Hands-on: Bionic Commando
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Disclaimer: This preview is based on the Xbox 360 version of the game. Developers have told us the PS3 version will be identical to the Xbox 360 version.
Within moments of picking up the controller, this thought will ring immediately in your mind: this isn't Spider-man. Capcom's upcoming Bionic Commando may have you swinging from place to place, but the effect is completely different from Activision's Spider-man games. Unlike those movie franchise titles, this title demands real skill out of players -- so much so, in fact, that it was difficult for us to come to grip with the game's unique controls (sorry for the pun).
Don't expect to simply hold a trigger and jump around from place to place. You must actually aim where your bionic arm will extend to. You'll have an extra reticule on-screen which shows what you can and cannot attach to. What surprised us the most was how short the bionic arm actually is: don't expect to jump over large canyons in a single swing.
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Perhaps the necessity for smart swinging is part of the game's overall appeal. With only ten minutes to play the game, I still couldn't master the challenging swing mechanic. It was exhilarating to jump from tree to tree, but it was also incredibly frustrating to nearly fall to my doom, and spend minutes simply trying to get back to the correct path. Who knows how long it will take to master the controls? (Of course, we're assuming the final game will teach you slowly -- we just had to jump into the game head-on.)
In spite of the high learning curve, we see a lot of potential in the game, especially for those that choose to master all of Nathan's abilities. Running into enemy soldiers, and being able to grab them with the bionic arm and throw em around: fun. We ran into one boss-like enemy, which had us latching onto his metallic body, and thrusting ourselves above and around him. Then, we could attack his weak point (yes, for massive damage). Within moments of experimenting with the bionic arm, players will discover new intricacies -- it's like playing with a new toy.
Truth be told, Bionic Commando is the kind of game that needs more than an E3 play session to understand. All the other aspects of the game we saw were more than adaquate: the shooting, the graphics, and even the music. However, it will take more time to decide whether or not the swinging will be appropriately challenging, or simply frustrating. For now, we're keeping our hopes high and eagerly await playing the game once more.
