Blockbuster.co.uk's Matt Chapman takes a closer look at the next generation sequel to all time classic video game 'Bionic Commando'
If you're going to spend six million dollars turning someone bionic, you'd want them to do more than simply run in slow motion, leap tall walls and be able to see really far. Thankfully,
Bionic Commando has a lot more going for him than Steve Austin's bionic man - including a brand new game for the
Xbox 360,
PlayStation 3 and PC!
The robotic return began last year with the release of a souped-up version of the 1988 Bionic Commando adventure from the
Nintendo Entertainment System. That revamped classic - called Bionic Commando: Rearmed - was made available as a download for the Xbox and PlayStation and it set the scene for a proper 21st Century update.
So, has time been kind to our hero Nathan 'Rad' Spencer? Well, if truth be told, Rad (now voiced by Mike Patton, the former lead singer of Faith No More) is feeling more than a little 'armless' as events kick off in the new tale. Imprisoned for disobeying orders on a shoot-to-kill mission five years earlier, Rad has had his bionically-enhanced arm taken from him and an execution order placed on his head. Only when terrorists unleash a deadly weapon and take out an entire city is he reinstated and sent into the war zone to do battle.
While fans may be disappointed to see Rad out of favour with his military bosses, every gamer will love the makeover he's been given using the latest computer techniques. Gone is the 8-bit side-scrolling, two-dimensional world of 1980s gaming, replaced by a lush 3D cityscape with foes hiding around every corner. Missions take him to towering buildings, suspended roadways and monorails, deep canyons and sheer rock faces, which are crossed using swinging, scaling, climbing and wall-walking techniques. Rad's hand now fires out a grapple that connect to objects anywhere in that 3D world, allowing the soldered soldier to swing around town like Spider-Man on a joy ride.
However, unlike the weapon-free web-slinger, Rad isn't afraid to carry a big gun and his task sees him handling the kind of kit that would make even the toughest Terminator weep with joy. That's handy, because our hero will need all the firepower he can muster as his mission sees him - pardon the pun - single-handedly take on enhanced soldiers, mechanised war machines and robotic aircraft. Missile launchers, grenades, quick-fire machine guns and sniper rifles will all play their part, but of course that enhanced appendage will also feature heavily in his quest to end the terrorist threat. Using the grapple to pull down fragile objects is one way to disrupt the enemy, but the ferocity of Rad's 'Death From Above' laser attack can take out multiple targets in a single blast.
The single-player game has everything a fan of third-person shooters needs to get their kicks, but what will make this an essential purchase from Blockbuster is the ability to join friends online for battle. A deathmatch multiplayer mode will allow gamers to swing from platform to platform and pursue their opponents until they make the kill.
With that added multiplayer action, there's no doubt that this modern take on Bionic Commando has improved every aspect of the original series. In fact, the only thing that seems to have been left behind is the crudely translated cursing from the original Japanese script. For anyone who thinks that's a bad thing, we have a line from the NES game: "Get the heck out of here, you nerd!"