Bionic Commando Rearmed

Bionic Commando Rearmed

Capcom has been busy updating and releasing modern versions of classic arcade games in their back catalogue recently. Their work has been of mixed success, from the assured run-and-gun shooter Commando 3 to the lackluster 1942. Bionic Commando Rearmed is next in line for a graphical makeover. It’s a completely overhauled version of the NES classic – the platform/shooter in which you play as a soldier with a grappling hook for an arm.

The good-looking visuals belie a simple control scheme that, at first, feels stifling and basic. Your character has no jump button, unusual for a sideways-scrolling platform game. Instead you must your Commando’s arm either straight up, or off at a diagonal angle in order to swing across gaps, grab distant objects and haul yourself up higher.

It’s also possible to bang it into enemies, but your horizontal-firing gun is better suited to that particular task. Learning to move around levels with style and grace takes a little practice and, to begin with, movement will feel awkward and slow as you mis-time swings and accidentally fall down chasms. But in time the system clicks and you’ll be swinging around like the grappling hook is the extension of your body it’s meant to be.

Generally, you’ll be moving up and across levels, dipping into any doors that you find in order to hack the enemy force’s computer systems (via a neat little 3D physics game) or to check in with your own command (for a checkpoint). The game uses the original’s cheesy dialogue – tongue firmly in cheek – at one point even making fun of Metal Gear Solid’s overlong codec conversations. Indeed, there’s a feeling of retro gaming fan service throughout, with pixellated character icon pick-ups and an encyclopedia of in-game enemies that grows as you progress.

Some things other than graphics have changed since the original. Now you have a health bar (in the original it was one hit, one kill), and there are offline co-operative and deathmatch multiplayer game options. Another bonus mode, Challenge Rooms, presents you with a slew of virtual reality-style timed obstacle courses; another generous addition (there are 56 levels) to what is already significant package.

Capcom is currently finishing up a full 3D remake of Bionic Commando due out later this year, but in the meantime Rearmed offers an enjoyable way in to the mythology for newcomers. The discrepancy between the futuristic graphics and retro gameplay will initially jar but when everything clicks into place, you’ll be left with one of XBLA’s strongest platformers.

3 out of 5