"I seethe with generic rage!"

The Charge:
Arm Yourself!

Opening Statement:
Nathan “Rad” Spencer is back. The original Bionic Commando returns in a 3D action title farmed out to Swedish development house, Grin (Wanted: Weapons of Fate and Terminator: Salvation.) It’s been awhile since Bionic Commando has graced a home console in a true sequel, is our metal armed protagonist able to satisfy a legion of nostalgic fans? Or is this one appendage you’d just as soon cut off and run from?

Facts of the Case:
Nathan Spencer, the original Bionic Commando is on Death Row awaiting execution, convicted of crimes he didn’t commit. It seems memories are short, and the powers that be have no trouble selling out the hero who triumphed over the “Empire” a decade earlier. As luck would have it, “Rad” is given an opportunity to shine once more. Ascension City has fallen prey to a terror attack, and a weapon of mass destruction has been detonated, turning the once proud metropolis into a smoking, irradiated ruin. Using your trusty Bionic Arm to swing and shoot through the ruined environment, your task is to infiltrate the enemy lines, and neutralize the terrorist threat.

The Evidence:
I’ll admit up front, I was never a huge fan of the classic Bionic Commando games; the old NES version turned me off with its lack of a jump option and its sluggish controls, while Bionic Commando: Rearmed (also developed by Grin) just had a demo that was too painfully short for me to commit to a purchase. Without any manner of nostalgia to tie me to the old series, I had my doubts that I’d get much enjoyment from this one (particularly after Grin’s last release, the woefully mediocre Wanted: weapons of Fate.) Thankfully, in this regard, my expectations were completely off. Bionic Commando thrusts you into the action pretty quickly. The game eschews the typical 3rd person control scheme for something more akin to one of Activision’s Spider-Man titles, giving you large vertical playgrounds to swing and rappel through. Along the way, you will of course fight a legion of terrorist scumbags, and you’ll upgrade special moves and gather new weapons as you go. If it all sounds pretty straightforward, it’s because it is. That’s not a bad thing in this case, as Bionic Commando’s “full speed ahead” approach to action gaming certainly feels right. That’s not to say that this is an easy title, on the contrary, it can be tough as nails, and there’s a steady slope of a learning curve that requires some climbing. The swinging mechanic, while essential to progressing, takes a fair bit of getting used to, and in my time with the game I never felt that I quite mastered it. It’s an essential tactic for covering ground quickly, and above all else, swinging around the ruined metropolis just feels awesome.

"And I'm free! Free Faaaallllin!"

The level structure basically consists of moving between waypoints and bashing a few enemies along the way. You’ll encounter computer relays which can be hacked, providing a little flavor text for you to read, which can sometimes be beneficial to learning how to deal with a particularly tough foe, or otherwise give you a window into what’s going on in the enemy camp. It’s a nice touch.

With regards to combat, Spencer’s moves are pretty awesome all around. Some of the combat maneuvers look fantastic in motion, and there are enough moves and weapons at your disposal to spice things up a bit, and when you start really using all of Spencer’s abilities to their fullest, everything clicks, and it all feels immensely satisfying. Sadly ammo for everything but your starting pistol is pretty rare, which means some of the more awesome feeling weapons will be benched for a lot of the game (I especially love the Shotgun) and using your fists as standard means of offense is a little unwieldy. Thankfully you have the bionic arm and claw, which definitely spices things up. You’re able to grapple onto an opponent and quickly zip in from the air with a devastating dropkick, pick up objects in the environment and use the grapple to toss them at unsuspecting foes, and whip the arm around you like, well a whip. The way that Grin has integrated the bionic arm into every facet of the gameplay from combat to exploration is really to be commended; it shows that some thought definitely went into the game’s chief gimmick.

Also included are little goals that can be met to unlock additional benefits for your character. These “mini-achievements” typically grant boons like additional health and better accuracy with weapons. One must be careful however, as if you blow your chance to unlock these, or gather all of the hidden collectibles in a stage for that matter, your chances are officially blown, as Bionic Commando offers no do-overs once you’ve skimmed through a level.

Hunting for Shrubberies.

Technically, Bionic Commando is definitely a solid performer. The visuals, while marred with some aliasing issues at times, certainly look fine, with a great job done on bringing the ruined city of Ascension to life, er, unlife. Scripted events occur in the background, buildings tumble, helicopters fly overhead, and all of it adds up to create a nice sense of destruction and atmosphere. The terrain also changes up throughout the game, keeping things interesting. Sadly the art design never quite catches up to the technical merits. Enemy designs remain pretty stock, and the animation and look of the main character, while solid, is never especially distinct. Thankfully, in all the action, I never once noticed any of the more common issues of the current crop of games. No clipping, framerate hitches, or texture pop-ins are present, Bionic Commando runs like a dream. The complexity of the level geometry does allow for a few more loading screens than I’d like, but that’s really picking nits.

Sound wise, Bionic Commando gets the job done, but it doesn’t particularly impress. Mike Patton of Faith No More fame provides the voice of Nathan Spencer, and he’s about as dull as dishwater in the part, sounding about as bored as bored can sound. Faring a little better are the supporting voices, and the generic “Army of bad guys” voices are all well-suited and do a solid job without hurting the eardrums. Music pops up now and again, and disappears just as fast. It’s not bad, it just is. The title screen does have a nice piano version of the classic Bionic Commando theme, and I found myself kind of sitting there the first time I booted the game up.

Rebuttal Witness:
If there’s one complaint I have with the game, it’s in the level design. While I hesitate to use the word “repetitive”, the design’s simplicity doesn’t allow for much diversity as you play through stages. The swing, shoot, activate relay, rinse, repeat formula may not have the stamina to propel the game for the full length for many players. Some more diversity in the stages would definitely have been welcome; perhaps some scripted events? The pace never really quickens much, though every now and again you get to tussle with some big baddies and vehicles, and you may have larger crews of people to contend with. Then there’s the god awful multi-player, which i’ll not sully myself with any further.

Yes, I love daisies. And Pansies.

Closing Comments:
Bionic Commando is definitely a pleasant surprise. While it doesn’t quite strive for greatness, and some elements suffer from a little bit of the bland, I definitely recommend it to action junkies looking for a fix. It may also be a particularly solid recommendation to those who adored the original and blew through Bionic Commando: Rearmed last year. It’s unlikely you’ll be disappointed.

The Verdict:

Platform: Sony Playstation 3/Microsoft Xbox360/Windows Vista PC (Xbox360 version reviewed)
Developer: Grin
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: May 19th, 2009
Rated: M (17+) for Mature