Bodycount

Elsewhere, they are bullet sponges. The Psycho, a boss character covered in tribal paint who occasionally appears to switch up the pace, is slow to go down. The environment isn't, though, and when he's on the scene, the destruction is elevated to giddy levels.

There's another worry for Bodycount. Earlier this year it was seen as part of an arcade shooter revival that, with the poor performance of Bulletstorm and Brink's failure to live up to its developer's ambitions, has faltered before Codemasters' game has even been pressed. It's a concern, and Bodycount has much in common with the two.

With Brink it shares an exquisitely designed world that's equal parts comic book and sci-fi parable. The three levels shown off in Bodycount take in an African slum defined by steel containers and shanty huts that are quick to shred (not too far removed from Brink's centrepiece, Container City.)

A peek into the headquarters of The Target - Bodycount's sinister and mysterious villains - offers a sharp tonal shift. The colourful chaos is replaced by bold techno lines delivered in stark black, white and red, and it's here that the Target - complete with their preposterous Lady Gaga-inspired headwear - stalk. There's still shredding to be done, thankfully, with panes of glass shattering and black metal twisting back to reveal sparking electronics.

The third level offers a third flavour, gloomier yet still shot through with vibrancy. A fishing village in China is attacked under cover of rain-soaked night. It's the darkest part of the game's spectrum of colours, we're told, though it's still frequently lit by bright neon that, of course, explodes in a shower of sparks when shot.

It's not just the scenery that expires in bursts of colour either. When downed, enemy soldiers shower you with coloured orbs that tinkle delightfully when picked up. Dubbed Intel, this is Bodycount's in-game currency, used to top up a meter located at the bottom of the screen. When full, it can be exchanged for one of several power-ups: explosive ammo is as described, tearing even bigger holes in Bodycount's world, while adrenaline renders you temporarily invincible.

Intel's available in various flavours too: blue orbs are awarded for standard kills, while yellow ones are handed out for one of the game's skillshots, be that landing a bullet between someone's eyes or killing someone with the scenery. The third, a green orb, is the reward for chaining these skillshots together.

It's not hard to make comparisons to Bulletstorm here, and while the skillshots aren't as inventive or broad as in People Can Fly's game, the spirit's the same.It's an arcade shooter with its priorities firmly in place, a game in which the gun reigns supreme and everything falls before it.

Bodycount is a dynamic shooter that's striving to be unique. Here's hoping that it gets the success it deserves, because it's certainly something to be thankful for.