Dynafire has 132 chronicles

1. Bionic Commando Review
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on May 29 2009

   Bionic Commando for the NES is a game that I have loved since I first played it many, many years ago. Until recently, I had believed that game would never receive a sequel, which was a shame since if any game ever deserved a sequel, that would be it. When I heard that there was going to be a remake of the original, I was ecstatic. When I heard there was going to be a 3D sequel, I was excited about that too. However, a 3D Bionic Commando just didn't seem like it would appeal to me. I always thought the game belonged on a 2D plane, as I'm sure a lot of BC fans believed. However, something was driving Capcom/Grin into trying something new with it, and I'm glad they did.
   
   This game is ridiculously fun. When I look at any game in my 360 library, none of them stand up to the amount of fun presented in Bionic Commando. A lot of them follow the standard linear path with encounters along the way. BC does this too, but there is a lot more interaction between you and the environment during combat. Instead of plopping behind cover, coming out from behind cover and shooting a guy, then plopping back behind it, the game pretty much encourages you to fight with reckless abandon. There are grapple-able objects at every turn, which will usually allow you to cover the ground between you and the enemy in seconds once you master the swinging mechanic.
   
   Gunplay actually takes a backseat to arm-play once you start "remembering" abilities. No weapon in the game is quite as powerful as the bionic arm once you take time to play with the moves. You can grab enemies with it, kite them in the air, and hurl them back to earth resulting in an instant kill, you can throw objects into enemies, punch objects at enemies, etc. Eventually, you'll unlock adrenaline abilities, which can unleash a powerful arm-swipe that kills all enemies within a fair radius, add power to your "death from above" attack, or perform special execution moves on some of the tougher enemies. This uses up the adrenaline meter, which can be refilled by defeating enemies.
   
   Well, that's the overview. Now for what I liked and disliked about the game.
   
   Liked:
   
   The Music.
   
   Almost all of the music in the game are remixes of the classic tunes. BC Rearmed also had remixes of the classic music, but it was done in a techno style. It's a bit different this time around. The music has a more classical feel to it, and each time I recognized the old music, I got a feeling of nostalgia that made the game grow on me.
   
   The Swinging Mechanic.
   
   This was what worried me the most about BC initially. The grappling/swinging in a 2D field works easily enough, but once you take it into the third dimension, you're looking at something much more complex. You need a physics engine, a way to easily grapple objects, as well as showing what objects you're allowed to grapple, and most importantly, you need to make it fun and simple. They nailed it. The swinging mechanic is surprisingly intuitive. A reticle appears as you look at an object. The reticle turns blue once it's within reach. Press and hold the left trigger to grapple it. You're then swinging, at which point you'll see a blue "Atari-like" symbol that shows when you should let go of the left trigger. That's it. Once you get accustomed to it, you'll be swinging all over the place quickly and efficiently, and it's a blast to do so. There is no feeling like facing a enemy, zipping around the environment, then attaching yourself to it and zip-kicking it into oblivion.
   
   Achievements and Challenges.
   
   The achievements in this game are some of the funnest I've encountered so far. There are your standard "kill X enemies" achievements, but most of them revolve around doing something specific with different weapons. For example, one of them has you trying to snipe 2 enemies with a grenade launcher. Not an impossible task by any means, but a challenging one. These are actually in-game challenges, which sometimes reward you by upgrading your armor, or increasing your weapon power or ammo capacity. The only thing I don't like about these challenges is that it breaks the flow of the game. Whenever you get a new challenge, you instinctively pause the game to see what it is. This happens over and over again as there are many different challenges to perform. That's why I recommend ignoring most challenges on your first playthrough.
   
   Game Length.
   
   The game is fairly short. On hard difficulty, I cleared it in about 13-14 hours with only a few trouble spots. On the second playthrough, once I had mastered all the moves, and knew where I was going, I was able to clear it in half that time, while still finishing all the challenges and getting every collectible. However, it was much more fun the second time around. I'm willing to bet that I was in the air more often than on the ground, and the grunts never stood a chance. Because of it's length, however, it never overstays its welcome. Playing the game never feels like a chore, and I was actually disappointed when it ended.
   
   Dedication to the fans.
   
   While they did go a completely new route with BC, they did not forget about the diehard fans of the original. With BC Rearmed (or a google search :P) you can get codes to gain access to three unlockables. The purple matrix, the retro outfit, and the prototype weapon. The purple matrix opens up a cool little room a few hours into the game, which has a radio blaring the music from the original's Area 01, and has a few other things that fans of the original will recognize. The retro outfit is my favorite, transforming the "new" Nathan Spencer into the classic, red-hair with sunglasses Nathan Spencer. The new look for Mr. Spencer didn't help my opinion of the game initially, but it did sort of grow on me (even though he is kind of a dick and not very likeable as a character). However, I still prefer the classic look to the new one. The prototype weapon appears to be the revolver from BC Rearmed, which replaces the new pistol, the Tungsten.
   
   Multiplayer.
   
   There have been very few games where I can say I actually had fun with the multiplayer. I have played my fair share of shooters, and after a while, I find that there's not much that distinguishes them from each other. Run and shoot is a common theme, and it just grows stale for me. BC's multiplayer is a welcome respite from that. Swinging around the levels is very fun, and is especially entertaining when you can flank an unaware opponent and kick him in the back or shoot a grenade his way. Better yet, there's no crouch button, which means no teabagging. Everyone at the launch party said they liked it, so it's obviously doing something right. The only common complaints were not being able to grapple objects that appeared to be grabable (the building on Elevation comes to mind), and the ridiculously overpowered sniper rifle. One hit kills anywhere on the body is frustrating to say the least. However, I almost want to attribute that to everyone being mostly neophytes at swinging and grappling. A lot of the times I died, I died because I either stopped swinging, or ended up on the ground with nothing to get me going again. Once I figured out that constantly moving is good, I died to the sniper much less than the first few games.
   
   Disliked:
   
   Replaying levels equals no achievements.
   
   The game is rather linear in its progression, in that you are simply moving from area to area in a pre-determined course. It's not so bad, until you learn that you can not go back to previous levels to get missed collectibles. There's an achievement for nabbing all 150 collectibles, and to get it, you must get all of them in one playthrough. If you get to the last area and realize you missed one, too bad. Start from the beginning. There is a level jump option, yet for some reason, they disable achievements, and any collectibles found will not count towards that achievement. That's only really a problem if you're into achievements, I guess.
   
   
   MEH
   
   The story.
   
   It's not that the story is bad or anything, it's just that it's really B-movie-ish. It's all fine until they start talking about Spencer's wife. Does every game need to have a romance sub-plot? Anyway. We also get to meet some new characters that are apparently knowst to Spencer, yet unknowst to us. Aside from names, it is never said who they are, what they do, or how they know Spencer. The game also ends on a f***ing cliffhanger, but with the amount of enjoyment I got from this game, I won't be so quick to disregard expanding the series.
   
   
   Conclusion:
   
   Rent the game at the very least. If you're a fan of action games, give it a shot. The campaign is fairly long (like I said, about 13 hours or so) when compared to most games that fall in the action genre, and there's always multiplayer should you find yourself not enjoying the campaign, however unlikely that may be.
   
   Overall rating: 8.5/10

   
   

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Dynafire has 3 comment s on this chronicle.

1. Dynafire
   Posted On May 29 2009

   [This chronicle comment has been deleted by the chronicle owner]

2. Seripha
   Posted On May 29 2009

   Excellent chronicle, Dynafire. And, yes, there must always be a romance sub-plot. It is pretty well a rule anymore in storytelling. By the way, saying that 13-14 hours is fairly long is a somewhat ambiguous statement. I am already up over 20 in Star Ocean, and I have barely scratched the surface of what I need to... literally. Keep that in mind.

3. Silent Bob
   Posted On May 27 2009

   Another thorough game review Chronicle from Dynafire. Glad you're enjoying it so far.
   
   I, too, don't like that you can't replay the levels if you happen to miss something.
   
   I had to use that "Death from Above" move on the big mechanical worm. I wasn't getting anywhere throwing cars at it.
   
   My only other complaint is the seemingly random placement of Radiation Zones that kill you when you're swinging around trying to clear the levels.
   
   I haven't quite finished it yet. I'm maybe halfway through.