Bionic Commando

Someone once said "How can a game where you have a bionic arm that can swing from anything sucks so much?" That someone is our very own Marc De Leon.

In short:
Look: 1/1
Sound: 1/1
Feel: 3/5
Total: 5/7
71% = C
This game relies too much on Nathan Spencer's bionic arm and the physics suck. 85% swinging around, 15% shooting.

In long:
Bionic Commando is a 3d FPS game that forces you to use your bionic arm to clear gaps, rocks, bridges, holes, whatever. 85% of the game is spent swinging around and the swing physics in the game suck ass.

What I liked about the game:
The ability to swing from almost anything.
The story is canon.
Other arm uses.
No fall damage.
Waypoints.

What I disliked about the game:
Physics.
Slow running speed that forces you to swing from place to place.
Level design on some of the stages.
Radiation.
Weapons.
Nathan Spencer can only hold his breath for 5 seconds underwater.
Basis of story.
Emily Spencer.
No saving after a challenge/collectable.

Physics suck because:
You can reach full speed forward from a dead stop when swinging (sometimes and sometimes not).
If you grapple an object in the air, you may not be able to "continue swinging" if you grapple too close to an object. You come to a dead stop and need to hit "B" to pull out your bionic arm so you can swing again. This may not be an issue on a normal/easy game but on the commando difficulty, the delay between swings will get you shot and you will die.

Nathan Spencer can't run worth squat. If you try running from cover to cover, you get shot and die. So you're forced to swing from place to place, which sucks cause the physics suck.

Level design sucks on some stages because the game is presented as an "open map" that lets you THINK you can choose whatever route you want to go.
1. You can't grapple onto everything. Some buildings are "irradiated" so you can't use your claw to climb up them.
2. If you go off the map, or swing too high, the radiation will kill you. You can't see the radiation either. Sometimes there's a direct route to a waypoint but you have to go around. Very annoying.
These two things force Nathan Spencer on a pretty linear path.

Some stages have water in them (pool of water, river, whatever). If Nathan falls into one of these hazards, he needs to pull himself up because he can only hold his breath underwater for 5 seconds.
If his stupid ass arm makes him sink, he should ditch it.

Weapons.
You get a pistol and grenades.
You can carry one extra weapon. Hiker (shotgun), Tarantula (rockets), SMG, Sniper, Bulldog (Grenade Launcher)
Extra weapons drop from the HQ during scripted sequences in the game.
These weapons come with 8 bullets. (except the SMG).
Ammo for extra weapons are VERY rare (1-2 bullets per map).

Why can't I carry them all? Why can't they give me extra ammo? Why can't I steal the enemies' weapon? Why do I have to carry this shitty ass pistol though the game?

Previously in Bionic Commando...

You save the world from the Nazis and Hitler (Groeder). You are a hero.

THEN THEY SEND YOU TO JAIL, YOU DO NOT PASS GO, YOU DO NOT COLLECT $200.

FOR 10 YEARS.

ON DEATH ROW.

THEN ONE DAY THEY DECIDE TO RELEASE YOU SO YOU CAN GO INVESTIGATE A TERRORIST BOMBING.

ALONE.

WHAT THE FUCK.

Emily Spencer = stupid plot twist.

In the game Nathan can collect these icons for an achievement. Some of these icons are very hard to get (spend about 5 minutes on getting some of these). If you die before you get a checkpoint, you have to re-get all these icons again. Very annoying.

Most of the frustration in this game comes from the combination of the following:
Slow running speed + Nothing to grapple on to = Getting shot to death because Nathan can't evade bullets worth shit.
Swinging into radiation. You realize your mistake too late (because you can't really see radiation, its just an arbitrary boundary put by the level designer).
Dying after completing a challenge/collecting a collectable. You have to waste your time getting it again.
Swinging while getting shot at. Because of the physics in this game, you may not have enough speed to evade bullets.