As I sit here listening to the Bionic Commando soundtrack (which I highly recommend, if you're into that sort of thing) I can't help recall fond memories of that red-headed step child of the Capcom family.
It had it's problems (difficulty curve, generic enemies, difficulty curve... uhhh did I mention the curve... It was difficult) but that game had a lot of great set pieces in it. The environments looked amazing and coupled with the score + sound fx elevated most engagements to action movie levels of excitement (of course this wore off around the 12th retry). The swing mechanic was incredibly well done and was challenging enough so that when you pulled off something awesome (Air Jacking, the perfect swing into a group of soliders, etc) you firsts were up and they were pumping. Possibly with some woohooing or my personal face 'Yipee-ki-yay mother fscker'.
What I remember the most though is the story and how it melded with the boss battles the last two in particular. I won't spoil anything here but they are both epic but with an undertone of  deep sadness. Reviews tend to focus a lot of just how angry every character however in the context of the story there is some justification for it.
So cheers to you GRIN for making a worthy reboot of a series even if it didn't get the accolades it deserved.

As I sit here listening to the Bionic Commando soundtrack (which I highly recommend, if you're into that sort of thing) I can't help recall fond memories of that red-headed step child of the Capcom family.
It had it's problems (difficulty curve, generic enemies, difficulty curve... uhhh did I mention the curve... It was difficult) but that game had a lot of great set pieces in it. The environments looked amazing and coupled with the score + sound fx elevated most engagements to action movie levels of excitement (of course this wore off around the 12th retry). The swing mechanic was incredibly well done and was challenging enough so that when you pulled off something awesome (Air Jacking, the perfect swing into a group of soliders, etc) you firsts were up and they were pumping. Possibly with some woohooing or my personal face 'Yipee-ki-yay mother fscker'.
What I remember the most though is the story and how it melded with the boss battles the last two in particular. I won't spoil anything here but they are both epic but with an undertone of  deep sadness. Reviews tend to focus a lot of just how angry every character however in the context of the story there is some justification for it.
So cheers to you GRIN for making a worthy reboot of a series even if it didn't get the accolades it deserved.

I agree. Bionic Commando was definitely my sleeper hit of last year and with a little bit of tweaking, it could have been comthing special. Spencer himself was the real problem for me, with terrible one liners, a horrible voice and far too much forced baditude. Had he been played a little straighter, and better, the game could have had a larger appeal.

At the core I don't think there was anything too wrong with Spencer but the voice was just way too... Intense. I wouldn't want to see this guy at the DMV or trying to return a sweater at a department store.
Funny enough though it did see to play into the last minutes of the game (RAGE BUTT) though I had to re-watch it to make sure that my memories matched what actually happened.

Spencer was a jackass. But that game, in terms of its gameplay, was absolutely unique and golden. I'm still hoping for a sequel, because it was so close to being really, really special.   Will be a while before i play it again though; I tried to S-rank it and had every collectible and challenge up until the second third of the game when a poorly telegraphed level exit fucked up my streak and autosaved on the next level. Which, as you know ,means if i want to S-rank it i have to start allll over again and do the same god damn chore. It just made me really sad haha. 
 
But by all means. Fantastic experience otherwise.

Bionic Commando probably had the most over-looked soundtrack of last year. While ReArmed got a lot of attention of remixing those classic tunes into something techno oriented, Bionic Command did full symphonic suites of those classic tunes. It was really great stuff. 
 
As for the overall quality of the game: All over the damn place. The script for Spencer turned him into an unlikable turd, and the final plot twist ("wife -arm") was fair game for a torrent of jokes. The swing mechanics difficulty curve was too high, and even through multiple playthroughs, even after "I got it" there would be situations where something wouldn't go right leaving me to bask in a cornucopia of confusion. 
 
...and before anyone asks...

Bionic Commando Last played on June 19, 2009

1000/1000 P

49/49 ACH

3259 players

I enjoyed Bionic Commando, but the plot twist at the end was just stupid. It became a recurring joke on the Joystiq podcast.
 
SPOILERS! 
  

I really enjoyed Bionic Commando. Although it had a few flaws and brow-creasing design decisions, on the whole it was a solid, good looking game with swags of satisfying action. I really should pick it up on the cheap and finish off those last three cheevos.