This is not your older gamers’ Bionic Commando … sure the name is the name as
the Capcom classic published in 1987 as an arcade game, but the PlayStation 3
release (due to hit North American retail shelves 5/19/09) is more of a sequel
to the original than an updated revisited affair.
The basic plot is more or less the same: a super-soldier, with a bionic arm, is
dropped behind enemy lines on a “recon” mission and ends up taking on the enemy
army, which is filled with rogue bionic soldiers.
Now for those who were not around when the Capcom arcade game was popular, or
don’t really care about a 20-year-old game but really would like to know about
the current next-gen release, let’s delve into the story and back-story just a
bit.
Bionic soldiers, or commandos, were once thought of as the saviors of the
factions they worked for – either FSA or Alliance. But after the war, the public
soon grew to mistrust the super soldiers. Some were allowed to re-assimilate
into society by losing their bionic pieces (which didn’t always work out well
and the subject died), some ran and went into hiding (harboring resentment and
out-and-out hatred), while others surrendered and were executed.
One such bionic commando, known as Spencer, lost his bionic left arm, was
captured, chained and placed on death row – for five years. He’s been brought
out of his pending eternal retirement. Why? Someone (a terrorist group known you
will come to know as Bio-Reign) detonated a nasty bomb in Ascension City,
destroying most of the population and devastating the city buildings, and even
worse, after the deed, that same group has taken over what is left of the place.
Spencer is needed to go behind enemy lines to do some recon work, find out who
it is, the size of the force and so on. Of course he didn’t really want to, but
there are ways of convincing even a killing machine to cooperate – like dangling
information about a woman named Emily, who has been missing for quite some time,
and who is obviously someone very dear to the soldier.
Spencer agrees to the mission and is packed into a missile and launched into the
city from jets approaching the area. Spencer is in one missile, his new bionic
arm is in the other. First mission? Locate your bionic arm and equip it. It’s
not as easy as walking a few feet, though; you have a building to search and
there are enemy soldiers who figure something is up. The enemies get more
numerous as you progress through the level (which is a building so it is not
exactly level; you can go up stairs or down – depending on the path your
exploration takes you), and with each missing enemy soldier (the ones you kill),
the AI seems to perk up a bit and the enemies become a bit more wary.
The game itself has three difficulty levels – normal, hard and commando. Die
prior to reaching an auto save point and it’s game over.
Once you find and equip the arm, the game plays the card that since you have
been separated from it for such a long time, it will take a while to get use to
all that it can do. Immediately, though, you get to use the grappling
capabilities (referred to as the wire) that allow you to launch a grappling device (the UI helps with a
blue area that shows you what you can grapple on to), and then you swing across
areas courtesy of an extendable cable.
But as the game begins, Spencer is at a bit of a handicap. You have a gun that
occupies your right arm, and aside from your intellect, that’s about it. It’s a
nice little touch to begin the game and the dev team, Grin, did a very good job
with the gradual re-acclimation to the strength and abilities of the bionic arm.
In a nod to the arcade game, there are collectibles scattered in the game.
Challenges will also allow players to gain new and some impressive abilities.
However, do not expect to dash through an area, get to the next stage to get a
better weapon (use of the arm is more than encouraged since you can run short on
ammo if you just fire vicariously around and hope to hit something) and then
head back to truly explore an area. Nope, you had better get everything you can
from the level you are on because once you leave it, you cannot backtrack.
While the storyline does have a few twists and turns, the game pulls players
through the levels in a very linear fashion. The levels are big enough to allow
for decent exploration and some fun fights, but this game, in spite of the
impression of a sandbox setting because of the nature of your mission, opts for
a very directed gaming experience.
That’s not to say this is not fun. It actually is very entertaining. Kudos to
Grin for a control scheme that is easy to learn and use. And graphically the
game is a treat, with some very nice atmospheric effects, solid use of lighting
and shadow and good character models.
This is a third-person shooter and the camera is in auto follow and during the
review period, the positioning of the camera was not an issue.
Also, as another nice touch, the story that Grin conceived leaves room for
Nathan Spencer’s return in new adventures – and yes, this is a character worthy
of more adventures.
All in all, Bionic Commando is a solid and enjoyable game. There may be a few
flaws here and there, but they are easily overlooked.
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Gameplay: 8.0
The controls are easy to use, but the game does not exactly encourage
replayability – other than to go through it again at a different difficulty
setting. This is a bit too linear.
Graphics: 8.3
Some areas appeared a touch blurry when not in sniper mode, only to clear up
after sniper mode had been triggered. Still the game does a great job with
lighting and environment effects. And, thankfully, you don’t have to riddle the
enemy with bullets to put them away.
Sound: 8.1
Some cheesy dialogue that is predictable, but generally it is delivered well.
The radio chatter is nicely handled and the gun effects and other elements are
solid. Mike Patton, former lead singer of Faith No More, voices Spencer and does
a fine job.
Difficulty: Medium/Hard
Concept: 8.5
The game took a great arcade character and transported him to the next-gen
consoles in a satisfying way. Kudos to the dev team – the treatment shows how
much they enjoy and care for the character and license.
Multiplayer: N/A
Multiplayer will be available in the retail release. The code received for the
review was for a PS3 test unit and attempts to go online to see what was offered
proved fruitless. LAN-based multiplayer will also allow the wire movement
(swinging from location to location).
Overall: 8.25
This game looks good, ramps up the difficulty nicely for a solid progressive
challenge, and is relatively easy to jump into and play. Ok, the linearity of
the storyline is a bit of a drawback, but the game still manages to embroil
players in the action and pull them along effortlessly because of the way the
action plays out.
