Bionic Commando Preview

 After a period of over 20 years the first new game in the Bionic Commando franchise is about to be released.

In 1987 Capcom released Bionic Commando in the arcades. A year later, in 1988, Bionic Commando appeared on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) (and was subsequently ported to every 8 bit gaming system on the planet).

In 2008, GRIN produced Bionic Commando Rearmed (an updated remake of the original game) which sold 13,000 units in its first week on X360, PS3 and PC.

Now in 2009, GRIN are releasing Bionic Commando as a 3d game. They are keeping the bionic arm mechanics: swinging and picking up and throwing. They hope the move to 3d will provide an irresistible draw and revitalise the franchise for modern hardware.

Bionic Commando is coming to Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and PC in May 2009.

Ten years after his defeat of the Imperials (see original Bionic Command) Nathan 'Rad' Spencer is in jail, betrayed by his government, sentenced to death for (of course) a crime he didn't commit.

On the day of his execution terrorists detonate an experimental weapon in the heart of Ascension City, the capital city of the Federal States of America (FSA). The terrorists take control of the city's defences and dig in.

There is only one way in – infiltration and assault by a Bionic Commando. Nathan 'Rad' Spencer is saved from execution only to find himself 'reunited' with his Bionic Augmentation and sent to Ascension City to find out what it is the terrorists are doing and (probably) to foil their plans.

Every part of the environment is said to be scalable using the bionic arm wire. You can swing, scale, climb and wall-walk wherever you like. (It will be interesting to see how they limit this for practical game design and flow reasons.)

The bionic wire will give Nathan incredible freedom of movement within each level and will allow the game designers to create rarely seen vertical challenges that will utilise the 3d space to the utmost. The concept art and screenshots promise an impressive scale to the whole environment – I'm looking forward to seeing just how well they succeed.

The Bionic Arm will also be used as a close combat weapon. You will be able to grapple pieces of scenery, pick them up and throw them at great bone-crushing velocity.

Your non-bionic arm will also hold an array of different weapons with different abilities. Machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, grenade launchers: you know, the usual kind of thing.