The Bionic Commando is back and he's Rearmed

In this game, you step back into the role of the original Bionic Commando. It takes place about 10 years after the original game ended, and your character has gone through some bad times since then. You find yourself once again called to duty to take out a terrorist group that threatens to destroy Ascension City. You’ll have to kill lots of bad guys and even hack a few computers. It’s quite fun and challenging.

My first impression upon playing this is that hardly anyone makes games like this anymore, except maybe for the PSP or Game Boy Advance. For a PC or high end console game, this type of side scrolling gameplay seems akin to listening to audio cassettes instead of mp3 files, but it still works on many levels. It’s fun to go back and play this type of game again, and the developers added plenty of bells and whistles to make it stand way out for its 8-bit roots.

The graphics have had a major overhaul from the old days. Although this is presented mostly using a side view, the details are very fine and there are tons of animations on screen. Everything runs very smoothly and the environment offers you lots of things to manipulate with your bionic arm. There are also some levels of the game that employ an overhead view that also looks really good. I almost wish the whole game was done that way, as opposed to the side scrolling action.

Just as in the first game, you can’t jump. Instead, you have a bionic arm that shoots out a grabber thing, and this is what you just to swing from things. You can also use the arm to grab objects and throw them at opponents. This enables you to pull off some pretty interesting moves that kind of resemble Spider-Man on a short string. You’ll need to learn how to swing and grab to get through the game, and sometimes it can be very difficult.

The game can be pretty tough at times because enemy soldiers respawn when you leave the screen. It’s takes a combination of memorization and good timing to get past some parts. Games like this were meant to be played over and again until you got past certain areas, whereas so many other games these days were meant to be played through once. In addition to the action, you also get to hack some computers by solving a 3D puzzle that you have to rotate in order to move a ball inside.

If you were a fan of the original game, or just like the idea of jumping into a style of gameplay that has almost been forgotten, then you should definitely check out Bionic Commando Rearmed. It’s a tough game, but it sure brought back some great childhood memories for me.

A more modern version of Bionic Commando is also on the way, due in January 2009, and I think this game serves as a lead-in for it. You can find out more on the official website at www.BionicCommando.com.