Summer is nearing its end and for gamers, that means we're approaching the most wonderful time of the year (cue the music). With the fall season comes some of the year's biggest titles and looking at 2011's remaining first-person shooters, still to be released are Dead Island, Serious Sam 3: BFE, Resistance 3, Rage, Hard Reset, Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary. And this is after Deus Ex: Human Revolution released just yesterday and Call of Juarez: The Cartel a few weeks ago.

Also jumping into this busy genre is Bodycount, developed by Guildford Studio and published by Codemasters, a game that's using "crazy" to make its mark. We've collected a series of official developer diaries for Bodycount as well as a special live-action viral trailer for the game by internet sensation freddiew, which all help explain why Bodycount is a game that can stand out and shine despite an overcrowded release schedule and genre.

Bodycount is the spiritual successor to Black, the heavy stylized FPS from 2006, which has a lot of the same talent behind its development. It is an explosive, fast-paced arcade shooter with destructible environments and modes for co-op and multiplayer play. Codemasters has emphasized for two years now that their goal with Bodycount was to put the fun back into the first-person shooter genre and everything we've seen thus far drives that point home.

The problem the industry faces in the FPS genre is seeing too many games that are the same. Below, you'll see why Bodycount does not suffer from this problem. From "shredding" where players use bullets to literally shred through obstacles, cleaning out enemies hiding behind walls, to a non-stick cover system and class-based enemies split among 3 extremely unique factions, Bodycount strives to deliver and over-the-top experience that focuses on what players can do with the weapons they wield.

Don't like campers? grab a shotgun and blow away their hiding spot. Bodycount features a smaller number of highly polished, useful weapons with the goal of give players a "visceral, dynamic experience" they need when firing a gun. While the focus and fun of the game is in its shooting of enemies and everything around them, Bodycount features a storyline which follows Jackson (modeled after actor Chris Pine) as a soldier who joins The Network, one of three organizations in the game where operatives are sent on assassination runs around the world with orders to leave no witnesses. Expect global conspiracies and a lot of flying debris.

Below are the complete set of four developer diaries with its latest installment releasing today. Join Game Director Andy Wilson, Art Director Max Cant and others as they discuss the guns, the setting, the demo and last but not least, the online play, along with plenty of in-game footage. Watch and enjoy:

Behind the Bullets Part 1: The Guns

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SaFOScZDPg0

Behind the Bullets Part 2: The World

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOBYKvqPCIk

Behind The Bullets Part 3: The Demo

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCGkBMoRgdA

Behind The Bullets Part 4: Online

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cIoj-FMggE

Bodycount features co-op play for two players online, pitting them against waves of enemies a la Horde/Survival mode. It also comes packed with standard 12-player deathmatch/team deathmatch as well as adversarial modes which allows players to use intel they pick up from fallen foes to unlock better equipment.

Now for the live-action Bodycount video from freddiew:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vn_wS497CIQ

Intrigued?

Bodycount releases for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on August 30, 2011.

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