During these ten years, it transpires that bionics have been outlawed, leaving protagonist Nathan ‘RAD’ Spencer shorn of his mechanical appendage, betrayed by his own government and falsely imprisoned. Also in this time, terrorist group BioReign have taken over Ascension City, following the detonation of a highly destructive weapon that has left the area a predominantly submerged, radioactive, post-apocalyptic wasteland, which prompts Spencer’s release. Emerging from his cell looking like a steroid fuelled Mick Hucknall, complete with mop of red dreadlocks, but voiced by Faith No More frontman Mike Patton, Spencer is reunited with his bionic arm and with Super Joe, who now acts as your commander with helpful voiceovers out in the field. Inevitably, the fate of Ascension City rests on your single robotic shoulder as you venture out into the ravaged urban nightmare and take on the despotic BioReign faction.
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| Getting your swing momentum just right is very rewarding. Hitting the invisible ceiling at the peak of your swing isn't. | Visually, Bionic Commando is actually rather accomplished although some locales can become a tad samey. The depth of field effect is very nicely done though. |
Initially, we thought Bionic Commando was going to be an open-world game, with your swinging antics unencumbered by boundaries and limitations. In reality, the game is resolutely linear, with the streets and vertiginous heights hemmed in by radiation as indicated by a symbol and Geiger counter clicking sound whenever you attempt to breach the boundaries. Wander too far into the limbo of these noxious radioactive zones and you’ll be dead within seconds. Similarly, the majority of Ascension City is beneath water and should you plunge beneath even a few feet of the wet stuff, the weight of Spencer’s arm will drag him below the surface unless you can quickly find a way to tether yourself to safety amid the panic of drowning.
Annoyingly, this can become a regular occurrence, as sometimes it’s difficult to gauge whether or not you can make a particularly ambitious leap without missing your grappling point entirely. The way in which the grappling system has been implemented is for the most part excellent however, giving you a context sensitive crosshair that goes grey if you’re not close enough to your target and lights up blue if you’re within reach. Swinging is great fun once you get the timing right and learn to release at the right time before you hit the invisible ceiling that prevents you from swinging over a full 360 degrees. Annoyingly, it’s this glass barrier that sometimes stops your momentum dead and leads to a fall that leaves you desperately stabbing the trigger in an attempt to latch onto anything before you end up sinking in the drink below.
Mercifully, most of the environment is interactive and will work with your grappling hook arm if the reticule indicates. Yet, inexplicably some portions of the scenery remain off limits, acting as an obstruction to allowing you complete freedom to explore the areas that aren’t waterlogged or plagued by purple clouds of nuclear fallout. Bionic Commando’s levels stretch to take in far off locations with GRIN’s proprietary Diesel Engine providing a robust draw distance that creates the illusion of a sprawling open-world, but when so many limitations are imposed upon your progress and extent to explore your surroundings, it’s hard not to feel slightly short-changed.
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| This Baraq helicopter is easy to dispatch once you realise how to overcome the countermeasures it launches to send your heat-seeking missiles packing. | Spencer's swan dive facilitates reaching some of the more inaccessible swing points. You can’t always rely on it though. |
Once you’ve grasped the fact that Bionic Commando isn’t the expansive sandbox experience you thought it might be, you begin to appreciate it for the solid action adventure it is, even in spite of it’s numerous tics and idiosyncrasies. As frustrating as it can be at times, it’s still an enjoyable and entertaining game while it lasts and this is all due in no small part to Spencer’s versatile bionic arm, a mass of heavy metal and tendon-like wiring bolted to his left shoulder, which is clearly the game’s main selling point and star of the show. At the beginning of the game, the abilities assigned to your arm are quite paltry, with only Spider-Man-style swinging and a light punch in your repertoire. The game’s early tutorial takes place in the past before Spencer was imprisoned and looked a whole lot cooler in a retro kinda way with his cropped red hair and aviator sunglasses as seen in Rearmed. During this tutorial, you’re divulged a tantalising glimpse of the extra abilities you’ll earn along the way as the game unfolds and Spencer gradually recalls his old moves one at a time. As you unlock each new move, the game becomes more and more fun little by little. Using your arm to kite objects into the air and throw them across great distances is a joy for instance, as is building up your adrenaline meter to unleash a vicious spinning whip attack that takes out any enemies in the immediate vicinity.
In traditional videogame style, each unlockable ability is drip-fed to you as and when you need it, so the earlier sections are spent mastering the swing technique and honing your shooting skills. The game solely depends on the pursuit of Spencer’s nascent abilities to add zest to the game’s combat since the hand wielded weapons are fairly standard fare ranging from your default handgun, sniper rifle and grenade launcher. A rigidly linear structure based on reaching green waypoints and hacking relays to deactivate impeding mines would also be cripplingly dull were it not for the method by which you navigate Ascension City and the growing range of combat options at your disposal. There are moments too where you feel that some of the environments you visit are needlessly vast with little to do in them other than swing towards your next objective. BioReign soldiers also crop up less frequently than they perhaps should, although the odd boss encounter spices things up when you’re spoiling for a fight.
Bionic Commando is a decent enough stab at revamping an old IP for current-gen consoles and is likeable enough to warrant a thorough playthrough. There’s a fairly nice multiplayer mode included too, which successfully transfers Spencer’s abilities over to your own non-descript bionic soldier that you can play as online. The appeal of both single and multiplayer experiences are somewhat short-lived however, and once you’ve got the measure of each, you’ll be hard pushed to return to them. The core single-player campaign offers a fair few hours of gameplay for your money, although very few junctures are particularly memorable. As a mix of Crackdown-like superpowers and Spider-Man swinging though, Bionic Commando is largely successful. Its only failings are that on the surface it promises so much, yet only manages to deliver on some of that initial promise. Nonetheless, it progressively becomes easier for you to forgive the games shortcomings once you persevere and inevitably get into the swing of things.
BIONIC COMMANDO VERDICT
Bionic Commando is a decent enough stab at revamping an old IP for current-gen consoles and is likeable enough to warrant a thorough playthrough. There’s a fairly nice multiplayer mode included too, which successfully transfers Spencer’s abilities over to your own non-descript bionic soldier that you can play as online. The appeal of both single and multiplayer experiences are somewhat short-lived however, and once you’ve got the measure of each, you’ll be hard pushed to return to them. The core single-player campaign offers a fair few hours of gameplay for your money, although very few junctures are particularly memorable. As a mix of Crackdown-like superpowers and Spider-Man swinging though, Bionic Commando is largely successful. Its only failings are that on the surface it promises so much, yet only manages to deliver on some of that initial promise. Nonetheless, it progressively becomes easier for you to forgive the games shortcomings once you persevere and inevitably get into the swing of things.
TOP GAME MOMENT
Throwing a giant boulder across a gaping chasm into the face of a BioReign soldier. Picking up an enemy and casting him into the same chasm comes a very close second.
