Bionic Commando - Review by Tayler Bell - PlayStation fans are tawkn

Tawkn.com Review: Bionic Commando

Written by Tayler Bell
Published at 2009-06-16 12:28:37

526

10-player Action, Adventure for the PlayStation 3.
Developed by GRIN. Published by Capcom.
Released 2009-05-19. Rated M (Mature).

Bionic Commando is the sequel to Capcom's 1988 N.E.S. title of the same name, or more directly, the sequel to the remake GRIN developed in 2008 for the PSN and Xbox Live.
This time GRIN is using their "Diesel" engine to power Nathan "RAD" Spencer's bionic arm.

After starting up Bionic Commando it appears that all did not end well at the end of the previous game. Spencer was betrayed by the government, imprisoned and scheduled for execution. However, before his execution could be carried out an explosion causing massive destruction wiped out Ascension City and the majority of it's inhabitants. With the threat of an impending terrorist invasion Spencer is reunited with his bionic arm and given a chance to redeem himself as well as find out more information regarding his missing wife.

Enough with the jibba jabba, let's get down to the dirty.

When you start out you don't quite have your complete arsenal of weapons or abilities, you have your arm, a hand gun and some kick ass metal boots. As you gain your abilities back you are given a small tutorial on how each of them work. Your weapons, on the other hand, crash land in various areas of the city and need to be retrieved. Although the game can be beaten without the use of any weapons, I highly recommend them when it comes to the enemies with heavy armor.

Let's talk some more about this bionic arm.

At first glance swinging with the bionic arm might strongly resemble the swinging mechanics in the Spiderman games, but once you get your hands on the controls you'll find there's a lot more to it. Generally, when swinging around, you must be able to see your next grapple point in order to hook onto it. Since you can pretty much grapple on to anything, and the environments are pretty big, you are given the illusion that the game is fairly free roaming... that is until you hit the edge of the border and start to quickly die from radiation.

The combat mechanics of your bionic arm are a little more difficult to get used to since it's not the easiest of weapons to use in a critical situation. Your attacks with your arm can vary from standard punch combos to gripping nearby objects and launching them at your foes. I found that a direct melee assault was never really an effective way to deal with enemies when they outnumber you, and throwing objects is only effective if you have time to target the object, kite it into the air, and then whip it towards the enemy. This can be a little frustrating to get used to, but once mastered it becomes like second nature.

Graphically this game has some breathtaking scenic locations (forest, city, underground caverns, gigantic mechs) and the character models look good. Sadly the game does experience some slow-down and can look a little jaggy at times, but none of these issues are game breaking and don't take away from the overall experience.

There is one thing that really added to my enjoyment of the game... Mike Patton is the voice for Spencer! I found his vocal talents made Spencer sound genuinely agitated and pissed off, this worked well considering how the story unfolds. Other than Mike, the sound in this game is top notch and really sets the mood by transitioning from lighter to heavier versions of the music depending on the situation.

Sounds good, how is the multi-player?

The unfortunate thing with the multi-player is that the game, initially, did not sell well, which really hurt it's multi-player base. It can at times take anywhere from 5-15 minutes to get a decent sized game going. I've played a few full games online and at first it seemed like the arm took away from the combat, but after a while you realize that there is no better way to evade your opponents and that there is nothing more satisfying that zip kicking someone off a building. You have 3 different modes, death match, team death match and capture the flag. Naturally the environments are smaller than the single player areas, but they keep the action flowing nicely.

Overall how is the game?

I really enjoyed this game. While I found myself frustrated with some parts due to the difficulty, I was still compelled to keep playing it. The character and level design are pretty impressive, the music and voice acting are great and there really isn't much out there like this title. If you have the money to spare on this game I highly recommend it.

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