Glasgow team announce ‘crazy’ PS Vita sports game

A Bodycheck screenshot. Picture: Ludometrics.

Bodycheck aims to dispense with rules, customs and fair play in favour of medieval era violence upon its release later this year.

Inspired by the early days of football, when matches often turned into running battles, the game is the spiritual successor to titles like Speedball 2, Deathrow and Skateball.

Whereas those games presented a vision of violent quasi-sports in a futuristic setting, the creators of Bodycheck believe the past can provide a unique and compelling gameplay experience.

David Thomson, the founder of Ludometrics, said the game is the firm’s “most ambitious” to date and said the Vita offered the “perfect platform” for it.

Describing the genesis of the game on the official Playstation blog, he praised the “amazing” team at Sony for listening to his “crazy idea” and supporting it.

He explained: “Bodycheck will hopefully contain that certain something-something. I love reading about the origins of football in the Middle Ages, with 500 players per team and matches lasting days and the ball was actually a pig’s head.

“We won’t have that many players per team in the game, and matches will be a tad shorter, but punching, scratching, and general unnecessary roughness are all actively encouraged during play.”

Along with brute force, players will be asked to employ alchemy in their pursuit of victory; spells will allow fallen teammates to be resurrected, enemies can be dispensed of with lightning bolts while a team in front can bring the game to a premature end by bribing the referee.

It is, Thomson explains, a sports game, albeit one “with no rules against foul play magic powers, and explicit corruption.”

Bodycheck, which will also have multiplayer modes including four-way matches, is due for release in the third quarter of 2014.