Bionic Commando Rearmed

August 18,2008 - Many people have fond memories of gaming in the 80’s and 90’s. You had the NES, the Genesis, the SNES, and the start of a phenomenon the Playstation. Capcom seems to remember thee days quite well as their last few releases on Xbox Live Arcade and Playstation Network have been re-imaginings of some of their old arcade games. Bionic Commando Rearmed is the latest of these, and boy does it do it right.

The FSA and The Imperials are at war. The FSA have sent in their best agent, codenamed “Super Joe” to infiltrate the Imperial base and gather as much information as he can. Something must have gone wrong and contact with “Super Joe” has been lost. You, “Rad” Spencer are brought in to go after “Super Joe” and see what happened. You’ll be outfitted with the latest in weaponry and equipment, including a state of the art bionic arm.

Bionic Commando Rearmed is primarily a side scrolling action game. You’ll fight your way through some well crafted levels which will give you plenty of opportunity to get into the swing of things with your bionic arm. To proceed through the levels you’ll need to secure access codes for various doors. You’ll do this by contacting headquarters and they’ll upload the newly acquired codes into your arm’s internal memory.

It’s also possible to gain a bit of extra information and hints related to what’s coming up in the level by hacking into the enemy communications network. This is done through a minigame where you’ll have to move a ball into a designated green goal. You do this by choosing a direction and launching the ball in that direction. Obstacles will stop the ball and let you change direction for the next shot. It sounds like a neat idea, and it is, but having to do this for a few tidbits of information gets annoying quickly. It doesn’t help that if you fail you’ll trigger an alarm and have to deal with enemy reinforcements.

This game is a remake of the old NES version, and though it does add in a few modern elements, it certainly retains many of those old game design elements. The first and most obvious one is that your character can’t jump or swim. You can only go vertical through the use of your bionic arm, and if you happen to fall in the water, you’re dead. The original ended up being frustrating because of this, and Rearmed certainly doesn’t stray far from the source. Though the game can get frustrating at times, when you finally get the hang of the mechanics and get into a rhythm, it becomes very satisfying.

The controls have been expanded from the original NES game. Back then there were only two buttons on the controller, so every function had to be done through those two buttons. For Rearmed, the controls have been expanded. You now have the ability to switch weapons on the fly and Grenades are now on their own button. For the most part though, the controls work just as they did in the original. They’re still sharp and responsive, so if you miss a swing it won’t be because of the controls.

Apart from the main single player game there is a Cooperative campaign and a competitive multiplayer game. Neither of these can be played online though, it is split screen multiplayer on the same console only. If you’ve got a friend, the Coop play is definitely worth checking out. Competitive multiplayer on a split screen just doesn’t work these days. You just can’t get around the fact that both you and your friend can see what each is doing, so there’s never any surprise in what they’ll be throwing at you.

There is a bit of an online component to the game though. The game allows you to upload your scores and best times in the Campaign and Challenge Rooms to a set of Leaderboards. It certainly isn’t full online play, but at least you can see how you’re doing against your friends.

Geometry Wars may have trademarked the name “Retro Evolved” but Bionic Commando Rearmed is really a great example of how to make an old game modern and still retain what gave it its character to begin with. This is most evident in the game’s presentation. While the graphics are all rendered in 3D, with really nice backgrounds, detailed characters and smooth animation, the game is entirely 2D. It’s a nice blend of old and new that somehow manages to feel nostalgic but also fresh at the same time.

The game’s audio gets a similar treatment. Modern digital audio is intermixed with old-school synthesized sound effects to give the game a very distinct sound. The music in particular is where you’ll notice this the most, since there are entire sections of a track which will be done using old sounding synthesizers. For those who remember the original game, you’ll recognize some of the music. They could have just modernized everything, but they chose to instead blend the old with the new and the game is better for it.

Bionic Commando Rearmed Is a fine example of how to take on old game and make it new again without stripping it of what made it unique and fun to begin with. It’s got a fantastic sense of style in its presentation. It can get frustrating at times, but ultimately the game is good fun. This is definitely a highly recommendable download.

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