Gamers worldwide leapt in joy at the news of Capcom decision to bring Bionic Commando to the Hi-Def era with a sequel. Not only would the game be a continuation of the original story, but would also take the game out from the limiting 2-D plane to glorious 3-D. While we wondered how the game and more importantly, the bionic arm work in the three dimensional world of the new Bionic Commando, Capcom went ahead and wowed us with videos of Nathan “Rad” Spencer, saving the world yet again with his trusty arm. But like so many other games before this, do the promises made actually make it into the game? Do you actually have as much fun as the guy in the trailers and videos seems to be having? We got to find out for ourselves as we swung our way through the ruins of Ascension City.

The story starts with Ascension City getting nuked by a terrorist organization. As the ruins of what was once a bustling metropolis lies smoldering in ruins, the government decides to send in Rad Spencer to clean up the mess. Rad, betrayed by his people and has been languishing in jail since the events of the previous game, is not pleased and makes it quite clear. But the country needs him and his bionic arm and being the hero he is, he soon finds himself at the gates of the city, now reduced to rubble, deadly radiation spilling everywhere. Before long, you will find yourself swinging through the city, lashing out on the enemies with your bionic arm, zip kicking them, hurling cars and rocks, taking on enemy gunships with your trusty arm, beating the hell out of giant mechanized beasts and in general being the badass dude that you are.

Much of the game depends upon how soon you master the swing mechanics in the game. Unexpectedly, it takes a while to get used to it. A targeting reticule lights up every time you are within the range of some surface that you can latch on to with the claws of the massive bionic arm. As soon as you have a firm hold, just let go and Rad will swing through the air forward, much like Spiderman. While it sounds pretty easy, knowing when to let go is where you will find yourself faltering. Letting go at the highest point will result in you getting propelled up rather than forward and a plummet to hard ground follows, unless you can quickly grab another surface. Instead, you have to let go when you momentum, the idea being that the momentum will carry you forward. While the game does give you visual cues as to when it is the safest to try for the next latching point, it doesn’t work out that well. More so when you have vast stretches of chasms or water that you have to cross just by swinging across. One miss and you have to restart the whole thing.

The checkpoint system does not help much here. Bionic Commando probably has one the most stupid checkpoint system in recent memory. These checkpoints are so few and far between that you will be literally tearing at your hair while on your nth attempt at traversing across the trickier parts of the map. Countless times we found ourselves dying meters away from the end of the level. Every death resulted in being thrown back to load screen and in some cases, a lengthy cut-scene. A HDD install did quicken up the load process a bit but the sheer frustration that comes with the bad checkpoints is something that GRIN, the developers of the game could have well avoided. Radiation is another nuisance, though not as bad as the checkpoint system. Instead of going with invisible walls, the game stops you from exploring the world by having the area reeking with nuclear radiation. Venturing into this means instant death. Thus, you pretty much follow a linear path through the game. We feel a little bit of exploration element could have worked well in the game.

Once you manage to get yourself familiar with the unforgiving swing mechanics and the retarded checkpoint-system, you can actually have fun with Bionic Commando. Combat in Bionic Commando becomes a wonderful mix of Rad’s various abilities, most of which involve good use of his bionic arm. Grabbing an enemy with the arm and then zip-kicking never gets old. Cars and rocks can be picked up, hurled up in the air and then sent flying towards the horde of incoming enemies in one smooth and swift move. Mash the “Y” button to deliver a “Death from Above” move where you drop down from a height at the unsuspecting enemy below and knock him off his feet with a devastating shockwave.
Rad can latch onto an enemy ship and then pull himself all the way up and take care of the pesky pilot himself. Sadly, the weapons do not complement the abilities of the arm that well, feeling way too underpowered most of the time. Save for the rocket launcher, you could make do with pretty much any weapon in the game and not feel a difference.

Visually, the game looks stunning with once soaring skyscrapers, now nothing more than crumbling behemoths, dreary industrial complexes and lush green mini-forests that you get to swing through. Vibrant colors glowing in the sunlight look truly spectacular. Levels are varied; you will never find yourself looking at the same thing for too long. Framerates are stable on the Xbox 360; we just encountered minor screen tearing issues at times but nothing that was too much of an eyesore. HDD installation is recommended as it will reduce the load-times quite a lot. Rad and his moves are well animated, be it the way he swings his way across the city or when he takes on a horde of enemies. There is not much of a musical score in the game. The tracks thankfully don’t get jarring even after being used quite a lot. Enemy AI is also quite competent in giving you a good fight.

Bionic Commando supports upto ten people in multiplayer and features the standard, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. Underpowered weapons dampen the spirits here as well though you have always have the option of zip kicking the enemy. Well designed maps save the game from being a complete washout when it comes to multiplayer fun. The game also features a well implemented rewards system that is loosely tied with the Xbox achievements as well. Completing certain tasks in the game will grant you special moves, increase your ammo capacity, maybe even throw in a better armor while unlocking even tougher versions of the challenges. Completing these challenges is fun as you get to do something more while getting from point A to point B. Collectibles also form a part of the challenge where you have to take a detour and tackle some pretty tricky areas to get to these collectibles. There are a truck load of these in the game, sometimes too well concealed to be found unless you specifically go out of your way in search of these.

It seems like for everything that is in favor of Bionic Commando, there is a minor niggle that detracts from the whole experience. While the addition of the third dimension is done pretty well, the swing mechanics could have been made a little more lenient. Whipping enemies around you with the bionic arm is fun but shooting them with a beefy-looking-but-underpowered gun is underwhelming. While the devastated Ascension city looks beautiful and promises to be engrossing, the presence of strictly defined boundaries and out-of-place product placements shatter it. All said and done, if you are looking for 8-10 hrs of good platforming fun and some pretty epic boss fights on the way, Bionic Commando will be a good buy for you.

8.0 / 10

Review Copy Courtesy:

Distributor: Milestone Interactive

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