BIONIC COMMANDO REARMED Posted by Dan Pearson on Aug 27, 2008 16:19 (Aug 27, 2008 16:19) |
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Xbox Live’s current batch of summer releases have not let up at all and have all been of superb quality, but the most recent release, Capcoms Bionic Commando Rearmed blows them all out of the water and shows every one how to make a real game, even though its about 20 years old. This is not just a re-branding of the old NES classic but a complete overhaul, keeping the basic elements that made the original so great but adding a load more for the current generation of gamers.
You play as Nathan Spencer, a special ops man who has been called in to locate and save Super Joe, who in turn has been captured by the Imperials and their leader Killt. The main map screen is grid based and you can fly to any of the adjoining levels, once you select a level you will parachute down and then the real fun begins. The layout is a classic platform approach with a bit of 3D chucked in for good measure. You control Nathan with the Left Stick, shoot with the A button and use your grapple with the B. At first this will take some getting used to as there is no jump button, but after a few levels you will be using the grapple to pull of some amazing swings and death-defying manoeuvres. Whilst you start with a basic pistol and grapple, the further you play through the game, the more weapons you collect, including missile launchers, grenades, plasma rifle and also upgrades for your grapple arm.
There are also enemy trucks that drive around the map, if you fly into them you will have to fight your way out of an "Enemy Encounter", here the game goes to a top down mode and Nathan needs to fight his way up the screen and take out the troops. These are great little mini levels and it really breaks up the swinging action but still manages to keep the pace of the game. There is clearly a lot of time and love put into this game, the dialog between the enemies and our hero is very funny and sharp, even on the Xbox Live Demo version they have altered the dialog to fit the demo. The overall presentation and quality oozes from the screen, the character animations are fluid, the 2.5D approach to the platforms is colourful and just explodes off the screen. The enemies are also very clever, the usual grunts will just walk into your line of fire but there are others who duck behind barrels and also have a similar grapple to you to assist them in defending themselves. Now I love my music in computer games and Bionic Commando really pushes the boundaries of greatness. They have taken the original soundtrack, screechy beeps and sampled them over an amazing modern game composition, resulting in one of the few soundtracks in a game that I had to just sit and listen to. In addition to the main game, you also have challenge rooms where you need to get to the finish point as quick as possible using all your swinging skills. There are loads of these dotted around the main game and its here that you can upload your top scores to the Live leaderboards. In addition to the singleplayer mode there is also a 2 player co-op, this is much the same as the main game but the enemies will act differently due to there being two players on the screen, especially the bosses, all of which adds even more value to the game.
I had never played the original on the NES, but after playing this now I regret not having tried this all those years ago. I really cannot fault this game, it has all of indicators of a classic game and my final score reflects this. Get it now.
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