I had never played the original Bionic Commando, but when I started hearing all the hype for the XBLA/PSN remake, I thought it would be worth checking out. Especially for the lovely little price of $10.
The best thing about the game is the co-op play. Probably the worst thing about the game is the fact that co-op is limited to one console - no online goodness. The often brutal difficulty of BC makes it wonderful to have a friend to back you up - mainly because when you die, you won't be sent back to the last door you went through, but instead resurrect next to the other player. This makes the more frustrating parts of the game that much more bearable because you know that you've got another player to fall back upon.
Enough about co-op, how hard is the game for just one player? It's actually not too bad on the normal level of difficulty, but if you try anything above that be prepared for a serious challenge. While playing through, you can definitely tell that it's a remake of an NES game. It forces you to memorize enemy placements and swing points so that many times your first time working through a level is more about learning where you are expected to go rather than getting all the way through it. This, combined with the inability to jump and the focus on learning how to use the claw really makes the game all that much more rewarding when you finish a level (and not just to see the quips when you fight the bosses). However, there is one piece of the game that feels like a true waste of time to me - the overhead levels.
You see, when you are travelling on the map from one level to the next, there are times when you will randomly encounter a truck on the map that forces you to go into a level with an overhead view (rather than the sidescrolling of the regular levels). The thing that is frustrating about these encounter levels is that they are completely pointless. Aside from being able to pick up a 1up, nothing is accomplished in the level. All I do when I get these encounters is equip my rocket launcher and sprint through the level to destroy the truck at the end, ignoring all guys in my way. Sure, these levels were kind of fun the first few times, but I've grown so sick of doing them that I will waste time on the map to try to go around the trucks.
As I mentioned the rocket launcher earlier, I thought it might be prudent to go ahead and say that the selection of weapons in the game is wonderful. Aside from a few moments in the game that it requires you to use specific weapons, you can go through the entire game using your weapon of choice (mine happens to be the vector cannon, which shoots lasers at an angle). Other choices include the shotgun (good for close combat), the revolver (default weapon, but it's actually really good), or the machine gun (great all-around, but takes time to reload).
The final thing I need to mention about BC:R is the challenge mode. Basically, this is a separate part from the story mode where you are set in an area and told to go from one point to another. It sounds easy, and sure the first few challenges are, but once the difficulty starts to ramp up the game becomes the 7th level of hell. Later challenges require you to hit an exact pixel to survive from one swing to the next, and while it feels rewarding to finish one of these super difficult challenges, failing 20 times in a row on one particular spot is pretty frustrating.
To sum up, especially for only $10 bucks on XBLA or PSN, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a wonderful piece of gaming that really feels like you are playing an NES game (and that's a good thing).
The best thing about the game is the co-op play. Probably the worst thing about the game is the fact that co-op is limited to one console - no online goodness. The often brutal difficulty of BC makes it wonderful to have a friend to back you up - mainly because when you die, you won't be sent back to the last door you went through, but instead resurrect next to the other player. This makes the more frustrating parts of the game that much more bearable because you know that you've got another player to fall back upon.
Enough about co-op, how hard is the game for just one player? It's actually not too bad on the normal level of difficulty, but if you try anything above that be prepared for a serious challenge. While playing through, you can definitely tell that it's a remake of an NES game. It forces you to memorize enemy placements and swing points so that many times your first time working through a level is more about learning where you are expected to go rather than getting all the way through it. This, combined with the inability to jump and the focus on learning how to use the claw really makes the game all that much more rewarding when you finish a level (and not just to see the quips when you fight the bosses). However, there is one piece of the game that feels like a true waste of time to me - the overhead levels.
You see, when you are travelling on the map from one level to the next, there are times when you will randomly encounter a truck on the map that forces you to go into a level with an overhead view (rather than the sidescrolling of the regular levels). The thing that is frustrating about these encounter levels is that they are completely pointless. Aside from being able to pick up a 1up, nothing is accomplished in the level. All I do when I get these encounters is equip my rocket launcher and sprint through the level to destroy the truck at the end, ignoring all guys in my way. Sure, these levels were kind of fun the first few times, but I've grown so sick of doing them that I will waste time on the map to try to go around the trucks.
As I mentioned the rocket launcher earlier, I thought it might be prudent to go ahead and say that the selection of weapons in the game is wonderful. Aside from a few moments in the game that it requires you to use specific weapons, you can go through the entire game using your weapon of choice (mine happens to be the vector cannon, which shoots lasers at an angle). Other choices include the shotgun (good for close combat), the revolver (default weapon, but it's actually really good), or the machine gun (great all-around, but takes time to reload).
The final thing I need to mention about BC:R is the challenge mode. Basically, this is a separate part from the story mode where you are set in an area and told to go from one point to another. It sounds easy, and sure the first few challenges are, but once the difficulty starts to ramp up the game becomes the 7th level of hell. Later challenges require you to hit an exact pixel to survive from one swing to the next, and while it feels rewarding to finish one of these super difficult challenges, failing 20 times in a row on one particular spot is pretty frustrating.
To sum up, especially for only $10 bucks on XBLA or PSN, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is a wonderful piece of gaming that really feels like you are playing an NES game (and that's a good thing).
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