6 months ago
The 8-bit Nintendo days are remembered fondly for some of the classic side scrolling action titles that were frustratingly difficult and took months of gameplay to master. From jumping patterns and the rhythm of enemy attacks, these games rewarded people persistent enough to play over and over again.
One of those games was Bionic Commando, a game that broke the mold by taking out one of the staples of side scrolling video games - the main character Nathan "Rad" Spencer couldn't jump. Instead he a bionic arm that could grapple onto ledges, and let the character swing across gaps, and chasms. Now more than 20 years after the 1988 introduction, Spencer is back and he's still got the arm, but this time is swinging into the next generation in 3D.
The 2009 Bionic Commando takes place 10 years after his heroic defeat of the Imperials in the original game. But he has been betrayed by the government, imprisoned for crimes he didn't commit, and sentenced to death.
On the day of Spencer's execution, terrorists detonate a massive weapon in Ascension City, unleashing an intense earthquake that turned the city into rubble and wiped out its population.
So, the government that was going to put him to death instead puts him to work. It's up to Spencer to find out who's behind the attack and what's next.
That's where the game begins and it looks great - the 3D version of the collapsed city features ruined overpasses, collapsed buildings, and broken monorail lines.
The levels have an open sandbox look, but are actually very linear. You are kept along a preset path - by unmarked radiation. It's actually one of the most frustrating points in the game. What seems like a natural path between points A and B is blocked by radiation - swing to far in any one direction outside of the preset path -- and you die. Climb up a building marked by blue radiation you die. So while the game looks like a wide open world there is actually a very linear progression to most levels.
Which leads to one of my biggest complaints about the game, the load times. In between ever level, and every time you die you will be stuck at a load screen for a good 15 - 30 seconds. The load screen is an animated menu showing you the button controls, on an obnoxious blue screen. The load time is the same if you died five steps into a level or five minutes, level areas that take three minutes to fly through will still have you waiting at a load screen. The gameplay is so quick with Spencer flying over buildings to hit that load screen wall really takes you out of the flow of the game. It makes Bionic Commando feel more like a pile of separate levels instead of one complete game.
While you can't swing around the city, you do get some freedom in how you dispose of the enemies that block your path. You can swing around clusters of bad guys pick them off from afar, or jump right in and wail on them with your bionic arm. When the game starts though you are very limited to the moves you can pull off, about half way through the game though your arm becomes a weapon of mass destruction. You can pick up almost any object from rocks, to cop cars, to pieces of shattered enemy armor. You can knock these items into the air and pinball them off bad guys, or pick them up and throw them.
Still there are places where you are going to want to use a well placed weapon. The first time you face snipers a pod drops a sniper rifle for you, when you face some high powered flying mechs, you get a rocket launcher. While ammo isn't readily available, if your not trigger happy you will rarely be left ammo less. However there are parts in the game where you have a limited amount of resources ammo/environmental weapons at your disposal. If you waste them - your left with a run away option.
The enemies you will face are very repetitive, though they do get stronger as the game progresses. Still you will hundreds of grunt henchmen, and a dismantle a pile of reject flying robots before you get to the end of the game.
Spencer also doesn't take damage well. Completing challenges gives you armor upgrades, but if you drop into a group of enemies then can take you out pretty quickly, especially later in the game. However when the screen starts to turn red you can simply swing away to a safe area and recover to approach the enemies with a different and hopefully more successful tactic.
What this game really comes down to is the power of the bionic arm. The game excels as you swing along streets dropping bombs on hapless enemies. The game mixes things up by forcing you through cramp buildings where you have to rely on weapons to make it through, but most of the levels take place in roomy environments where you can swing freely.
The swing mechanic takes some time to master the first time around you will fall, and drop and under or over jump your targets, but after an hour or so of playing time, you will be flying through the levels.
The game also gives you a helping hand when timing your swing. The target curser turnings blue when you are at the optimum swing spot. Eventually you will know when to release to get to your next target.
This is important because there are large parts of levels that have no ground - and you need to make several successful swings in a row to make it to the exit.
So the bulk of this game and being able to be successful at it is mastering the use of the bionic arm. You will switch between using your arm as a weapon and a mode of transportation - to navigate through each level - and dispose of every enemy in your path, and you will run into a crazy amount of enemies.
That in a nut shell is the problem. You have this awesome ability with the grapple arm, and you are extremely limited in where you can go. The game constantly walks an odd line of linear game play and sand box freedom. The original Bionic Commando had you timing jumps, and swings on a straight path, while this update has the look of freedom, but really it's just a narrow path, with a skyline painted on the walls that surround you. The worst of it all is just how quickly instant death is if you veer off the beaten path even the slightest bit. Often the geiger counter that serves as your radiation/wrong way warning goes off to late and your already swinging into certain doom.
Still the mechanics are there - and so are the tools. Drop Rad Spencer in a proper sandbox in the sequel and Bionic Commando "Part 2" could be game of the year. However this game with repetitive enemies, fake sandbox levels, and lots of low times shows a need for more polish. When the game does work it's fantastic, when it fails you need a lot more then a bionic arm to save it.
Final Game Guy Review: B
Bionic Commando is rated M for Mature.
