Review: Bionic Commando Rearmed 2

Posted by Brad T on February 6th, 2011 | 2 Comments | Tags: Bionic Commando Rearmed 2

As you’ll hear on Episode 22 of the podcast, I had some negative preconceptions of this game before really delving into it. Most of my problems had to do with the included DRM discussed in this news post. I decided to be the bigger person and really give this one the college (or uni) try. So did this game show off its harder better faster stronger side to me or is it just the 6 million dollar hunk of junk?

Jumping into single player we’re greeted by a cut-scene alluding to the previous games. We join our hero, a characitured version of Nathan Spencer, on a helicopter ride to ~~Cuba~~ the Papagayan Islands with a bunch of other bionic chuds out to take care of an evil dictator that looks just like Fidel Castro in a golf cart. Visuals are bright and colorful, but nothing to really write home to mom about. Tunes are an interesting compilation of remixed chiptunes. They’re not as great as Scott Pilgrim’s, but they’re catchy.

Your Ginger protagonist still has his bionic arm, so whats new? You can Jump. Yeah, they added jumping. State of the art stuff eh? We’re talking Lee Majors kind of stuff here. Sarcasm aside, this has been a bit of a controversy with this game. BC has never had jumping before, and purists might shun the addition of it. There are pros and cons to the jump feature. Some maneuvers and grabs are best performed with the jump. All levels can be beaten without the jump; the game even challenges you to complete each level without its help. The levels allow for you to pull this off, but unless this is your kool-aide, its a pain in the ass. Because the levels allow this, uniformity in the design lacks. Some gaps might require a jump and then a fire of the arm, others might require you to fall first, then fire the arm. Some of the obstacles you have to cross are a bear even with the jump, and one wrong move or mistimed bionic arm swing will have you falling into a pit of spikes. The levels are severely unforgiving in this aspect, sometimes resulting in infuriating deaths. I constantly questioned whether or not I was having fun while playing.

BCR2 does have a few things to offer besides headaches. It boasts some challenge rooms as well as online leaderboards. There’s also incentive for replayability as there are numerous hidden upgrades and areas that can only be reached with upgrades found later in the game, and the aforementioned challenge of beating each level without its new fangled jump feature (kids these days). Some of the upgrades are pretty neat, but they don’t change things too much as combat in this game is treated as just another obstacle. Boss battles are the only combat that really sticks out in my mind. Most revolve around learning a set pattern so as to topple them. This kind of stuff will definitely keep the hardcore bionics around. There’s local shared screen co-op as well if that’s your cup of tea.

This title isn’t special. Unless you’re one of the real BC faithful, I suggest you check out some of the other action platformers available on the PSN, like Bionic Commando Rearmed 1, instead of bothering with this one. Its not the absolute worst game I’ve played here, but sure as hell isn’t a bionic grapple close to the best one I’ve played either.

For more info on our review policy click here. This review is for the PlayStation 3 version of the game.