Blaster Master, Ninja Gaiden, Battletoads and yes, Bionic Commando. Some of the hardest games ever to grace the NES console system. Most people are used to jumping over a hole in the ground but not so with Bionic Commando. The addition of the bionic arm made things like hole jumping and the like a bit more difficult, but completely do-able once you understand the nature of things.
Bionic Commando: REarmed is strikingly familiar. NEW graphics, NEW sound and tweaked gameplay can’t hide the 8 bit charm of this title. As you are playing it, you are constantly being amazed how both how faithful a recreation it is, and how could such a game had possible existed in the space of an 8-bit title?
However this isn’t going to be a review of Bionic Commando. We already know that rocks, this is going to touch on some of the improvements and gaming tweaks that Capcom adn GriN have been able to add.
The First thing I noticed is that you can now switch your weapons at will by tapping on the shoulder buttons. A welcome feature that allows you to use the appropriate type of ammo for the appropriate enemy. Not only allows but pretty much requires as some enemies take almost no damage from certain Ammos.
The second is that exploration aspect of the game has only been been enhanced by the addition of Medals which award certain achievements and various Items you can find through the game that buff your attack or defense. One of these Items are shine guards, whos accompanying item unfortunately looks like a pair of bright yellow hip waders, causing me and my friend to constantly exclaim “Oops, I lost my pants” when receiving our first or second hit of a new life.
One little trick, that my co-pilot discovered during gameplay is that if you stop moving back and forth while hanging from your bionic arm, if you shoot the shotgun, the blast gives you momentum and you regain horizontal movement which can help to get you out of a jam.
The Graphics in BC:R are excellent and don’t let the relatively small file size of the game mislead you because there is lots of detail in this game to be noticed. I beleive the most striking thing about the game is the levels of parralax scrolling that visible in the background and forground of the level. Its an old console trick to have multiple layers of background and forground scrolling by at different speeds and it works great here. The lighting system does a great job of adding drama to the maps by highlighting ledges with light and leaving an accompanying shadow.
The Sound in BC:R is remixed tracks from the original game. I have always been a fan of Bionic Commando’s music and the thumping bass of BC:R is certainly welcome. Another detail about BC:R which only helps add to the immersion is when enemies die, they usually fall of the stage, slip off a ledge and fall below using Ragdoll physics. Probably the best use of ragdoll Ive ever seen in a game because unlike a First person game where Ragdoll is immersion killing and overplayed, in BC:R its like a reward for killing the enemy. At least I saw it that way.
BC:R has Single Player, Co-Op and Multiplayer match modes. During my time with the game I was playing Co-op and it was a blast. The only small hiccup that occured during the game, is that it did lock up twice on the PS3 40gb that was being used to play it. It autosaves at the end of the level so it was not a huge loss but was noticeable none the less.
I recommend anyone who loves Bionic Commando to play Rearmed, because it is quite possibly the best game remake to ever grace Modern consoles, and maybe any.
