No Dodging This Draft
Bionic Commando Rearmed is everything classic games were and more.
Published: September 1, 2008
Now, the challenge is in managing the careful, sometimes split-second timing of swinging, juggling all the different enemy types (some of which are new) and their weaknesses to your weapons and just getting to the boss fights (which are all fairly easy once you learn the patterns/weaknesses, but they're all universally fantastic). The levels in Bionic Commando Rearmed, just as they were in the original, aren't terribly lengthy, they're just filled with some particularly difficult jumps and swings.
It should be noted, too, that developer GRIN (who is also developing the Bionic Commando 3D remake, with which Rearmed shares an engine, added a ton of replay value to the game; hidden challenge rooms, the challenge rooms themselves (a hundred deep and insanely tough, though they'll make you a better player to be sure), bits of armor, and of course the new way of hacking into terminals that makes you pass a sphere around a 3D construct to get it to connect with an end goal. The reward is a bunch of life/points tokens spilling out nearby in addition to getting to listen in to enemy conversations to learn boss weaknesses -- definitely handy.
The fact that so little of the core game needed to be changed shows just how good it was, but GRIN's careful management of what made the original great while updating it to offer new challenges and a slightly easier difficulty curve are what make the remake so damned good. And it is good -- better than almost any game currently out on the PlayStation Network -- which is saying plenty considering some of the games that have come out as of late.
I mentioned it before, but Bionic Commando Rearmed does indeed share the same engine as it's 3D big brother, and while the game is mostly a 2D affair, it still sports some of the next-gen whiz-bang visuals that gave me goosebumps the first time I saw the reveal trailer. Bloom lighting is prevalent, but not overpowering, Radd (screw you, I'm going with his real name) and his movements are butter-smooth, enemies ragdolling off platforms to fall below the screen look great, explosions are fantastic... This really is one of the best-looking 2D games ever made. Added touches like former SNK artist Shinkiro doing the little character portraits were wonderful.
And then there's the audio. Just as they did in taking care to preserve what was so good about the gameplay of the original, the sound effects have been preserved (though updated slightly), giving the game a sort of timeless feel to it. Simon Viklund's reworking of the soundtrack cannot possibly be praised enough -- no, really, it's probably one of the best game soundtracks I've ever heard, bar none. Part of it is that so much of the original game comes through, but what has been updated, stuff like breaks, a little electro splash, and so on just make the audio that much better. In fact, I need to grab it right now.
There's really no other way to say it: Bionic Commando Rearmed is one of the best games on the PS3. Hell, it's one of the best games ever made, which makes sense given that it piggybacks off of one of the best games ever made, but what truly makes the game worth picking up is that it's that original game made better through clever and restrained changes and tweaks to the original formula. You don't lose anything from the original, but you'll gain oh so much more in terms of satisfaction, challenge, game length, replay value, visuals and above all audio. Buy this game. Now.
