Bionic Commando

Resurrecting an old franchise is a tricky proposition. On one hand you have to make sure you don’t piss off long time fans while on the other hand, you have to make the game accessible to newer audiences as well. Developer GRIN finds themselves treading that very fine line with Bionic Commando, a remake of the Nintendo 64 game of the same name. Since I’ve never played the original game I never had lofty ambitions to begin with. But even if I did I wouldn’t be disappointed since Bionic Commando is one awesome f*****g game.

In Bionic Commando you’ll step into the boots of Sgt. Nathan ‘Rad’ Spencer, a Bionic Commando (duh!) who along with his bionic brothers protected the fictional city of Ascension against all things evil. Once they outlived their purpose, the government conveniently “took care” of them. Some of them received a bullet to the brain while some of them were imprisoned in the process. Our man, Rad dodged a bullet only to find himself rotting in jail sans his bionic arm.

But as they say, karma’s a bitch and the government now finds itself helpless against a new breed of terrorists that have detonated an experimental weapon in Ascension City, destroying half of it in the process. Being the shameful bunch that they are, they actually have the audacity to ask for your help and being the stand up guy that you are, you step up to save the asses that imprisoned you in the first place. Besides the cinematic at the start that lays down all of this for you, there isn’t a lot of plot progression in the game. You’ll keep receiving orders from an old boss who just so happens to be as clueless as you. It’s only towards the end do things become clear and even then the game ends on a cliff hanger note setting up the possibility of a sequel.
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At first glance Bionic Commando may appear to be a free roaming game but it’s not. It’s pretty linear offering players a few alternate routes along the way. Stray from the pre-determined path and you’ll die of radiation in a matter of seconds. You will however be able to swing all over the place to your heart’s content using your bionic arm since you can latch onto pretty much any surface that isn’t radiated. Now we’ve already discussed the swinging mechanics in our preview so I won’t waste any more time on that.

What you do need to know (and I’m really gonna stress on this) is that it’ll take some getting used to since it isn’t of the pick up and play variety. But once you do get the hang of it, it’s the most exhilarating swinging experience after Spiderman 2. Since more than half of Ascension City lies in ruins, using regular roads is not an option so the faster you get accustomed to the swinging, the faster you’ll progress through the game. Be careful though; the bionic arm weighs a ton, so if you screw up and fall in water, it’s lights out for Rad.

Throughout the game you’re limited to carrying three items in your inventory. One’s for your default pistol, one’s for sticky grenades while the third one’s reserved for more powerful weapons like shotguns, rocket launchers, machine guns and snipers. Ammunition for these weapons is pretty scarce so you’ll find yourself relying on your pistol a lot. The pistol is pretty weak and will take out the most basic grunts with ease but once you come up against tougher opponents you’ll need to bring out the heavy hardware. And by that I do mean your uber-awesome Bionic arm.

Initially you’ll only be able to use the arm to swing around but as you progress through the game you’ll unlock newer abilities like throwing and kiting heavy objects (vehicles included) on unsuspecting guards. This will be instrumental in taking out some of the tougher enemies like robotic guards who are only vulnerable from the back. Unlike what I expected, there aren’t too many boss fights in the game. The few that are there are well balanced and are challenging enough without making you tear your hair off in frustration. Some of them are pretty epic in scope and it will take a few minutes to figure out their weak moments.
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While playing through the game you’ll constantly be notified of Challenges that if completed successfully grant you newer abilities like improved armor, increased ammo carrying capacity etc. Most of these challenges are pretty simple and can be completed by just playing through the game once. If you’re a completionist, you can tackle the game once again in a harder difficulty level to get all 100%.
You may have noticed that I haven’t bad mouthed the game a lot simply because there isn’t much to begin with. Besides the weak plot and a few minor bugs, I never came across anything that made me cringe or stop playing. I do however foresee a camp of (impatient) people that won’t like the swinging, simply because it’s not the pick up and play variety. And if you just don’t get the hang of it, you’ll kind of hate the game since that’s one mechanic, the game leans on heavily… even in multiplayer.

That’s right. Bionic Commando has multiplayer and while it isn’t too deep or detailed, it’s still awesome fun nevertheless. You have just three modes to choose from - Team Deathmatch, Deathmatch and Capture the Flag.