Bionic Commando

This draft originally written 12/09/2009

This game has a beautiful style and the story is definitely interesting as it works off the NES original, but a lot of gameplay elements make it very frustrating to play as well as tiresome.

For instance, having to hold down the left trigger constantly is not convenient; it makes your hand cramp up less than 20 minutes into the game. There should have been a toggle option for the bionic arm so you didn't have to keep holding the trigger down in order for it to be engaged, especially in instances when you adjust your finger and end up dropping Nathan from a perfectly executed swing.

It was also very frustrating having to re-collect the collectibles and as well as re-do any challenges after dying, and believe me that dying in this game is very easy to do. This game failed in making it easy for people to save their progress whether in auto-save or manual save. If I die, I don't want to have to go through the entire level all over again just to get the collectible icons that I already collected before, and repeat the in-game challenges that I already completed the first time around.

Even Prototype, a game I'm not wholly impressed with but do enjoy playing, auto-saved every time you collected an orb or completed an option side mission. Shouldn't this mechanic have been utilized in Bionic Commando, especially since the gameplay is more complex?





Despite Nathan Spencer being voiced by Mike Patton, the pure evil essence behind the game The Darkness, and the alleged vastness of the world you can swing through, there are just too many cons to outweigh the pros of the game. One of the things is the illusion that the levels are open-world and you can swing through them with no restrictions.

I mean, sure, you can go through and around all the buildings as much as you like, but if you go too far up or too far down then you are instantly subjected to the radiation floating around the city. The radiation makes sense with the story, but don't tell me that I can swing through cities and jungles and then tell me I can't climb to the top of this building because of the radition- despite the next building's roof, that's just as tall, is accessible.

Somewhat related to the subject of mobility is the challenge of Nathan, his bionic arm, and water. Technology is so advanced in this series that you have a fully functioning metal arm protruding from this guy's stub, and yet they couldn't figure out a way to make it so that the bearer didn't drown in five feet of water. It's utterly ridiculous.

Right on the spot I can think of a way of using small fans or air vents, mechanical gills if you will, that automatically detect water and engage as soon as they feel the arm becoming too submerged in the water. Instead it's, "Your bionic arm is too heavy so be careful of the water because you'll drown." Give me a break. Also, this guy is a top notch military soldier and he can barely hold his breath for more than ten seconds. Last I checked two years ago, I could hold my breath for at least 25 seconds and I'm nowhere as close to being as athletically fit as Nathan Spencer.

Last but not least: Snipers. These guys must have bionic eyes or something because they have too easy of a time hitting me from hundreds of yards away as I am swinging through a fallen city. For one, a moving target is hard to hit, we all know that. Two, how can they follow my movements exactly when even I don't know what the hell I am doing, and still manage to take a perfect shot at me?

Pros? The voice acting is pretty well done and I really like the graphics. Everything is finely detailed from the dilapidated buildings to loose papers floating in the wind and the rippling in the waters to a roaring waterfall. It was all very pretty to look at. The combat was fun too and not too flawed, I really enjoyed being able to flip something into the air with my bionic arm and tossing it at foes. There is not too much focus or attention dealt to the guns since the main focus is the arm, but they're pretty simple to use and have their specific uses.

I think the awesomeness of the bionic arm itself goes unsaid, but with all the other hindering aspects of the game it kind of takes away from that awesomeness.

I don't often return a game before completing it- hell, I don't often return a game, but I had to for BC because it was more frustrating than it was fun. And this saddened me since I am such a fan of the original NES game. At least there's Re-Armed.