: by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Console games: Sports, driving games, fighting, button-mashers.
      PC games: RPGs, first person shooters.

      If it ain't on PC, you can take one lost sale away from the "OMG TEH PIEWATS!" statistics, and add it onto "Don't know which platform a game should be developed for" chart.

      I've played FPS games on a PC and a console. If I have to wait 2+ seconds to spin 180 degrees, or the same amount of time lining up the crosshair / ironsight to get a headshot, you've failed in creating a good FPS.

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    2. Re:The only question that counts: by PopeRatzo · · Score: 3, Insightful

      you still won't be able to control your character.

      Nonsense. The reason we can't control our characters in PC gaming is because game manufacturers have figured out that they can cut a corner and port their crappy console games for PC.

      Companies that don't develop specifically for the PC platform are leaving a lot of money on the table, DRM or not. The ones that figure that out are going to make a lot of dough.

      The Half-Life games were not crappy console ports, and they made Valve enough money to start Steam. And Gordon Freeman was not some 2nd-person wooden puppet that I had to use combination techniques to fight with or run with. When I said "jump" he said "how high?". When I said "duck" he ducked. With a crowbar in one hand and his dick in the other he crossed friggin' dimensions to put shit right...

      Sorry, I got carried away there. Anyway as I was saying, somebody's going to figure out that people on PC's want to play games and we've got the hardware to do it. We'll pay for games, too, but you can't fuck us around with console ports and if you treat us like criminals with the always-on DRM, we're going to act like criminals.

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  2. Space Invaders by xiang+shui · · Score: 5, Funny

    "You can also brilliantly modify cover objects - if you're hiding behind a crate and want to take out enemies without popping up from behind it, shoot a hole in it."

    Space Invaders has had this feature for a while now.

    1. Re:Space Invaders by Barny · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Not to mention that if a shot from your gun makes a nice hole in an object for you to see through, how many holes in the object can the enemies make? And how many of those holes will proceed with their holiness into you?

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    2. Re:Space Invaders by mdf-flynn · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Fry: I still have a trick or two up my sleeve. Watch as I fire upwards through our own shield!
      Bender: [panicked] He's a mad man! A mad man!

    3. Re:Space Invaders by fractoid · · Score: 5, Funny

      I guess so. That reminds me, actually, of a beta-tester 'war story' that I read about Far Cry, where the guy shot a couple of oil drums (setting them on fire) then went off to do something else. About half an hour later he had a big message pop up telling him he'd won the game. It turns out that the burning oil drums had set fire to some grassland, which in turn caused a forest fire that just happened to incinerate the end boss. I don't know if it's true, but it's a brilliant demonstration of how simulation-based games can have unexpected outcomes which might not be particularly beneficial from the designers' point of view.

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    4. Re:Space Invaders by slimjim8094 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why does it stop? Probably because some guy set a couple of oil drums on fire, which lit the grassland and started a forest fire.

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  3. Wasn't this done before by i+ate+my+neighbour · · Score: 5, Informative

    I thought Red Faction featured fully destructible environment and even cave digging?

    1. Re:Wasn't this done before by peterpi · · Score: 5, Funny

      No, that was Boulder Dash ;)

  4. Paradox? by B1oodAnge1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...fans of first-person shooters... ...can use the left analogue stick...

    Your implication is quite ludicrous, sir.

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  5. More British terminology by nacturation · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ah, but then there's Black. Released at the fag end of the PlayStation 2 era and developed by Guildford-based studio Criterion, this 2006 cult classic, was a stylised, hyper-kinetic deconstruction of the FPS concept.

    I take it that's what non-British speakers would call "the tail end"? Otherwise, that's a pretty gay piece of tail they're smoking.

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    1. Re:More British terminology by The+Rizz · · Score: 4, Funny

      a fag is a cigarette

      You're a cigarette.

  6. Next next gen. by w0mprat · · Score: 5, Insightful

    For me a next gen shooter would be any FPS without... crates.

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