Developer: GRIN

Publisher: Capcom

Release Date: May 19, 2009

Systems: Xbox 360 (reviewed), PS3, PC

ESRB Rating: M

Official Web site

0:00 I wasn't too enamored with a quick five-minute demo of an early version of this game at CES, but it's Capcom, so it gets the benefit of the doubt for the full release.

0:01 An obligatory downloadable update, some loading, and the Capcom logo appears with the familiar old-school jingle. Yay!

0:02 The title floats on a light-blue background with soft, haunting piano music. I thought this was an action game. Why's the music going all emo on me?

0:03 I choose options from the circular menus using what looks like a length of pulsating black fiber-optic cable. Is that supposed to be the bionic arm? Ew.

0:04 Difficulty Settings are "Normal," "Hard" and "Commando." I'm guessing Commando is supposed to be harder than Hard, but it's really not clear on this circular menu ... Normal is normal enough for me, anyway.

0:05 I can see which button does what on an interactive loading screen. Then we fall slowly through the cloud cover to an overhead view of "Ascension City," by the bay. Gentle strings play in the background as a nuclear weapon goes off, disabling the camera. "Let me tell you about the man I met when I was still young..." Hmmm, that sounds familiar. So bionic soldiers were heroes, but the public turned on them. "They called them dangerous, crazy, not completely human. Bionics were a public menace." One was sentenced to death. "This is where our story begins..."

0:07 Cut to a plane with a grinning face painted on it, sitting in a hangar. "Spencer, you finally arrived," says a man in a suit. Spencer is a bionic soldier with no arm on his left side. Some expository dialogue reveals that he was saved from execution to help infiltrate post-bombing Ascension City, which is being controlled by "pro-bionic terrorists." "I'm just a man, Spencer," says Mr. Suit. "I can't give you the last five years back, but I can give you this." He hands over a picture... "What the f*** does this have to do with Emily," Spencer growls. Apparently Mr. Suit can help Spencer find her. "The clock is ticking ... are you in or out?" He's in, and as they lower his arm down via crane you can see the faintest hint of a smile go across his lips.

0:09 Cut to fighter jets burning the diesel over the ocean. They fire two missiles into a building in Ascension City. "Package Delivered. Heading Home." Then ... more loading! Hooray!

0:11 Spencer jumps out of his pod. "Now, where did the rest of me land?" I'm finally in control. "FIND your Bionic Arm," says a message in the corner. Good advice!

0:13 Standard third-person dual-stick controls. Spencer has a huge jump ... like 20 feet from a standing start easily. I take out an enemy that comes around the corner without even thinking about it. "Nailed ya!" Spencer yells in triumph.

0:14 Nice lighting effects from an enemy flashlight through a set of ruined cubicles. I navigate through the pieces of downed drywall and floating bits of paper to take him out. "Eat that!" Man, Spencer has some anger management problems.

0:16 Holding LB and moving he left stick does a nice little evasive roll. Doesn't seem too necessary for the current fights, but I'll have to remember it for later.

0:17 I find a "collectible" in a blue orb floating in the otherwise deserted office. I like the little trumpet flourish that plays when I collect it, but it seems horribly out of place. Ruins the ambiance quite a bit.

0:18 "Close Up Challenge: Shoot an enemy while zoomed in to complete the challenge." OK then. Challenge complete. My reward is ... more precision for my gun. Five Gamerscore points for my trouble as well.

0:19 Down some stairs and I stumble on the other pod. Spencer takes out an enemy soldier and picks up his bionic arm from the pod. "This is gonna hurt," Spencer says to no one in particular as he puts the arm in its metal socket. He screams in pain and slumps against the wall as the scene fades to white. When he wakes up, there's a girl in front of him. "Emily?" He reaches out but she runs away through a viewscreen. Then cut to a third-person view of Spencer beating a guy in a suit while someone else watches with crossed arms. Strong Metal Gear Solid influence in these scenes ... that's not necessarily a good thing.

0:22 So now we're in a VR training-type environment, learning how to use the new bionic arm. I aim and shoot it out at an exposed beam, gain some momentum, then let go to fly to a nearby platform. Seems simple enough in this sterile environment, at least.

0:25 Now I have to release my swing and grab another beam in midair. Not so easy to aim for the new beam while flying through the air, but the nice, floaty swing makes it doable after a few tries.

0:28 More swinging practice, this time with three beams arranged in a side-to-side pattern. I'm having real trouble releasing at the right time ... too late and I have no forward momentum; too early and I just fall straight down. The game seems pretty forgiving about my aim at the beams, though.

0:29 Ah ... if I hold down the swing button, the game will automatically find the nearest beam. This seems like a crucial improvement.

0:30 A few more moves round out the trainings ... kicking, punching, throwing, a "death from above" attack ... you know, the usual. Except now they all have a bionic arm in the mix!

0:33 Back to the actual game, or to a cut-scene approximation of same. A guy with a gun-and-flashlight combo comes upon the dead body I left outside the capsule. "Outpost, do you read me? We have hostiles within the perimeter." Before he can continue his report, I latch onto his FACE with my bionic arm, reel him in, and punch him into the wall. What am I, Scorpion? GET OVER HERE!

0:35 Heading outside the office through a big hole in the wall. "Take a leap of faith," says the game. I do, hold down the swing button and hoping to latch onto something. I finally hook to an NVIDIA billboard (really?) and then a marquee for a hotel, alighting on the top of a narrow beam. Thrilling!

0:36 A radiation warning just popped up as I was wandering around the ruins of the streets. The game said to "keep moving," so I do ... but the radiation beeping only gets stronger. I'm dead within five seconds. Grumble...

0:38 Oh, I was supposed to go into an exposed sewer pipe instead of wandering around the streets. Duh!

0:40 The ground is rumbling as I continue to run/swing through the wasteland. In the distance, a huge building comes tumbling down. "Shit," says Spencer as the ground shakes even more and I'm forced to stop and kneel for stability. A bit overdramatic for me.

0:42 I'm kind of getting the hang of this swinging stuff. I'm learning how to look skyward for attachable stuff and release at the right time for maximum airtime and distance. I even manage to train on two midair collectibles.

0:44 I'm liking the subtle yellow waypoint dots that point me in the right direction. I don't like the constant loading screens -- makes the game feel like a set of disconnected areas rather than a real city.

0:45 Go off the beaten path looking for collectible stuff but I get another radiation warning. I turn back the way I came and try to get back, but I get a "Game Over" before I can get safe again. Sigh.

0:46 Four or five gun-toting soldiers are guarding the mechanical relay that I'm trying to hack. I try using my grab-and-kick move on one of them -- it doesn't work too well, as I get shot dead while I'm flying through the air toward his face. Oh well, at least I got 10 Gamerscore points for the kicks I manage to get in.

0:48 This time I use plain old bullets to take out the guys. Much better! When I hack the relay I get a bunch of backstory text documents that I find I can't bring myself to care about.

0:51 A monorail car embedded in a building is blocking "my only way through," according to a voice in my ear. Um, I have a super-powered bionic arm. Can't I just break through any old window? No? OK, I guess I'll use my suddenly newfound ripping ability to pull the monorail car out of the building. Why not?

0:52 "Everybody, open fire," says a soldier as I approach. Of course, he doesn't fire while saying this, allowing me to kill him mid-word. Idiot.

0:53 Quote of the moment, from Spencer as he spies dozens of floating mines filling the sky: "Hmmm ... mines..."

@@

0:56 Spencer just made the most ridiculous, Texas-ified "YeeHAW!" as he took out some enemies with punches. This voice acting is really getting on my nerves.

0:59 Took out some enemies, deactivated the minefield. Yay?

Would I play this game for more than an hour? Yes.


Why? The shooting bits are already getting a little tired, but the thrill of swinging through the air is enough to keep me going for now. Hopefully the rest of the game focuses on the latter rather than the former.

This column is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.



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Don't miss Scott Jones' review of Bionic Commando.