Bionic Commando review (Xbox 360)

It's a shame there aren't more of these moments, but the levels aren't constructed very well, once again hinting at possibilities never brought to fruition. You'll traverse passageways littered with usable objects, yet nary an enemy to fling them at. In other levels, you'll face multiple minibosses at once, yet there will be a scant few loose rocks to heave at them. In fact, there are sizable stretches during which absolutely nothing happens, presumably because swinging and grappling are supposed to be engaging enough on their own. Granted, moving about the world is enjoyable, but it isn't speedy enough to be exhilarating, and aside from a few simple sequences when you swing along a series of floating mines or avoid water (that heavy arm makes you sink like a stone), moving from point A to point B is a straightforward process. A bit of environmental puzzle solving, or looser swinging mechanics and more expansive environments, could have made it far more joyous to navigate this lonely world.

So who is this guy with the bionic arm, anyway? Well, he's Nathan Spencer, a falsely imprisoned death row inmate and one of the last remnants of a military program responsible for an entire caste of commandos. After a terrorist attack in Ascension City lays waste to the metro area, the military reunites Nathan with his arm and and orders him to investigate. The narrative makes little sense and is sleepily doled out in mission briefings from Joe Gibson (the Super Joe of previous Bionic Commando games) and within text tidbits discovered by hacking data terminals. Nathan himself is the story's biggest stumbling block, however. The gigantic chip on his shoulder and sneering voice acting make it impossible to identify with him, which in turn makes it incredibly tough to care about musings regarding his missing wife. Yet while you won't come away from Bionic Commando knowing much about Nathan and his world, you will know what soft drinks these people guzzle and what video cards they use, given that Pepsi machines and Nvidia billboards are so common. Even if you find yourself getting invested in the story, which is unlikely, there's nothing like some conspicuous product placement to yank you back to real life.

Thankfully, the careful rendering of branded vending machines isn't the only aspect of the visual design that received attention. Some environments, like a lush park and crumbling cityscapes, are attractive (if unoriginal), which makes them interesting to swing around in. Rocky fissures and abandoned tunnels aren't as nice to look at, though they aren't ugly either. Bionic Commando isn't a technical powerhouse, as evidenced by liberal amounts of background blur and aliased edges. However, the graphics are pleasant and the game maintains a smooth frame rate throughout. Due to the feeble weapon noises and overly grouchy voice acting, the sound design is less impressive, though it gets the job done, and the generic action-movie soundtrack frames the action well enough.

Bionic Commando offers a multiplayer component, but it's uninspired and suffers from the same bland gunplay that weighs the single-player game down. Again, the arm is expected to provide the majority of the fun, and while it's just as fun to zip-kick an opposing player as it is a terrorist grunt, it's more effective to fill him with peashooter pellets. (You can't fling rocks and cars around online, sadly.) Swinging around the map after you capture a flag, or grappling up the side of a building to grab a sniper rifle, is more appealing than the action itself, which somewhat defeats the purpose of competitive online play. At the least, the maps are well designed and keep you climbing onto balconies and swinging onto dilapidated overpasses; a map featuring side-by-side sea vessels is crafted especially well. Other maps seem too big to sustain the action, even with a full contingent of 10 players. Featuring only Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag modes, Bionic Commando provides some brief online entertainment, but shooting at other players using the game's poor arsenal just isn't much fun.

As you play Bionic Commando, you'll be frequently struck by all the unexplored possibilities and how often the words "if only" cross your mind. "This area would be fun to explore, if only radiation didn't stop me dead in my tracks." "That firefight could be terrific, if only the weapons had oomph." "This seems like an interesting world, if only the main character gave me a reason to care." The bionic arm is a great idea that leads to some enjoyable moments, but it's not powerful enough to shoulder the burden of an entire game.