My Bits and Bytes: Bringing back a classic
Bionic Commando
Xbox Live Arcade and PS3 Network (from Capcom)
If you're old enough (or a gamer who just happens to still own a classic NES), you may remember playing through Bionic Commando over and over again. There was just something awesome about using your bionic arm to swing from platform to platform and to take out enemies.
Capcom is getting fans ready for the rebirth of the series (coming this fall) by giving the classic an AMAZING graphical upgrade and adding new enemies, weapons and challenges.
You play as Nathan Spence with one goal: take out the imposing army. You use you bionic arm to reach and swing to different platforms in each level (because you can't jump). You can use your arm to now grab enemies, barrels and some power-ups. That's basically the premise of the game.
Speaking of the bionic arm, it brings me to my one gripe about the game: the controls. I used to have no problem with aiming my arm, releasing at the right time and either landing where I wanted or grabbing onto another grapple spot. In this version, I find the controls very loose. When I want to grab horizontally, it goes diagonally. When I want a diagonal grapple, it may do something else. Even the timing sees off by a millisecond (and believe me, with some of the levels, timing is everything). Perhaps my Xbox controller is on the fritz, but I'm not having problems in other games.
The game gives props to its old school counterpart by taking the music of the original and reworking it to sound modern as well as using some of the old sprites of the game to create their 1-UP (extra man) icon. You even may see some old graphics paying homage to other classics (cough, Mega Man).
As a bonus, the game has different “VR” type levels in which you have to get through them as fast as you can to unlock achievements and other surprises. The leaderboard is available through Xbox live so you know that there are going to be diehard gamers trying to show that they are the best.
There's enough new surprise and challenges here for fans of the old game to not be able to whip through it like the old cartridge. At $8, this is practically a steal.
Xbox Live Arcade and PS3 Network (from Capcom)
If you're old enough (or a gamer who just happens to still own a classic NES), you may remember playing through Bionic Commando over and over again. There was just something awesome about using your bionic arm to swing from platform to platform and to take out enemies.
Capcom is getting fans ready for the rebirth of the series (coming this fall) by giving the classic an AMAZING graphical upgrade and adding new enemies, weapons and challenges.
You play as Nathan Spence with one goal: take out the imposing army. You use you bionic arm to reach and swing to different platforms in each level (because you can't jump). You can use your arm to now grab enemies, barrels and some power-ups. That's basically the premise of the game.
Speaking of the bionic arm, it brings me to my one gripe about the game: the controls. I used to have no problem with aiming my arm, releasing at the right time and either landing where I wanted or grabbing onto another grapple spot. In this version, I find the controls very loose. When I want to grab horizontally, it goes diagonally. When I want a diagonal grapple, it may do something else. Even the timing sees off by a millisecond (and believe me, with some of the levels, timing is everything). Perhaps my Xbox controller is on the fritz, but I'm not having problems in other games.
The game gives props to its old school counterpart by taking the music of the original and reworking it to sound modern as well as using some of the old sprites of the game to create their 1-UP (extra man) icon. You even may see some old graphics paying homage to other classics (cough, Mega Man).
As a bonus, the game has different “VR” type levels in which you have to get through them as fast as you can to unlock achievements and other surprises. The leaderboard is available through Xbox live so you know that there are going to be diehard gamers trying to show that they are the best.
There's enough new surprise and challenges here for fans of the old game to not be able to whip through it like the old cartridge. At $8, this is practically a steal.
