PlayExclusive: Bionic Commando - Into the swing of things

Console: X-Box 360, PS3
Genre: 3rd person shooter
Players: 1 ( 2-10 Online )
Rating: Mature 18+





Story
In this sequel to the original NES game and it's remake, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, players take to the ruins of Ascension City as Nathan “Rad” Spencer, the Bionic Commando. Armed with powerful bionic limbs and special firearms, players will have to fight their way to find out just what happened to the megacity, stop those responsible, and in doing so, find out what happened to his missing wife.


Gameplay
From the first leap to the millionth, swinging through the wreckage of Ascension City is simply breathtaking. Players weapon of choice will be the main protagonist's Bionic Arm, a prosthetic arm, capable of grappling to various environmental objects like cars, buildings and lamposts, or even enemies for high speed transport and unique attacks.


Nathan scales buildings with relative ease, thanks to his bionic limbs, making use of tremendous upward leaps and swings, and the ability to zip towards anything grappled.


Yet, for all the excellent exploring mechanics at our fingertips, players remain trapped in corridors created by radiation throughout the city, turning a beautiful free-roaming adventure into a boxed in trod from one level to the next.

Enemies that players come up against, range from weak, gun-toting grunts, to large robots and flying vehicles, that take more than a little force to take down. Obstacles like cars and boxes can be flung into the air to be thrown at enemies, and high speed zip kicks make for an entertaining array of attacks.

And if hand to hand combat fails, there's always firearms to fall back on, from the handgun, to the many explosive weapons you acquire later on. While they do make short work of the weaker enemies you meet, it's not exactly enjoyable trying to aim at a small, fast moving target while swinging back and forth through the air, and clicking R3 to zoom your aim only slows you down, opening you up to enemy fire.




Overall
While it's action constantly keeps players coming back for more, the level design keeps us boxed in, with the radiation as annoying, near invisible walls, leading to many highly annoying moments in gameplay. It feels like the game was capable of so much more, but bad scriptwriting, a shoddy attempt at online multiplayer, and painfully linear story progression only make this a “Rentworthy” game.

Review by Johar Aston, TheLAG

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