Monday, August 25, 2008

Bionic Commando Review


Bionic commando is an interesting case of a game updating itself while still remaining true to the original, for better or worse.

The game follows you "Rad" Spencer on your journey to destroy the evil imperial forces but thankfully Rad has a few tricks up his sleeve in the form of a metal claw that Rad can shoot out to swing, climb, and grab hold of enimes with. It's a shame this mechanic is so fun because the controls don't make it easy to pick up and play it with newcomers.

Although it soon becomes easier albeit still annoying that when you want to shoot diagonally , like most of the game demands, you are required to come to a complete stop, not touch anything and hit the bionic arm button. A frustrating control issue revived from the original game, however to be fair it became easier with time.

However not to be the only thing to remain from the past incarnation is the top down shooting segments where you run towarda the enemy anti-aircraft gun in an attempt to destroy it, now this wouldn't be an issue if it was either a more fun or engaging level or didn't happen nearly as much as it does. This event is triggered whenever your helicopter from the overworld comes into contact with the three trucks constantly moving about through the world.

However to the games credit it is generally really fun with some interesting boss battles where they have you put your claw to use to figure out the puzzle like boss battles (which umfourtunetly they reuse the same boss in various levels). Wicked level design and some inventive guns to keep you playing. The music also has been updated with a catchy remix of the original songs. What really ties it all together though is the spectacular graphics which are easily the best seen in a XBLA game to date.

So all in all it may seem like I've just complained about the game but rest assured that those complaints are minor at best and they only are a slight annoyance when compared to the fun this game will provide to newcomers to the game as well as fans of the original

8/10

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