Genre: Action
Developer: GRIN
Publisher: Capcom
Players: 1
Retail Price: $20
Availability: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Playing Bionic Commando Rearmed last year gave me high hopes for Bionic Commando. I found myself wondering what GRIN would do with the license in a full 3D game. Unfortunately, like GRIN’s other console releases, the game takes it’s time to get going, and by the time you start to really enjoy it, you’ll find it’s over. The end result is a less-than-stellar title that has a few high points, but overall ranks as a dissatisfying experience. Bionic Commando is a terrible game, but it doesn’t really do anything that will keep your attention. The boss sequences in the game are entertaining and can be a lot of fun to play and the game does look good, but some segments can be incredibly frustrating.
The story of the new Bionic Commando takes place ten years after the events of the first game. You’ll reprise the role of Nathan Spencer and work with Super Joe in an attempt to stop a terrorist group called BioReign, who has recently set off a massive bomb in Ascension City. One thing that you’ll find out pretty early on is that Spencer and Joe aren’t exactly best buddies anymore. You’ll find the main protagonist in prison at the start of the game sans bionic arm. Turns out the government isn’t too fond of bionic commandos anymore. It’s lucky then that they offer a mission in exchange for freedom, or else there wouldn’t be much of a story here. And while the story serves the purpose of the game, it doesn’t contain many interesting moments. There are some twists that you may or may not see coming, but it’s still fairly boring.
Well, this shouldn't be too much trouble
While you start the game without your bionic arm you won’t be without it for long. Unfortunately though, many of the fun things you can do with the arm are locked out from you until later in the game, which was easily one of the most frustrating parts of this title. Don’t go in expecting to immediately pick up and throw cars or boulders around — you’ll unlock Nathan’s abilities as you journey through the game, as he starts to remember what he can do. Luckily, the swing mechanic is available right from the start, and is one of the high points of the game. They did a good job of making the arm an important part of maneuvering though the levels, and once you’ve mastered how to use the arm you’ll enjoy quickly making your way through the remains of Acsension City.
Much like the first Bionic Commando, your arm isn’t the only weapon at your disposal. You’ll also be provided with a selection of firearms at certain points throughout the game. Rather than enemies dropping weapons, you’ll be given these guns at specific points where Joe drops them in for you. You’ll also quickly realize that even though you have these secondary firearms the ammo is pretty scarce. It’s because of this that using your arm or your hand-to-hand combat skills effectively becomes necessary if you want to succeed.
The arm grabs on to just about anything
One thing to be aware of as is that the story and gameplay progression are linear, which almost seems strange due to the nature of your movement. It’s not that I wish Bionic Commando was set in an open world environment, but it can be frustrating to work within the confines of the level given freedom of movement they provide you with. The biggest obstacles to avoid are radiation and water, both of which you’ll want to stay far far away from. This basically means that you’ll need to swing from specific objects in order to make your way across the obstacles, at least if you don’t want to die and restart from your previous checkpoint. And believe me, you don’t — it usually isn’t close to the spot you died.
A fair amount of collectibles and unlockable abilities are available if you want to take the time to search them out. You’ll find standard hidden item fare here. Things like concept art can be found, though you should keep a keen eye out since the linear progression of the story prevents any sort of backtracking. You miss it and it’s gone. One of the more interesting aspects of the game is its unlockable abilities. These are granted by completing tasks which usually require you to take out a certain number of enemies with a particular weapon. These can be difficult — if you miss your opportunity to kill a particular enemy, you’ve simply missed that opportunity and there’s no going back. That ability is gone.
Bionic Commando isn’t all bad and it does do some things really well. I was impressed with most of the boss fights in the game, and once you’ll collected a fair amount of Nathan’s abilities the action and the pace of the game seem to quicken, becoming more exciting. Unfortunately, many of the flaws rear their head just when you start to have fun with the game, which really makes the overall experience a continued frustration. All this in addition to the fact that the game is only five to six hours in length make the overall package hard to recommend. If you were a fan of the original Bionic Commando you should definitely check out what Nathan has been up to all these years, but even you can probably find better ways to spend your time.
