Done in a Robot Chicken look, check out this YouTube video featuring original sound, visuals plus Master D’s exploding cranium… after the credits of course.  In glorious side-scrolling 2D LEGO!

source

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In the mid 1980s, most side-scrolling platformers were almost identical to one another: walk to the right of the level, jump on your enemies, and save a princess in some castle.  Bionic Commando changed what we thought a traditional side-scrolling platformer could be by completely removing the ability to jump, instead giving the hero a bionic arm which he used to grab onto various parts of the level and swing from one place to another.

It’s been over 20 years since Nathan “RAD” Spencer set foot in the video game world.  Capcom sets to breathe life into one of its oldest games with the release of Bionic Commando.  Is this game a breath of fresh air or one where noses need to be pinched?

You play as Nathan “RAD” Spencer 5 years after the events of the original Bionic Commando.  We find out the government betrayed Spencer after the events of the original game by imprisoning him and sentencing him to death for disobeying a direct order from his superiors.  On the day of his execution, he is released in order to fight a terrorist group known as BioReign, who have detonated a massive experimental weapon in Ascension City, which has left the city in rubble and wiped out its inhabitants.

The game starts off with Spencer and his Bionic Arm being shot in a missle enclosure into the warzone.  Since it’s kind of hard to target two missles to hit the same location, you need to make your way through a destroyed office building to look for your other half.  The levels in Bionic Commando vary a bit, but they all have one thing in common: utter destruction.  Highways are torn in half, buildings are on the verge of collapsing, and there are radiation fields that Spencer is highly sensitive to which could mean death if you don’t watch your step.

As far as your abilities go, Spencer can only do some basic moves due to being inactive for 5 years.  As you progress through the game, you will be able to perform more advanced moves such as being able to whip your Bionic Arm around to attack enemies at all sides, or pick up an enemy and fling him into next week.  The same goes for your arsenal as well.  You start off with only a pistol, but as you progress you’ll be sent more weapons from Super Joe in order to help.  I wasn’t fond of both your limited amount of ammo and only having one slot dedicated to more advanced weaponry.  I guess the developers wanted the player to rely on using the surroundings and their bionic arm more to handle their enemies than using firearms, but when you attack with your arm or throw objects with it, it feels like you are cheapening the game experience by going for the “instant kill” instead of the challenge of using your gun.  Don’t get me wrong; most of the enemies go down almost as easy as the enemies in the 8-bit game, but they go down a lot quicker when your arm is involved.

Boss battles are fun as they challenge you to not only be quick on your toes, but to read patterns that will help you succeed in defeating the boss.  Some might require you to move fast by swinging from one place to another, or to wait patiently to attack at just the right moment.  One thing Bionic Commando could have used was more engaging boss battles and less firefights with generic thugs that populate the game world.

The swinging mechanic in Bionic Commando is also one that deserves praise.  A cursor separate from your aiming reticule pops up whenever you are close to something you can latch on to.  It works great as you don’t have to aim exactly where you’d like to attach your arm to, instead the swinging reticule will pop up on certain parts of the screen.  As you swing, there’s another on-screen icon that comes up that will help you achieve a greater distance if you release your swing in time.  There’s definitely a learning curve when it comes to swinging, but practice makes perfect in this case.

Bionic Commando suffers from terrible choice of loading areas.  Levels feel less like an open-world adventure and more like you’re making your way past level 1-1 to get to level 1-2.  This isn’t remedied by the fact that when you reach the end of a level, the action is put to a halt with a loading screen for the next level.  The loading screens also become a nuisance to stare at as it’s the same screen throughout the entire game.  If I’ve been playing for 5+ hours, I think I already got the control scheme down well enough that I don’t have to stare at a controller pointing out what each button does.

Old-school gamers will be happy to hear that even though the game’s graphics got completely overhauled for next-gen systems, the gameplay and the overall vibe of the game stays true to the original 8-bit classic.  During missions, you are encouraged to search for collectibles, which are simply floating 8-bit icons that represent different things from the original game.  Early on in the game, you are thrown into a VR simulation where you are dressed as how Spencer looked in the 80s.  You also hack into terminals to deactivate mine fields so you can progress through the level as well as learn the enemies’ secrets, similar to the terminals that needed to be hacked in the original Bionic Commando.

The game’s multiplayer brings all that you’ve learned in the single player experience and allows you to challenge up to 7 of your friends for online Bionic Commando combat.  The game modes are slim pickings as the game offers Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag.  Most of the levels are levels from the single player game with a tweak here and there in order to better the multiplayer experience.  Your stats are also recorded along with every other Bionic Commando player where you can compare how you rank with your friends and other players.

FINAL THOUGHT: Bionic Commando will be an easy sell for any old-school gamer who wants to relive the original game’s experience in a next-gen coating.  Although most players will be turned off by the game’s simplicity, frequent loading times, and lack of original multiplayer game modes.

6/10

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Bionic Commando hasn’t hit store shelves, but a sequel for the title might possibly be in the works according to a morse code message that can be found in Bionic Commando.

The morse code, after it’s deciphered, is the following message:

BESTAETIGE AUSFUEHRUNG VON PHASE ZWEI VORBEREITET AKTIVIERE PROJEKT ALBATROSS

Thanks to Google Translator, that message translates to:

CONFIRM THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PHASE TWO PROJECT PREPARED ACTIVATE ALBATROSS

For those of you who recall the original Bionic Commando, the purpose of Project Albatross was to ressurect Master-D (or Hitler in the Japanese version).  Could this message, which was written in German, also mean that the leader of the Nazi regime will be making an appearance in the sequel?

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If I’ve learned anything from this video, it’s that you never — NEVER high-five anyone in an office setting, let alone a guy with a huge bionic arm.

I also wonder how he was hired in the first place?  I mean, if I was the HR rep for that office, seeing someone come in with a hulking bionic arm might set off a couple of flags in my head for the health risk of being near Nathan Spencer.

And who made him middle manager??  How did Nathan work his way up all of these years with his obvious disability having that arm attached to him to become a middle manager.  Sure it can do some pretty neat things, but the man probably can’t even clean up after himself when he’s done in the bathroom.

Video after ze break

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Fans of the 2D NES version of Bionic Commando may need to keep the past, in the past.  It’s like the Star Wars saga especially Episode IV.  Before they “modified” Star Wars: A New Hope it was considered a masterpiece that should never be touched, fixed, corrected.  With the technologies available today, Star Wars: A New Hope can be phenominal.  Ok, enough SW talk.  Enjoy these screens for the upcoming Bionic Commando hitting shops on May 19th.

The events of the game take place ten years after the NES installment. According to Capcom’s press release, this iteration follows Nathan “RAD” Spencer, and a government operative working in the fictional Ascension City and an Operative for the Tactical Arms and Security Committee or T.A.S.C which specializes in training bionic commandos like Spencer. After he is betrayed by his own government and falsely imprisoned, the Great Bionic Purge begins.

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See what I did there with the subject? I bet no other journalist thought of incorporating the fact that there’s a lot of swinging in Bionic Commando into their article’s subjects. That’s the kind of extra effort we give here at PerezStart.

Enough of my self praise.  Capcom announced today that a multiplayer demo will be making its way to the Xbox Live Marketplace in the coming weeks.  The demo will feature the “Vertigo” map where 8 players can do battle in Deathmatch matches.  This is only a tip of the iceberg as the full game will feature 16 multiplayer maps in total when the game hits retail stores on May 19th.

The Playstation 3’s demo has yet to be announced.  We reached out to Capcom for a comment on when PS3 owners can expect the demo. As soon as we hear back from them, we’ll be sure to update you all.

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When I think of Bionic Commando, I think of the old-school game where you swing from place to place to reach the end of the level.  Capcom is reviatlizing the Bionic Commando franchise to this current generation of game platforms. Last summer, they released Bionic Commando Rearmed which was the old-school game that we all know and love, but with some much needed upgrades to both the graphics and to the control mechanics.  Needless to say it was a huge success, and Capcom is soon going to release the sequel on May 15th, 2009.

If you think this game will include swinging from place to place, then give yourself a cookie.  If you think that’s the only thing that will be featured in the new Bionic Commando, then I command you to throw away that cookie immediately! When you’re done, please watch the video above and educate yourself with all of the awesome things the Bionic Arm can do in the upcoming Bionic Commando.

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It’s been a long 20 years (yes, some feel short) since we last saw the NES classic, Bionic Commando, hit our 8-bit systems.  So I think it’s time to see what our slinky armed friend has been up to.  Bionic Commando will ship to retailers in North America on Tuesday, May 19, 2009 for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Reloaded for the latest generation of hardware, Bionic Commando sees the return of the ultimate fusion of man and machine as Nathan Spencer is back as a government operative who, after distinguishing himself in a fierce conflict against the Imperials, is betrayed and falsely imprisoned by the very people he unquestioningly served.   However, when bio terrorists detonate an experimental device over Ascension City and then occupy it, there is only one option open to the authorities – reactivate Nathan Spencer.

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