The Ninja had a very surreal moment earlier this week. As an avid Xbox 360 fan, I was trawling through the game demos on Xbox Live and came across the game Bodycount. As a huge fan of good FPS games I took a chance and downloaded it. I was shortly up and playing, running and gunning and loving what I was seeing. I was struck almost immediately by how much this game felt, looked and sounded like my all-time favourite video game Black which had previously been available on the original Xbox and PS2 before mercifully reappearing in the Xbox Originals on the 360.
Black was simply awesome with fabulous visuals even if it was SD, even better sounds and beautiful destructible environments to use in taking down enemies. I frequently had dug out my old rig to have a nostalgic shoot on this awesome game and often spotted red litter bins in the real world and wondered if they blew up the same way as they do in the game. Although short on length and depth of story, it had plenty to keep you coming back for more.
After rattling through the Bodycount demo a few times I was convinced the game had some kind of link back to Black and a quick Google search proved my instincts to be correct. It is indeed made by the same team headed up by Stuart Black and Steve Watt who have now moved on from Criterion to Codemasters. Needless to say it is my next purchase! Although the reviews so far seem poor, Black received similar treatment from the critics but has developed a cult following and I have little doubt I will love Bodycount as much as I did the original.
These images show the similarities between the two games...
Black - Xbox
Bodycount - Xbox 360
There was long a promise of a Black 2 but hopefully Bodycount will go some way towards filling the void (or bullet hole)....lock and load!
