However, Spencer finds himself betrayed by his commander known as Super Joe (who Commando fans should easily recognize). With his bionic arm removed and Spencer imprisoned for crimes he didn't commit, the warrior is sentenced to death. However, on the day that he's going to be executed, an experimental weapon is detonated in Ascension City by a terrorist group called Bio-Rain. With the city in ruins and the terrorists in control of tons of weapons, Joe has no choice but to offer Spencer a deal: if he will take on and defeat the terrorists, Joe will clear his name. Gaining a new bionic arm, Spencer leaps into action.
The gameplay is the most unique aspect of the game with the use of the famed bionic arm. The bionic arm is the cornerstone of the game, allowing players to graple the environment and swing around like Spiderman, throw cars and boulders at enemies, and do a bunch of other fun claw-like things. Besides this, players can use an array of weapons to destroy their enemies from the classic pistol and shotgun to the devastating multi-shot rocket launcher. However, the gameplay is both the strongest, and weakest aspect of Bionic Commando. The implementation of the bionic arm and all the aspects involved with that are fun and interesting, but the conventional gameplay using the weapons is just plain weak. The guns get the job done, but are boring to use, and even the shotgun just seems rather uninteresting and plain.
The environment, while seeming to be open in some cases, is in fact very limited. The game limits movement through the use of “radiation” that will kill a player if you move into it, it’s a step above an invisable barrier, but a small one. While it’s extremely fun to swing around using your bionic arm and toss cars at enemies, it would be even better if the levels allowed more exploration and there were more enemies to fight. Bionic Commando simply needs MORE of everything, more environment, more enemies, more weapons, more challenge.
Bionic Commando also features a multiplayer option that allows players to fight each other in Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag. The gameplay in multiplayer is however, the same as the single player, and suffers from the same drawbacks and you can’t even toss cars at each other.
Bionic Commando is a game full of promise and equally full of limitations, while it is not the worst game out there, it is definatly not the best, to be blunt it reeks of mediocrity. If you are a fan of the series you will be sure to enjoy the campaign while it lasts and maybe a few bouts of multiplayer, but after that, expect this title to be collecting dust.
Bionic Commando Minimum Requirements
| CPU: | Dual-core processor (Intel® Pentium® D 2.8 GHz or AMD Athlon™ X2 4200+ 2.2 GHz equivalent) |
| RAM: | 1 GB |
| OS: | Microsoft® Windows® XP SP2 / Windows Vista®/ Windows 7/ Windows 8/ Windows 8.1(service pack is optional, the game can run with no SP) |
| Video Card: | DirectX®9.0c/Shader3.0 compatible, VRAM 256 MB (NVIDIA® GeForce® 7600 series or ATI Radeon™ X1600 or higher) |
| Sound Card: | Yes |
| Free Disk Space: | 8.0 GB |
_________________________________________________________________________________