Bionic Commando - Leap into action!

[Carnivol]

With less than a week until release, Capcom put out a new trailer for the game that is beyond hot (and plentiful of new footage and potential spoilerificis):

Bionic Commando - Leap into action

[hellrizer]

It looks so damn awesome!! That whole grapple-thing kinda reminds me of spiderman, but who cares? As long as it has guns and soldiers then I'm ready to go

[Zombie Fred]

Sweet trailer. Thanks for the head up Carn.

[The Dude]

The game looks great don't get me wrong, but whoever has come up with the ideas for marketing so far really needs to be taken out and shot.

The idea of the multiplayer demo seemed to have a negative effect on the game to me, I persuaded 6 friends to play the demo, all of them got back to me saying that if anything by playing it, it actually discouraged them to buy the final game, all of them would have preferred a half level or something from the Single Player campaign as lets face it, thats what people should ACTUALLY Be buying this game for, not a tacked on multiplayer experience built by a different division of Grin from what im guessing which players will only pick up and play for 20mins.
Im sure certain people will find rebuttals for my comments, but really, how do you expect a causal gamer *which I don't really fall into, im referring to people i've given the joypad to try the game with* who haven't really had much experience with this kind of game to actually enjoy the demo experience when you're stuck in a death match with a load of pubescent f*ckwits running about with sniper rifles fragging you while you're trying to actually get to grips with the swinging and the controls.

The trailer looked good, but again, too little too late to appeal to the casual consumer? The game is out in a week and only NOW capcom are trying to release footage and trailers on the game to incite interest.

The podcast? great though it is I only found out about by stumbling upon the site well into last year due to my interest in bionic commando upon hearing of the next gen game wasn't the greatest way of marketing the game beyond the hardcore fanbase.

I REALLY want this game to be a success, as I find the ideas of the next gen game refreshing compared to the trite that's come out in the past year, however I really think Capcom *Im guessing this rant shouldn't really be directed towards Grin who've developed the game, more like Capcom who's in charge of marketing and publishing* have stuck 2 fingers up at the concept of the game by now effectively promoting the game beyond a few basic trailers which i've only found stuck well into archives on video streaming sites, a quick look on Giant Bomb played by a mediocre game rep who if anything made the game look bad with his lack of knowledge, and a producer on 1up's game night who not only didn't seem to have an idea how to play the game properly, but seemed to be stumbling and bs'ing when questioned on game mechanics and beyond by the fans.

[Mr. Spencer]

I'd never played the original game, though Rearmed interested me after what I had heard about the story with fascists reviving Hitler and superweapons and all that good stuff. Bought Rearmed, played it, loved it and can't wait to play through the new game.

[Carnivol]

The idea of the multiplayer demo seemed to have a negative effect on the game to me, I persuaded 6 friends to play the demo, all of them got back to me saying that if anything by playing it, it actually discouraged them to buy the final game, all of them would have preferred a half level or something from the Single Player campaign as lets face it, thats what people should ACTUALLY Be buying this game for, not a tacked on multiplayer experience built by a different division of Grin from what im guessing which players will only pick up and play for 20mins.

I really wish they'd included the tutorial mode from the full game in the demo (would make for a nice second single player demo). The tutorial is awesome.

But, yeah, not everyone seem to've been able to get a hold of the swing in the demo. Using the private match exploit you can get a nice bit of practice.


A lot of competitive gamers have given a lot of surprisingly positive feedback on the multiplayer of the game, though. Even more surprisingly people who appreciate the awesomeness of Shadowrun... too bad Shadowrun didn't do too good... which is probably 'cause it lacked a proper single player component to use to practice the basics in multiple rigged scenarios.


Anyway, it's true as you say that the marketing side of things appears to've been a bit wonky, but it's certainly related to the numerous delays the game has had and how it initially was gonna come before SFIV and RE5, but instead had to somewhat go into hibernation to not get in the way of those.

Don't think they have a new Halo on their hands or anything, but I'm pretty sure awareness is still pretty solid and in sales it'll become one of those titles a lot of people will pick up and it will sell a lot based on word of mouth.

The release window is pretty good, considering how there isn't really much big stuff coming out these days. I've seen a lot of random ads online for it, the game carries the Capcom logo, and seeing as it now comes out after RE5 and SFIV... it'll probably surf on the Capcom fame from those two big sellers too.

[repeat]Capcom's really on a roll these days [/repeat]

[randomwab]

Rearmed interested me after what I had heard about the story with fascists reviving Hitler and superweapons and all that good stuff.

You've got a one track mind!

On a side note, your temp-ban on MSN is almost done.

[Mr. Spencer]

Only a temp-ban? You're getting too lenient, Wayne.

[Zombie Fred]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0hIp71HKSk

Even better; here's the intro for the game

[Zombie Fred]

Sorry for the double post but we might as well make this the official thread for Bionic Commandp (and related?) for any news and updates.


Three reviews so far;

IGN UK

7.5 Presentation
The story is silly and it takes itself too seriously, but the cut-scenes are dramatic and the voice-acting good, in an action-movie kinda way.
8.0 Graphics
There’s nothing wrong with Bionic Commando from a visual standpoint, and some of the boss sequences look amazing.
7.0 Sound
Audio is functional rather than inspiring, but again, there’s nothing wrong with it.
6.5 Gameplay
Bionic Commando never quite masters the balance between bionic arm and conventional combat. More problematically, it never quite masters the art of swinging.
7.0 Lasting Appeal
The single-player game is fairly brief, but the combination of platforming and action comes into its own in multiplayer, which seems to offer a fair amount of depth.
7.0
Decent OVERALL

IGN US

8.0 Presentation
While there are some B-movie styled plot points and tenuous connections to the first game, the story of Nathan trying to stop Bio-Reign isn't a bad one, and has a couple of nice twists involved.
8.0 Graphics
Solid visuals throughout, with an impressive sense of scale and speed as you swing across the city. The only issue you may find are some frame rate drops here and there.
7.5 Sound
Voice acting is pretty decent, and the rock and low key versions of the theme song are nice when battles break out.
8.0 Gameplay
The bionic arm is the real standout of the combat system, since ammo for your weapons can be sparsely found within the game. Fortunately, it's strong enough to take out most opponents.
7.5 Lasting Appeal
Tossing in challenges and collectibles is a nice touch, but the linear nature of play and difficulty of completing challenges on any difficulty pulls down some of the replayability.
8.0
Impressive OVERALL

Giant Bomb has also gave it 4 stars (Positive 8) out of 5, praising the swinging mechanics, but being flawed by a few level design choices.


I am quite pleased with the reception so far, and hopefully it gets a solid 8 mark in total. I want this game to sell well so they can look upon the feedback to improve what might need adjusting or going back to the drawing boards so this can turn into a solid franchise to come, but damn the haters for not getting use to the swinging mechanics!

[James]

It's really fucking fun. Like, really fun.

That being said, there's a few things that really annoy me - collecting something or killing a certain amount of people to complete the challenges are not saved unless you reach a checkpoint. You can earn three challenges that might be hard to get, die, and then have to re-do them again.

But still, the game is brilliant and I've not even finished the first Act. It looks to be rather long (well, longer than GRIN's other games, but I suppose that's not amazing considering their other games clock in at around 3-6 hours >_>) and I am sure this will keep me occupied for a while.

I still have to try Multiplayer, maybe it IS better than the horrific stuff I played in the demo >_>

[Zombie Fred]

Glad to heasr James, I can't wait to play Bionic Commando on Saturday

[The Dude]

Im not going to pussy foot about here, when I played through this game, all I could think of was, "Bring on Bionic Commando 2"

Reason why?
Because the game is so horrendously flawed that things can only get better in a sequel.

I thought the Gun play was terrible, like the demo, I had problems just picking this game up and playing it, having followed the site and the podcast since near day one, I REALLY Wanted to love this game, but the disjointed combat system, and targeting system, and lack of room for error when stuck in fights with larger Bio-mechs made playing the game extremely frustrating.
I thought i'd find the swinging to be difficult, if anything it was the one area of the game I had no problems with;

I loved the swing mechanic, best thing about this game, but I couldn't help but think...GRIN's swing mechanic + Devil May Cry's combat system + Castlevania = BEST PLATFORMER/ACTION EXPERIENCE EVAR.

The plot I thought was atrocious, the narrative was very weak, the voice acting hammy from everyone involved *which suprised me considering the caliber of voice artists cast in this game, not to mention the voice recording director* I expected a lot better, especially considering that Rearmed had a pretty in-depth story for a platformer. I think Giant Bomb got it right when they summerised the story recently on a podcast as a bunch of grizzled men shouting at each other at various times during each level.

Having read the site, the online comic, the profiles, descriptions, I was expecting a much more indepth/engrossing story compared to what we got ingame which really made sitting through cutscenes a chore *I do tend to play through games for story first, gameplay 2nd*

One thing which is bugging me

Spoiler:

show spoiler

1. Ok, Catalysts for bionic implants...Spencers Wife is the catalyst for his arm...WTF??? Ok if she's somehow stuck in his arm mentally or whatever, whats in Mag's legs which makes her run so fast?...*cue hick/inbred joke*

And 2.

Sniper Guy...WTF? Thats a completely open story arc they forgot to finish...do you smell that? I smell money Spinning DLC just to get a resolution to that...

anyway, all in all, I find this game a very mixed experience, on one side, I find the swinging through levels fantastic, however I felt the game heavily restricts you by setting up invisible walls via radiation areas, and the combat very much cut into the whole swinging/exploration aesthetic which I enjoyed most about this game, had the combat been more enjoyable I probably would have given this game a higher mark, but between lackluster combat, and poor story, i'd have to give this game a 6/10.

Although on a lighter note, the end part of the game is pretty well done.
Too bad the ending itself wasn't.

All in all, i've got pretty mixed feelings on this game, I HOPE its a success, because i'd like to see a 2nd game, however

[Carnivol]

There were some things that were actually present in the trailers that was nowhere to be seen in the game. Combine that with the stuff from the post-credits "message"... I guess they might've paved the way for a sequel (that hopefully is in the works, along with some sort of Rearmed followup... yum! )


I actually really liked the game from start to end, it's easy to see where people could be picking on various things, though. 'cause it really is a mixed bag of a presentation. I didn't find the voice acting as bad as some people suggested it was (though, there were a few oddly delivered lines here and there)

Anyway, here's some stuff seen in trailers not featured in the game;
Spoiler:

show spoiler

-A much more "caved in" Ascension City. The Ascension City shown in the old trailers has collapsed almost entirely, buildings leaning against eachother, there are many more subway cars around, the streets are more torn up and stuff

-The reel-in attack. Just like you could "rip" subway carts, there has been footage of Spencer "reeling in" soldiers, not too unlike what you see in the cutscene after the tutorial. You reel them in, then combo attack them, as an alternative to kiting or running up to someone to heavy punch them... basically -> Attach -> Reel-in -> Heavy Punch -> Jump -> Kick)

-More melee attacks. One of the trailers shows Spencer grabbing a grunt with just his arm, lifting him up and smashing his head down in the ground. This isn't too unlike the Attach -> Kite -> Ground Smash combo, just that it's done with just the arm and no wire extension. Probably if you stand up close to an enemy and hit Attach -> Heavy Punch -> Ground Smash.

-Emily in the cryo-tube. The announcement trailer shows Emily being sealed off in some sort of cryo-tube. This scene is not present in the game. Just like how there's a scene showing an overview scene of crator with The Vault in the center.

Spoiler:

show spoiler

1. Ok, Catalysts for bionic implants...Spencers Wife is the catalyst for his arm...WTF??? Ok if she's somehow stuck in his arm mentally or whatever, whats in Mag's legs which makes her run so fast?...*cue hick/inbred joke*

And 2.

Sniper Guy...WTF? Thats a completely open story arc they forgot to finish...do you smell that? I smell money Spinning DLC just to get a resolution to that...

1.
Spoiler:

show spoiler

The bionic parts are probably entirely mechanical, so the abilities provided by the parts aren't at all depending on the catalyst. The catalyst is probably used to establish the link between the bionic limb(s) and the owner... Like, as a sort of middle-man or dedicated translator, if you want.

Mag's legs had a catalyst mentioned in the scene inside The Vault. It's someone named William Magdalene. You can see this on the screen before Spencer touches it and his profile shows up. Whether or not she knows anything about these things is unknown, same goes for if William's part of the reason she may have been doing the suicide anger run up against Super Joe. The "exploding head" like scene probably implies that she's now dead, at least.

2.
Spoiler:

show spoiler

Super Joe refers to the Sniper as someone from a past of no longer any relevance. In the credits, the Sniper is identified as "Thomas Clarke", one of the two people who along with Super Joe formed "Mercs", the trio were: Joseph Gibson, Thomas Clarke and Howard Powell.

But, yeah, the game is a mixed bag. They certainly nailed the swing mechanics, and I think the game is very replayable (had a lot of people jaw dropping at my place over various aspects of the game).

It's a bit sad that you can't replay early levels with the skills you acquire ('cause it would be cool to be able to just wreck havoc in every single level)
Anyway, with the swing mechanics nailed down and a pretty impressive engine that powers everything, hopefully a follow up with more bionic awesomeness, more combat skills (I'd like to see some arcady "grab 'n' swing" stuff. Like the TMNT Arcade "hold arm and throw back 'n' forth" attack).

Also, it'd be awesome to see more moving objects you can attach to and use for swinging. You never really used the small bots, flying biomechs or polycraft for swinging, although you could "somewhat" abuse them for that... hanging underneath one of those flying bots is pretty awesome

[Carnivol]

Shit!
It's a double post!

Bionic Commando supposedly scored a surprisingly amazingly awesome 9/7/9/9 (34/10) in the latest Famitsu... how's that for an interesting twist?