“We’re going to show you some guns, lots of guns”.

It was a fitting introduction to Codemasters’ demo of their new FPS, Bodycount. This is a shooter that’s all about the simplicity of firing guns and then seeing the consequence of doing so.

Deliberately eschewing the complexities of many modern shooters is a risky tactic. Provide a visceral experience without the fluff and you may be on to a winner, but get it wrong and all you have is a half-baked game with no depth.

Similar to Brothers in Arms: Furious 4, another shooter I saw at E3, it doesn’t take itself too seriously. The Codemasters representatives commented that the plot intentionally doesn’t make much sense and that the main focus is on the action.

One of Bodycount’s main selling points is its environmental damage system. Almost every part of the scenery can be destroyed and you’re rewarded for making kills by doing so. In one of the levels shown, the damage was particularly obvious, but in the one we were able to play, it seemed more incidental than core to the gameplay.

My main gripe with Bodycount was its controls. Aiming down the iron sights is done by pulling the left trigger, but this has two states. Holding it half way down allows you to keep moving while aiming, but holding all the way down locks you in position, allowing you lean around cover. This sounds fine, but in practice, I found it difficult to correctly pick the right level, as there’s no tactile feedback from the controller. You have to guess what state you’re in, until you discover that you can no longer move and are exposed in the open.

Bodycount has a promising concept, but after a demo and a brief chance to play it, I wasn’t entirely convinced. There are a few too many niggling issues and if it’s to be a success, then these will need to be ironed out in the remaining development time before its release in August.