There are some games that give off an eerie sense of simply being unfinished. Bodycount seems like it had, at one point, aspirations of greatness. There are some interesting elements that suggest a more expansive design which, for whatever reason, was left to the wayside by the time the game...

Decent presentation; Solid feel to weapons; Some expansive levels

A short game that reuses levels; Uninspired level design; No personality; Annoying cover system

Bodycount is an arcade-style first-person shooter that borrows so many different elements that there's almost nothing left that's distinctive about it. Well, that's not entirely true. The most distinctive aspect of Bodycount is how it muddles the features of games it tries to emulate.

Bodycount positions itself right from the get-go as an all-out arcade shooter with promises of crumbling walls, nerve-racking firefights, ground-rocking explosions and streams of points as your reward for unleashing barrels of bullets, crunching headshots, destructive grenades and at least a few air...

Bodycount has been pinned as the spiritual successor to Black, but this couldn't be any further from the truth. The latter was full of quality at the end of the last generation's lifespan, while this title whimpers to a halt in a key point of 2011's gaming calendar.

Bodycount is an enjoyable game, but it's fundamentally flawed. The flaws will put off a lot of people, with the short campaign not amusing as many as it will inevitably frustrate.

John McTiernan's Predator had guns, muscles, attitude, explosions and was situated in a jungle. That's already a guaranteed 7/10 before the movie even begins, and an example of how to do it right. So how did Codemasters manage to make a video game about blowing shit up so average?

On first sight, Bodycount's gameplay pillars are inviting: with arcade shooters being few and far between this generation and destructible environments remaining surprisingly underused, there's some real potential for compelling gameplay here.

With a short, linear and derivative campaign plus a multiplayer offering unlikely to distract for long, Bodycount just doesn't have enough going for it to warrant a purchase, even at a bargain bin price.

From the outset, Bodycount seems to be a mixture of elements from action titles of the past. A little bit of Halo plus a generous helping of Soldier of Fortune (with some Red Faction thrown in for seasoning) creates a stew pot that ends up serving gamers a meal that is sharp on flavor but low on...

If it moves, shoot it until it stops moving.

Shooting mechanics are tight; good environments; nice sound design; Plenty of things to shoot

Iron sight mechanics have a learning curve; Story is nowhere in sight; AI is really dumb