 Game: Bionic Commando
Platform: Xbox 360
Year: 2009
Game Ranking: 72.92%
The NES Bionic Commando was one of the first games added to our 8-bit library back in 1990. I don't think I played it much at first, probably because I was afraid of everything when I was little, so I elected instead to watch my brother play it while I wistfully tromped around the room pretending to be the Bionic Commando. Until Craig got the hang of it (get it? He has a bionic arm and grapples onto things), I recall the game being incredibly difficult. It seems like he was stuck on Area 5's nigh-Tower of Babel for a week or more, and we couldn't figure out how to get continues for the longest time. Craig's rage-induced cries of "I love it when I die!" got so under my skin sometimes that they would bring me nearly to tears--I must have been too young to understand sarcasm. I remember waking up from bed in the middle of the night one time to hear the grappling of a bionic arm, and I snuck down the hallway to find Craig battling the Albatross, a screen-sized behemoth of flying death machine unlike anything I'd ever encountered in my meager video game-playing experience. I remember crying when Craig finally did beat the game--I can't explain that one, except that maybe I was really happy for Craig that he beat the game after so much hard work and frustration.
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| One man hijacks an entire helicopter convoy in one of the cooler, more difficult sequences of Bionic Commando. |
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| Nathan Spencer has skills galore, but it always comes back to swinging. |
Being a genuinely good game and the source of so many good memories (and the fact that you get to explode Hitler with a bazooka), Bionic Commando cemented itself as one of my favorite games of all time. However, as I got older, I yearned for more arm-swinging action. When my family got the internet, I discovered there was a Game Boy sequel, which I have never played. I got Bionic Commando: Elite Forces, a Game Boy Color re-imagining of the franchise, for my birthday one year, but I haven't beaten it--the game (at least my copy, anyway) has a bug that sometimes causes it to lock up on the pre-level equipment selection screen. (I need to try it on my Game Boy Advance sometime and see if it works better there than it did in my Game Boy Color, but that is beside the point.) I needed more. In fact, I even had a dream that Bionic Commando came to the original Xbox, and I watched footage of our bionic hero traversing an ice cave and fighting a large ice monster (which actually sounds a lot like Metroid Prime).
Finally, I heard the big news that a new Bionic Commando was coming to consoles. I wanted to buy it right when it came out, but I didn't have any money because I spent it all on McChickens and Hawaiian Punch. Fortunately, I got the game for Christmas at the end of the year--it was already a budget title thanks to awful sales and painfully mediocre reviews. But you know what? It's not that bad, especially for a fan of the franchise. It's not perfect, especially where the plot is concerned, but I got hooked...literally (haw, haw). Let's check it out.
Set ten years after the events of the NES Bionic Commando (and its recent re-telling, Bionic Commando: Rearmed), a group of terrorists called BioReign has dropped a weapon of mass destruction on Ascension City. They control the ruins of the city and seek something called the Carrion Device for their nefarious purposes. "Super" Joe Gibson springs Nathan "Radd" Spencer, the Federal States of America's hero from the original game, from jail and drops him into Ascension City to retrieve the Carrion Device before BioReign can find it. Why Spencer was in jail is something I'll cover later, but that's the gist of the game.
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| Sorry, Capcom, but this is the only Nathan Spencer I'll ever control. |
First thing's first--before I even started playing the game, I put in the secret code to get the classic skin from BC: Rearmed. I'm one of those purists who made a big stink about Nathan Spencer's radical, dreadlocked meathead redesign. When did that happen?! I don't know what test audiences were looking at this game, but if they showed it to me, the red-haired, sunglasses-sporting, green fatigued Bionic Commando of old would have been the default option. It seems a little out of place in an otherwise dark game from time to time, but otherwise, it was SO cool to bring the Nathan Spencer I grew up with to this generation of games.
Like its predecessors, the big gimmick going on in this game is the swinging and grappling abilities of the bionic arm. Spencer pulls himself up the sides of buildings, swings across gaping chasms, grabs enemies and objects, and inflicts untold damage to lots of personal property with his awesome bionic arm. It took a little bit of getting used to, but once I had it, it was easy to get place to place via the arm. (Assuming I timed things correctly, which I didn't. Often.) Being that this is the primary aspect of the game, I think they did a pretty good job with the arm mechanics. Patience and good aim are important to successful use of the arm, much in the same way it probably would be in real life, so if you can master these traits, the arm is a lot of fun to use.
Also, like most games, the fun factor skyrocketed once I figured out the combat. At first, I naturally tried to run into every horde of enemy soldiers guns-ablazing, only to die like the dog of the federation I am. Several trips to the "Game Over" screen later, I realized strategic use of the bionic arm, as well as other skills and equipment, could be used to handle large groups of enemies from afar or with otherwise greater ease. Spencer can use the arm to latch on to bad guys and drop kick them into the nearest bottomless pit, knock cars and other debris into dopes not paying attention, or swing the arm around in a circle, knocking any terrorist scum around him for a loop. There is also the "Death from Above" ability, which lets Spencer jump off a really high perch and crush enemies waiting below. Oh, and grenades...they'll usually get the job done. Effective combat allows you to complete certain in-game challenges (Defeat X enemies with a certain weapon or technique, for example), which unlocks handy rewards like upgrades to the amount of damage your weapons can do, or the amount of ammo you can carry. Creative problem-solving is rewarded and deeply satisfying, sometimes so much so that I spent more time sneaking around trying to dispatch enemies in the coolest way possible than I did progressing through the game.
One of the many throwbacks to the old Bionic Commando is the inclusion of a number of remixed musical tracks from the original. The composer did a great job of fitting the classic tunes into the atmosphere of the game. This game has a number of "adrenalating" moments in which something really cool is going on, like a fight with a helicopter or a stand against a seemingly limitless number of foes, and the music builds to a climactic, heroic fanfare that sent shudders of excitement through my body, my indicator as to whether or not music is being used effectively in a game. There are a few instances of no action in which the music is sort of generic and repetitive, but as long as something exciting is going on, there is excellent music there to accompany it.
Another cool thing going on in this game, as well as in BC:Rearmed, is that we get a deeper look into the Bionic Commando universe. The original Nintendo game had some backstory, but a lot was left to player speculation and imagination. This game fills in some of those holes, for better or for worse.
I've generally praised the game so far, but there is, unfortunately, some real crapahoola at play here, as well. For example, while much of the game is action-packed and intriguing, other parts do drag. There are a number of underground caverns Spencer must endure to avoid enemy encounters or irradiated areas. It's logical for him to stay out of sight, but it also makes for some boring gameplay. Why did they include these sequences in the game? They could have been cutscene fodder, if they absolutely needed to be included. Similarly, there are some swinging sequences that seem thrown in just for the sake of swinging around. Like I said, swinging is the primary aspect of the game, and that's fine so long as the swinging actually makes sense and doesn't seem repetitive or unnecessary.
Additionally, the mood of the game is really dark and has none of the fun atmosphere or innocence of the NES game. They could have made a bright, colorful, campy sequel that would have fit the style of the original, but instead chose a darker path. It's not necessarily bad, but it is a violent, angsty, profanity-laced adventure, which isn't always necessarily my thing. Fortunately, the game doesn't take itself completely seriously, as made evident by some of Spencer's goofy dialogue (voiced by Mike Patton of Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Fantomas, and whatever else).
[SPOILERS BELOW! DO NOT PROCEED UNLESS YOU WANT IMPORTANT PLOT POINTS REVEALED!]
Finally, and the biggest killer of this game, is the plot, which doesn't make a lick of sense. Spencer was put in jail for not hunting down and killing two bionics per government orders, and then Super Joe lets him out to fight the terorists and find the Carrion Device. (Think Snake Plissken in Escape From New York.) Once Spencer retrieves the device and brings it to Joe, Joe abruptly turns on Spencer and reveals himself as the leader of BioReign. Uh-oh! You've been working for the enemy all along! Ugh. If that was the case, why does Joe have to send Spencer in to get the Carrion Device? Why doesn't he just let Spencer rot in prison and have his goons go get it? It's not like Joe doesn't know where it was--he helps direct Spencer to the proper location. Not only that, Joe doesn't even bother to explain why he's working for the bad guys. It doesn't make any sense. The only explanation I can think of is that Joe did a lot of work to keep bionics in a good light, and perhaps felt betrayed when the FSA discontinued the program, believing bionics were too dangerous. BioReign does believe in bionics, so it might make sense that he would want to work with them. However, the Super Joe I know from the old game wouldn't make that kind of turn, sorry to say. These two points really messed things up for me, and I don't normally get that picky about plots, so I feel these were some pretty major oversights, unless there's just something that I'm missing. They didn't ruin the game, but left me a tad perplexed and definitely shook me out of suspension of disbelief.
Furthermore, Spencer is dogged by a sniper throughout the game, and he finally reveals himself near the end, and tells Spencer that they have similar goals. The sniper then leaves and never returns for the rest of the game! What was the point of even including him when he does literally nothing except talk to Spencer one time? Hardcore Gaming 101 points out in their review of Bionic Commando that the sniper's name is revealed in the credits to be "Thomas Clarke," one of the guys from another Capcom game called Mercs, and that Joseph Gibson, alias Super Joe, is also in Mercs, which is an interesting twist. Based on the ending of the game, it looks as though a sequel had been planned that may have revealed some of these questions, but we'll probably never get it since this game did so poorly and Grin, the developer, ultimately shut down. (Though the BC: Rearmed team has re-formed and is making a sequel to that game. Will we get some answers there?)
Then there's the whole "Spencer's missing wife is IN his bionic arm" thing, which I apparently didn't find as ridiculous as everybody else, probably because I was already deeply confused by Super Joe's turn to the dark side.
There's no real final boss, which is kind of disappointing. Instead, on your way to busting up your old pal Super Joe (which is a cutscene instead of a boss fight, for whatever reason), you rip apart a number of these vulture robots (part of "Project Vulture," which is powered by the Carrion Device) by successfully completing some button-pressing sequences. And then you get the ending, and that's it. Where's the final boss?! Those are a big part of video games for me. Points OFF!
In conclusion (geez, finally), I had a lot of fun with Bionic Commando. My expectations were set so low by the dismal reviews that I was expecting a real piece of crap, and ended up being pleasantly surprised by what truthfully is a quality and enjoyable game. Like I said back at the beginning, it has its flaws, but as a fan of the franchise, I was very happy to get another installment. It's not the NES original or BC:Rearmed, but it did the job for me.
Brian's Rating: 7/10
[Images courtesy of GameFAQs.] |
