[h1]Another in a long line of Xbox 360 games I never finished when I was younger.[/h1]
Bionic Commando is a third person shooter from 2009 with a focus on swinging/platforming based loosely on the NES title from 1988 by the same name. It's technically a sequel and has a similar narrative to its more traditional remake in Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Met with mixed reception in its time, and it largely remaining an underwhelming experience, it's understandable why many don't find it an attractive title.
Premise: Taking place 10 years after the NES game. You'll play as Major Nathan “Rad” Spencer. Who is a member of T.A.S.C (Tactical Arms and Security Committee). [All you really need to know is that he works for the government doing secret stuff.] T.A.S.C works on training soldiers with Bionics like Spencer. Said concisely, you'll soon discover that Spencer was betrayed, falsely imprisoned and thusly a “Great Bionic Purge” takes place. — The game's setting is “Ascension City” which has been devastated by an experimental weapon — a terrorist organization taking credit, calling themselves “BioReign”. Spencer is subsequently freed to go after these terrorists wherein he is reunited with his bionic arm.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2318522125
[h1]Nathan might be “Rad” but he isn't as graceful as Peter Parker, or Miles Morales for that matter.[/h1]
Featuring a similar swinging mechanic, Nathan is remarkably more grounded. In order to traverse the very linear structure of the game's environments, you'll almost need to plot a course rather than act organically or in a way that warrants reactive behavior to your surroundings. However, nearing the end game where more enemies are, this methodical type of movement becomes a bit more chaotic.
The game will prompt you when an optimal time to release is, but that time is not always the best for the situation. That prompt is more for when you need to release to get the most distance. You're also able to climb vertically or even jump over-from-underneath essentially by smashing jump. It leads to a lot of clumsy movement that does get the job done but ultimately doesn't look very elegant. Though, I'm sure someone much better at video games or knows the environment really well can make it look graceful. In some instances, you'll need to catapult backwards off of a surface, attach and swing underneath to gain the necessary momentum to cross a gap. This can look elegant in and of itself.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2318535125
[h1]Ports are always gonna be weird.[/h1]
This is an Xbox 360 title and it shows. The game does support mouse and keyboard but you can't switch between that and gamepad at will. You'll need to go back to the initial splash screen for it to detect your input device. Beyond this, there are a few quick-time events that use the 360 button layout that do not change in-or-outside the quick-time event when using mouse and keyboard. However, the game utilizes heavy auto-aim for swinging as well as shooting. You'll obviously get more fidelity out of mouse and keyboard but using a gamepad has its compromises, such as the pressing down on the D-pad will very quickly turn the camera around. Sort of like Resident Evil 4 had with its quick turn. This is useful should you overshoot your grapple point or when fighting shielded mechs that can only be attacked from behind. (Unless you just throw a big rock at them.)
The combat does feel pretty good, you'll have weapons air dropped in for you such as shotguns, grenade launchers — the usual gambit. But Nathan's arm and your ability to punch very big things into other big [or small] things is always going to be your best bet.
[h1]The Gist:[/h1]
Bionic Commando was one of those games I just never bothered to finish back in 2009. But if you're like me and enjoy playing slightly older games, I can recommend this on sale. I would fully recommend it, but it's not very long — about 8 hours for the campaign with little to no replay value and can be a bit janky in spots. The story is okay. It's a pretty standard governmental-spec-ops-conspiracy-science-experiment-gone-wrong sort of affair. It's not [un]interesting.
The OST is pretty good as well.
Perhaps it's a tad more interesting for its place in video game history than the game itself. But I think it's worth a jaunt.
Zitat:
If you've read this far, consider following my curation —
Station Argus
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2318484095
