Bionic Commando

Bionic Commando, up until a little over a year ago, was only a game I had read about every once in a great while on some "All Time Top Games" list. It was originally released for the NES and was known for it's difficulty and smart level design.

While I never played the original I did have the great pleasure of playing the amazing remake by "GRIN" called Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Not long after Rearmed released the full fledged long awaited sequel came out on modern consoles. I had read very mixed reviews on the game. Mostly the professional game reviewers were running it through and all the regular players that gave it a shot really seemed to enjoy it. Couple the good stuff from the regular players with the game trailers that gave me a huge 80's action movie vibe with awesome Terminator-esque music and I was very interested in giving it a try.

I just finished the game and I can honestly say I'm really impressed at how much I enjoyed the game and how GRIN brought the game to a 3D world.

Since Lead Salad has made a "Like/Dislike" setup I'll do the same.

Like:

Story: As ridiculous as it is and as terrible as the voice acting is in spots I found myself laughing again and again and just how bad some of it was. I know I probably shouldn't like that, but it's too over the top cheese at times to not enjoy.

Bionic Arm: It has a pretty steep learning curve to get use to and I can absolutely see many people putting the game down because it can be difficult to get the hang of. It honestly took me a good hour or 2 of play to feel comfortable with the arm. It has many functions in combat, swinging and grappling and it can stick to anything. I know it sounds cheesy, but in many spots where you're swinging and fighting regular enemies or boss's at the same time a feeling of exhilaration occurs because there's so much going on and you can't believe you're controlling it all at once and actually surviving!

Swinging: It's just a lot of fun. Whether you're in combat, shooting through valleys as fast as you can to avoid snipers or just navigating some structures it's always a lot of fun.

Difficulty: I was telling Lead Salad about this, but it's been really nice to play a game again that tests me as a player. The game is pretty unforgiving in the first place, but your character also doesn't take much damage so if you screw up you're going to have to do the whole section over again because of the weird level structure (more on that in a minute). The game isn't difficult because of shoddy design, but because there can be so much going on at once with controlling your swing and fighting enemies and avoiding radiation.

Boss Fights: Awesome!

Music: I can't pin it down and it probably has more to do with the new game paying homage to the original, but the soundtrack is amazing. It feels like a modernization of old school soundtracks.

Graphics: 1 point for not using the Unreal Engine, but seriously the game looks great. Not groundbreaking or anything, but I always found the environments and enemies to be pretty spiffy looking.

Dislikes:

Hair: Holy Hell who designed this guy?! Worst idea for a haircut ever. Whoever drew this dude's hair in production should be shot, but the guy that okay'd it should be have his entrails hung from the Blarney Stone because it's bad. Why the hell couldn't they have just updated the old model or the model from Rearmed???

Loading........: This game loads like it's all it has to do.

Level Structure: Goes hand in hand with loading. Basically you load up a section which could be very small or pretty big, but as soon as you hit the end of it here comes a load screen! All the time this thing would yank me out of the game world and show me a diagram of my controller reminding me how to play. It made the game feel less like a game and more like a large series of challenge rooms that happen to make up a story.

Arm in Combat: Once I had acquired some moves to where I could hook a guy and throw him into his buddies it's about the only move I did. There are bigger enemies that will beat the piss out of you though so I'm not talking about them.

Radiation: Since the game is primarily played in a city that had a nuke go off there's some radiation to speak of. It's pretty easily identifiable by it's blue color, but man oh man I died more than a few times (especially when you're in a pinch) by crossing over too far into radiation. It's a very fast death btw.

Swimming: Someone get this man some water wings! In a game where the goal is to move across the maps using a swing arm you have to expect some areas with water. If you fall in the water you drown in about 4 seconds. You're only hope is to fall near enough something you can latch on to to pull yourself out.

Repetition: As much as I enjoyed the game it got a little repetative towards the end. The last 2 big boards were great and totally new, but during the last couple leading up to it I found myself just wanting to get to the final confrontation. This wasn't because the game is boring, but killing the same enemies over and over is.

Final Thoughts:

This game was a lot of fun and using the arm is a blast and actually works. I think this game didn't get a fair shake because of it's steep learning curve and next to no promotion. While I really enjoyed it I would have a hard time recommending it to others because of it's complexity.

If you're up for something fresh, fun and with an old school challenge then give it a go because it's definately a gamer's game!

Sidenote: It wasn't long after the game released that GRIN shut down for good. Just another example of great talent, while maybe not seeing their full potential, go down the drain.