Bionic Commando - Review
Originally published September 2016Back on the old Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in the 1980s, Capcom was one of the best Japanese development studios around. The teams there were responsible for some real groundbreaking games for the NES. They certainly established themselves with the success of Mega-Man, but they had a few cult favorites as well. One cult favorite from Capcom that came and went during the console generation was Bionic Commando. It wasn't nearly as successful as Mega-Man, and few fans formed from its release, but there was something special about it that made a lasting impression. For one thing, in an era where Mario showcased the fun of being able to jump, and when Mega-Man showed the fun of being able to jump AND shoot a gun at the same time, Bionic Commando decided to do something completely different by removing jumping entirely.
Bionic Commando's unique twist was that the developers decided to take the shooting mechanics of Mega-Man and replace his jumping traversal mechanics with a grappling hook. The grappling hook was a surprisingly satisfying mechanic at the time. However, it was also difficult to control and required a fair amount of timing and precision from players to not immediately launch themselves into the ocean and die. Decades later, Capcom allowed the now dismantled development team, Grin, to remake Bionic Commando, in two different formats. The first remake was a third-person platformer, which did not do well. The other is the one I'll be talking about today: Bionic Commando Rearmed.
Image: Capcom
The Short of It
Pros
The redesign is a favorable one with a look of its own, but something that matches the spirit of the original game
The art style is referential with a few distinct character designs and artwork that are reminiscent of the Capcom and SNK fighting games
Some interesting boss battles, the first time around anyway
Decent gameplay progression with new abilities and buffs for your character fed to you throughout the game
Music is stylish and catchy
Self-aware humor and quality writing
Good level design with secrets scattered around and paths to explore
Cons
The clunkiness of the controls is touched up, but still very stiff; not the fault of the developer, just the mechanic's design
Boss battles are repeated with very few changes
Death is a real annoyance for a variety of reasons
Mission select screen sucks, especially with the fact that trying to go to locations on a diagonal plane is much more difficult than you'd expect
Difficulty spikes in the late levels with some significant pitfalls
Some of the important information about gameplay mechanics is not conveyed very well
The hacking mini-game is fun for a little while but becomes an annoyance over time
The Rest of It
I briefly played the original Bionic Commando on the NES a couple of times, but never made it very far. The game was hard and I was just a kid who barely had a real grasp on my own dexterity skills. Now that I had the time to go through my Steam list and start playing the games I forgot I had, it was time to see if I could handled BC in my 30's. Given this second chance to play a game from the franchise, I was eager to see if it was as difficult as the original was in my mind. I'll say right now, "It's not," but it still has its share of challenges.
Image: Capcom
You play as Nathan "Rad" Spencer, a special military agent with a bionic arm, sent into enemy territory of a fascist regime that's a bit similar to the Nazis. Your mission is to rescue the protagonist of the original Bionic Commando, Super Joe, and topple the regime in the process. Just like in the original, you have to use your bionic grappling hook arm to swing and traverse the level while using your weapons to eliminate any enemies in your way. You have to explore the levels, gather intelligence, and win the boss battle before the level can be completed. To gather intelligence, midway through each level are control rooms that you'll need to access. Each time you do, you get some funny and clever dialogue, hack the computer for some tips about the upcoming boss, and gain the access codes necessary to progress to the end of the level. Rinse. Repeat.
There are a variety of platforming puzzles and combat scenarios in each level to break up the repetitive nature of the game and make it more interesting, but by the end, a great deal of it started to run a little stale. Part of what added to the overall pain of playing through the game was the impact of death. 2008 was still not quite far enough into the present to do away with the "life" system. Games were finally starting to get rid of the limited lives and continue systems in their games in favor of just giving the player unlimited tries. You get unlimited tries in BCR, but if you die too many times while attempting a level, you lose your progress in it and have to start over. Considering the game's difficulty, it's surprising that the game would still follow the structure of an old generation and force players to restart levels upon failures.
Image: Capcom
The game isn't super difficult, but on the Normal difficulty, it still serves as a challenge. With the fact that your character can't jump and can only shoot his grappling hook and swing to get around, you are tied to his momentum as he moves through the air. This can lead to the frustrating, but common, experience of swinging too far and falling into a pitfall of death as you desperately shoot out your grappling arm for another ledge. This isn't so much of a complaint because that's the nature of the game and kind of why you would be playing it in the first place. The complaint comes with the fact that the level designs include so many pitfalls to instant death. The late-game levels especially have their fair share of pitfalls that will eliminate your progress in them, even if great care is taken.
What adds to the frustration is the fact that every time you restart the level, you have to go through the command room again and hack the computer, if you have any interest in doing well in the level. The hacking mini-game is simple and fun the first couple of times, but having to do it again and again, and seeing some of the same puzzles over the course of the game was a little annoying.
Image: Capcom
This is all nitpicking though. The overall experience of BCR is still a positive one. The shooting is fun, for the most part. Some of the weapons aren't much fun or show much usefulness, but it's still satisfying to swing around and shoot dudes. In fact, I'd say the platforming and swinging are what makes the game the most fun, which is probably why the VR missions you unlock throughout the game are mostly platforming puzzles. These missions add to the overall length of the game and remove some of the frustrations that are inherent in the main campaign. It's a shame that in order to unlock all of them, you have to play through the campaign, so you'll have to deal with those frustrations eventually, regardless.
Image: Capcom
TL;DR (Conclusion)
I may have nitpicked it a bit much, but Bionic Commando Rearmed is a quality, faithful rendition of the Capcom classic. As a game that came out in 2008 to fit the market of that time and still suit the origins of the franchise, it's a pretty solid product that still holds up 8 years later. It's still a satisfying 2D platformer that provides a good challenge for those seeking one. You just have to deal with some minor frustrations that start to overstay their welcome once the game's length starts to settle in.