State of Emergency

A lot like a summer film, Bionic Commando doesn't pull off all the things you might expect it to, but it does enough to keep you entertained for a few hours and presents itself well while it's at it. It won't be the best game you'll play all year, but a few neat gimmicks and a good presentation make it a great game to burn through in your off-time. It's not quite good enough to pay full price for, but a rental will give you all the time you need to experience this brief action game.

It's a bit funny and a bit embarrassing to see Capcom and Swedish developer Grin try to bring the world of Bionic Commando into 2009. Essentially, some pro-bionic terrorists are wreaking havoc on Ascension City, taking retribution for the government's dismantling of bionic soldiers after the events of the first game. They're definitely going for some sort of re-branding of the series, but it all just comes off very poorly. The voice acting is horrendous, especially for Nathan Spencer, your character. Almost every other character pipes in through your radio, and luckily the distortion effects on them mask their lacking performances a little. It's got a lot of content problems too, coming across as an ill conceived Jerry Bruckheimer film. Some developments finally start cropping up after hours of some very brief text boxes you've been reading prior. At that point, though, what's the use? Characters like Super Joe or “Rad” Spencer are way too one-dimensional to feel anything for, and no love subplots or other narrative muck (like embarrassingly corny Nazi caricatures) can change that. The original game (and the Rearmed version) revel in their corniness. This sequel, though, is desperately trying to take itself seriously, and to be blunt, it fails.

Luckily, it's easy to set aside a butchered story in this game. In exchange for information about his wife's mysterious disappearance, Spencer decides to help the government mop up the pro-bionics in the city, as it happens, with a bionic arm. The gameplay is a little hard to classify, because there's not as much combat in Bionic Commando as you might expect. A lot of areas have little resistance, and sometimes none at all, challenging you to navigate the shattered urban sprawl with your arm. Swinging is introduced almost immediately and remains integral to the end. It can take a few minutes to come to terms with the properties of the swing, but a blue “swing meter” ensures you won't be lost for long. About halfway through the game's first act, you'll be pretty much at terms with it, and it's great to swing briskly along the city ruins, across disabled minefields, underground on cave walls, or on the gigantic trees in the Ascension City park.

However, the game quickly tightens the leash on your freedoms. Bionic Commando is a linear game by nature, with you following a series of green waypoints from beginning to end. Within each area, though, permeates a large amount of radiation, its thick blue clouds locking you into a very specific path. Trying to explore the levels usually leads to you entering a radiation zone, and if you can't get out within a few seconds, you're dead. It seems like a bit of a harsh penalty for simply wanting to make the most of your arm, and it gets particularly annoying toward the end, where you'll need to swing away from intense fire fights to recharge some health, only to be unceremoniously killed by a blue cloud.

The actual gunplay fares worse, with a small selection of weapons that just don't feel very good. They sound and look puny, with the exception of the excellent Tarantula rocket launcher, although you won't be seeing it much. Combat improves as the game goes on, since you'll unlock some kiting and throwing moves for your arm that let you fling bodies around the level. Even at its best though, the fights in Bionic Commando feel a bit unimpressive, lacking in punch. Even the more complex mech units fail to add much more of a dimension other than having to circumvent to an enemy's back to attack a weak spot.

A lot of Bionic Commando feels unpolished and a bit drab, although a few excellent elements stand out to keep things afloat. The first are the linear but tightly wound swinging segments, where you have to quickly swing around a closed-in circuit. Timing several swings in a row and watching as Spencer extends out his limbs in free-flight is definitely one of the game's highlights. Some of the game's later encounters have a great chase feel to them, having you swoop in, attack, and swing out of harm's way before the enemy can retaliate.

These mechanics are at their best during the game's boss fights. Put simply, the big encounters in Bionic Commando are terrific. Spencer will be up against huge mechs, aircraft, a gigantic metallic worm, among other things, and all of them demand some quick reflexes and switch seamlessly between offensive and evasive swinging. Of all the things you'll encounter in Bionic Commando, these fights will definitely stick with you the longest. It's moments like these, though, that make the rest of the game that much more tragic. The developers have crafted some exciting moments where you must use your guns, arm swinging, and grapple attacks all in quick succession. When it comes to sustaining that level of intensity though, it falters, and the game sets into a slump. Usually you are faced with very short swinging sections that end abruptly and scrape into some flat combat against the same basic drones you fight the whole way through the campaign.

Admittedly, that's a pretty bleak look on Bionic Commando. It's not that it's a bad game to play; it's just very average. In the world of shooters and action games its fairly unique, and in some spots, it's a genuine pleasure to swing around like the unstoppable bionic soldier that you are. In the end, though, there's just too many drawbacks to make you want to stick with this game after its fairly brief campaign ends. It definitely won't replace your multiplayer shooter of choice, either, with some very basic deathmatch and capture modes available. Bionic Commando gives you some fun high-strung action. But it just isn't that fulfilling, even if some amazing set pieces do make it worth a look.