Color me cynical when it comes to video game resurrections. While I love Space Invaders Extreme, New Super Mario Bros. and Pac-Man: Championship Edition, I absolutely cannot stand Alien Syndrome or Shinobi. So should I be excited about the rebirth of Bionic Commando? I decided to catch up with Capcom today and find out if this will be the must-have retro resurrection of the holiday.
For those that don't remember Bionic Commando, this was a classic arcade (and NES) game that featured a tough-as-nails character who couldn't jump, but instead used his crazy bionic arm to swing around and climb up to regularly unreachable locations. These days the original concept feels outdated, even if the idea is novel. In order to make this franchise relevant again Capcom has decided to upgrade the character, add a bunch of new moves and turn it into a brand new 3D experience.
For the most part the concept worked. The game's controls are tricky at first, but once you get the hang of them (no pun intended) you'll be swinging through the air with the greatest of ease. The gameplay is fast and there's plenty of stuff to shoot at. For whatever reason it isn't real clear on where you're supposed to go, but that doesn't keep it from being a fun experience.
That doesn't mean that this is going to be a must-have title, I can still see this game going either direction. On one hand it's a good looking action game with some neat ideas, but at the same time I'm not sure those ideas are enough to carry it through an entire 10+ hour game. I also don't know how the multiplayer will work, especially after playing so much Lost Planet. At least the gameplay was good, and that was my biggest concern walking into Capcom's meeting room.
Comments
I don't know I saw a demo of it on G4 and the two minutes or so I saw the game looked great but even the developer had a hard time talking about the point of the game and the story line. I have heard you can swing your way just about anywhere which could be fun for a while. If you get another chance at the demo try jumping down from a height that should kill you. Just before you hit the ground use the bionic arm toward the ground and tell me if what happens and if it makes sense to you. Something I saw that didn't look right but want some first hand knowledge of what really happens.
Hopefully Bionic Commando will get the development it needs to be a great game.
There is no fall damage. I actually talked to them about that when I demoed it. They want you to be able to jump around and explore the world without fear of falling to your death. Obviously there will be places where you can fall and die, but those are "never ending pits" ... kind of like we've seen in thousands of other games. But if you can land on a solid surface you will NOT die. Ever. At least that's what they said.
I think the game can go either way, but at the moment I'm not sure what to think. What I played was fun, but I worry that it can get old real quickly.