Not only is this a pretty cool picture of something you can do in the game, it also represents pretty well the nosedive that reviews of this game took as soon as it came out. I think that this game was treated pretty unfairly when games that keep doing the same thing over and over again, like oh, say, Halo and Gears of Wars (although I'll admit, 2 wasn't half bad, mostly that part where you are in a tank, because, well, tanks are awesome), get huge scores on video game websites. Is this because they were paid off? We may never know! But I have some theories. It might be obvious, perhaps even glaringly obvious, that when you come to this blog, you may realize that I am not a big fan of Microsoft. I've had four broken 360s and after the power cord (that godforsaken $100 monstrosity brick known as the power cord) went to hell on my FIFTH one, I was a tad peeved with the 360. It was then I sort of permanently switched over to PS3 games, and while my reviews for next gen stuff can be universal, I'm almost always talking about the PS3 version unless its a 360 exclusive (and since those exclusives mostly consist of Halo and Gears of War, don't expect any of those reviews any time soon). But ok, enough of one of the staples on this little blog here, the Clev rant, and on to this great and overlooked game.
The first thing that I probably don't need to tell you after you've seen these two pictures is, this is an awesome looking game. Even gives the recent Resident Evil 5 a run for its money in terms of graphical accomplishments, and thems big words indeed. Some of the cut scenes between characters don't really look the best, and of course those crazy people in the video game world still can't seem to get down the lip synching so the words will come in odd places, but if you don't worry about that stuff much, the places you have to climb and the stuff you have to shoot is very, very pretty. I might even make the completely insane claim that this is the prettiest next-gen game I have played so far. I know, I know, and I'm not even drunk! But seriously, seeing this game in motion really impressed me. I read a couple advance reviews of this game and frankly didn't expect a whole lot, and I figured it would look like all the other action games out there - like Wolverine, Force Unleashed, and the upcoming Batman game. Not that those games are ugly, they aren't - they just all seem to have a similar pattern to their graphics and the way stuff moves. Bionic Commando doesn't have much in common with any of those games, even though some people might want you to think that. For one, it isn't an open-ended game, one of them "sandbox" dealies that are all the rage these days. It may trick you into thinking its open world because some of the places you have to explore are MASSIVE, but it keeps you in check by this little gimmick called "radiation", which is basically a sort of goofy looking fog that is not so good for you fall into. It may bother people that you can't really go ANYWHERE you want, but the truth is, its pretty damn close to letting you do whatever you want. And how you fly all over to these buildings and cranes and poles n such is something that some people will love, and some people will hate, which is perhaps the reason for the mixed (read: mostly bad) reviews of this great and different game.
I'm talking about the Bionic Arm, and since pictures of the actual PS3 game are in short supply on the innernets, heres a picture of what it is from the recent remake of the old Bionic Commando on nintendo, which is of course the reason we have the new one today. That one will only set you back like $10 anymore so theres really no excuse for you if you haven't played that. The nintendo one was a classic, even if it didn't have a *!)>#@ jump button (that was a swear word, if you hadn't noticed), and surprise! This remake didn't either, but you get around it by swinging all over the place on your grappling hook. Now, everyone should pretty much respect the idea that a grappling hook is awesome. It's just a given. And WHY is it a given exactly? Simple. Because ninjas use them. And ninjas are awesome. But anyways, not one to mess with tradition, in the next gen Bionic Commando, you have your trusty grappling hook again. The problem here is the same with the other Bionic Commandos: it has a pretty stiff learning curve. You are going to want to spend a few extra minutes in the practice areas (whereas most real mean skip right past these and CERTAINLY don't read the instruction book, you may want to do that this time), because getting the hang (PUN!) of how to use your hook takes a bit of work. Mostly because with the other ones you were confined to sweet, glorious 2D, this one has you in 3D. So yes, it has a bit of a learning curve, but so what? Once you are about an hour in you'll be swinging around like a little dumb looking monkey with dreds that swears too much, because well...thats pretty much what your main character is.
So heres another thing people complain about: the story. Truth be told? It sucks. Its terrible. You won't give a rats ass about all of these unlikeable characters, you might think its cool (I don't) that Nathan "RAD" Spencer (I'm not kidding, I didn't make that up, Capcom did) is voiced by Mike Patton of Faith No More fame and occasionally you may find a TV or stereo playing a Faith No More song, which is kinda neat I suppose, but you won't care at all what he has to say. He's the standard authority hating douchebag that we've seen in thousands of other games over the past couple of years. He's stupid. You can skip right on past most of the cut scenes really...EXCEPT the ending. I won't give too much away of course, but needless to say, ol' RAD (I just shuddered as I typed that) redeems himself pretty nicely and it gives a decent amount of closure to the story you probably didn't care about.
So, if the story sucks, why play it then? Simple: because its fun as hell. Everything feels natural in it, nothing is stilted, the hook might be at first, but once you get the hang (Pun again! OH!) of it you'll be swinging around like a madman and trying for all those crazy rewards for the challenges. Thats more of an incentive to play it through it than the suck-o story - the challenge system is great, and they are directly tied to the trophies/achievements you can get. It has some cool weapons in there too, but the ammo is so limited you'll be sticking to your normal pistol and your hook. But guess what? You won't care. You tell me if you didn't have a big ol smile on your face the first time you picked up a car with your hook and chucked it at some jerk shooting at you. Tell me you didn't laugh maniacally when you picked up one of those said jerks and hurled him into oblivion. This game has a great combat engine, and much like Ikaruga, the fun you will have with the actual gameplay is the reason to stick around, not the lameass story that was probably written by two 12 year olds that just learned all their swear words.
So then, I think I've said enough about this sleeper hit, except to say BUY IT, its getting knocked down in price already because not enough of you did in the first place, but I gladly spent $60 on it the day it came out and I don't regret it, I even went through it on hard after I beat it once, and I don't play too many games twice all the way through. Oh, and as a sidenote, theres multiplayer in here too, but its just a novelty. It's kinda neat seeing everyone swinging around and trying to shoot each other in the air, but you'll get bored of it quick, its only a couple of maps anyways. But hey, nice of them to tack something on to the 15-20 hour game either way. And now my scores!
Graphics - 10/10. Didn't I start with talking about how gosh darn pretty this game is? It's beautiful. Some of the (seemingly) wide open city scapes are easily some of the best graphics I've seen on any video game. Characters don't look half bad either, even if they are all a bunch of neanderthals/idiots.
Sound - 9/10. It has remixes of the classic Bionic Commando jams at tense moments and sometimes they just chime in the music just to pat themselves on the back for a job well done. It's awesome and definitely sets the mood. You have your basic gun shots and people yelling and such and those work just fine too. The "hidden" Faith No More tracks you might stumble on are a neat bonus too, if you are into that sort of thing.
Challenge - 7/10. Game isn't gonna kick your ass too much. There are a few frustrations you'll stumble on - particularly the fact that you will pretty much immediately drown in water (that there grapplin' hook is heavy, and also made of metal, you see) if you fall in there (and you will), and some needlessly long swinging work with the bionic arm where you don't have a safety net. But overall, nothing that will have you pulling out your hair, a pretty adequate challenge throughout. Hard mode however, naturally doesn't screw around. Bump it up to 9/10 if you are one of those weirdos that start playing on hard mode (I know someone that does that. Guess what? Hes a weirdo).
Fun - 9/10. Even with a story penned by 12 year olds or possibly even their younger siblings, this game rules. Its a grand old time, has a pretty good length in this day and age of 6-10 hour games, has a few cool bosses, and an ending that nearly redeems the atrocious story and idiotic characters. Nearly. It's worth getting to the end to see all the nice environments and battles that you end up in, and some of the stuff is pretty epic. Its really a great game, trust me.
Overall - 9/10. Sure King of Fighters might be the sleeper hit of the summer, but this game has definitely been the most overlooked. It's a lot more interesting than Gears of War or Halo, and while there are alot of these "action/adventure" games that tend to use the same mold, this one breaks it with the use of the hook and other pretty cool combat mechanics. Seriously its one of the better games out there on the next gen systems, go pick it up today, its probably pretty cheap now anyways since none of you jerks gave it a shot in the first place.
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