July 30th, 2009

The Grid and Capcom Renewal of the Bionic Hero is Seen as a Solid Return

The “Bionic Commando” has been first introduced to the action games’ fans more than 20 years ago as a release of Capcom Comp. With the 2009 release, gamers can get back into the action playing the same old character Nathan “Rad” Spencer who now has to face situations that are not in his favor, considering that he drew the animosity of the people that in this series are bionically enhanced and sent him to prison for some previous improbable camaraderie. In the prison, waiting for his death sentence, he is found devoid of all his technology; but this situation doesn’t last too long thanks to a group of terrorists (Bio-Reign) who detonates a weapon, at the same time blowing up a large number of population in Ascension City. This situation set the tone for the following action where we find Spencer as a commanding officer in charge to discover what lies behind the terrorist attack.

The gameplay moves mostly around the bionic arm but Spencer is not ready to get back in track so quickly considering that he has been away for so long from his gear, and it will take some time before really plunging into the action. As motions enabled to the character are the several swinging and vertical leaping performed with a help of an arm cable extension and a grappling reticule that turns blue each time you need to connect to a surface. These leaps however must be carefully performed since there is the possibility that you can fall into irradiated areas that will take points from your game scoring. Another ability for Spencer character is punching with his arm to knock objects and throw them toward different targets. You will find the feature that hangs your enemies in the air, thus allowing you to shoot them while they are helpless. But next to these capabilities Spencer is equipped with his old faithful pistol and moving through the action he can also gain other weapons and grenades and a helping hand from Super Joe, his attendance in fighting actions.

The purpose of your actions is not necessary to accomplish all the tasks in order to finish the title, but to play the tasks from beginning to end. During these tasks a lot of challenges are displayed, together with a series of bonus provisions, such as additional armors, or increased size of the grenades or weapons to be carried. The linearity of the game doesn’t allow you to go back and finish some tasks that might otherwise give you access to hidden things to be collected.

The game is playable also in multiplayer version with Detahmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes, and the multitude of details spread around the game field renders the Bionic Commando an impressive aspect. The Grid and Capcom renewal of the Bionic hero is seen as a solid return and scores the game at 7.5 points (out of 10 being the best) on IGN rating meaning a good overall.