When two fleshy arms won't do

I've finaggled a copy of Bionic Commando: Rearmed for my PS3, and I thought "Hey, lets share with the people what I think of the game."

My first statement is....I wish I could jump.

Hopefully you're freaking out right now, throwing the result of bowel movements at your PC's screen. I must be a total idiot, must I? Well, I am joking. I don't wish it had a jump button. Fact is, this whole swing to move around thing is awesome. I can't believe it hasn't been ripped off yet.

 

it's interesting because you get that same feeling of "I want to get through this level as fast as possible...on my second time through," that you had with Super Mario Bros. I will admit that I died plenty of times in BC:R, but I never really tired of retrying the stage. It was fun to zip about. And just like SMB, if you choose to explore, you are punished severly. I've found this one secret area an hour or two into the game, and it was brutal. Not only do you have to swing about just so, it's pitch black and all you've got is some crummy flare attached to your person. At the time of writing, I still haven't gotten whatever lies on the other end of that secret labyrinth, and I can't promise I will by the time I've written my next.

The controls were odd at first, since I've had it burned into my brain that the X (or A) button results in a jump. So when you're dealing with game where you can't jump, things get wacky, fast. But give it time, like, 10 minutes worth, and you'll fall in love. I don't want my traditional platformers to dump the ability to jump, but this is a very nice diversion.

I love the game's colour choice as well. You've probably heard a lot of people condemn this generations lack of colour in its games. I know I've complained about it, I was probably a little late on the bandwagon so my opinions were likely rather tired and played out. Regardless, Bionic Commando: Rearmed is as colourful as they come. Globs of blue, green, and pink smear the screen, and you'll really feel how great a remake this is. I really hope that this palette finds its way into the new Bionic Commando, although that one isn't as grey as most other games.

And since I'm a huge nerd for artwork, I have to salute whoever put together the in-game character portraits. It's funny because while the game comes from Capcom, I feel the artwork looks like something more out of SNK. BEHOLD!

And now, BEHOLD AGAIN!

It's a really impressive game, and is definetely worth the $10 price tag. I'm surprised by just how much there is to do, outside of the singleplayer mode, there's challenge rooms that will push you to your limits. Speed runs on these challenge levels are a lot of fun, and that means a lot coming from me. I'm rarely ever entertained my speed runs and the like, but these are so bite sized that they never feel like tacked on content.

I haven't been able to touch the 2-player co-op yet, but I'm looking forward to it considering the single-player mode is re-jiggered a bit to compensate.

So far so good. It wasn't on my radar initially, but thanks to Rearmed I'm anticipating next year's Bionic Commando more than ever.