Bionic Commando - Not Enough Swing In Your Thing There Soldier

Perhaps the headline comes off more harsh than I intended. Let me get this out of the way now: Bionic Commando (the newly released current generation version) is a really fun game. The swinging method of traveling is just as invigorating and fun as I was hoping it would be. It's a relatively short game, broken (loading...) up by (loading...) many (loading...) load (loading…) ing times (loading…).

I've seen it mentioned in many reviews that Bionic Commando is actually, to tweak a well known phrase, too small for its britches. I could guess at their meaning, but having finished my first playthrough on Friday (yes I intend to play it again!) I see exactly what they're talking about. The new Bionic Commando game has a lot going for it: a rarely seen travel mechanic in the bionic arm swing, character upgrades, in-game miniature challenges tied to Xbox 360 achievements, beautiful graphics, a Hollywood summer blockbuster orchestrated score, semi-unimaginitive weapons that nevertheless complement the bionic arm actions well.

I think this game's biggest problem is that it shows you this wonderfully realized disaster area that's just begging to be explored and have epic conflicts in... and then the gameplay fails to take advantage of that. First is the fact that you're boxed in from exploring too much by radioactive fallout from the recently dropped bomb that ruins Ascension City. One notable instance of this missed potential is the lead-up to your first boss-fight. Spencer is tasked with getting to a skyscraper in the middle of the city in order to transmit valuable data from an elevated position. There are very entertaining points of conflict on the street leading up to the skyscraper: fodder soldiers, a couple snipers, biomechs, street lamps, rocket launchers, debris to throw at them, all the good ingredients for great gameplay in this particular game. After dispatching this horde you reach the skyscraper (loading…)

Spencer starts transmitting the data at the top of the skyscraper and is assaulted by a attack helicopter

Wait… HUH?

So let me get this straight... In a game that's all about swinging from point A to point B, you ask me to climb a skyscraper... and then you completely disregard a potentially interesting and challenging setpiece without even a cutscene to show our hero climbing the building. Your commanding officer Super Joe EVEN SAYS "We didn't give you that arm to scratch your ass with" right as Spencer reaches the entrance of the building.

On the slightly brighter side of life, at least the boss fight against the attack helicopter is a very fun cat & mouse arena battle where you can swing from various girders while trying to attain a lock-on for your rocket launcher to bring the chopper down.

The other notable instance that comes to mind is the boss fight against Groeder. This was a very fun boss fight in the remake of the first Bionic Commando game because Groeder can do everything that you can do with his own bionic arm. So it was an interesting fight between two mechanical Tarzans with high-tech weaponry. In this game you wait for him to rush you… then you kick him in the back. Not quite the payoff in gameplay you would hope for after seeing Groeder's return from the remake. What I don't understand is that the game should be capable of another climatic showdown between Spencer and Groeder due to the fact that there is a multiplayer mode in this game. So there is a frame of reference for fighting other bioncally enhanced warriors that makes this boss fight even more pathetic. At least the cutscene afterwards is a hilarious nod to Hitler's gruesome death in the first game.

Granted, there ARE instances where the scale of level and enemy encounters really do come together to create the experience you're expecting. One early example is the area where (if I remember correctly) you first obtain the shotgun. There is a building in the center with flagpoles that let you climb up, enemies on the perimeter, and ruined highways all around you; a bionic's playground. I think the game fires on all cylinders of its (current) potential in the oil refinery->journey to the oil rig set of levels. You have all your bionic upgrades at that point, lots of pipelines to swing from, biomechs patrolling, snipers on lookout, floating mines to swing from over deadly radioactive clouds, etc.

Which I guess leads me to another point: This game is also very much like a summer blockbuster in that there are no surprises (other than a very strange and semi-compelling plot twist near the end of the game). If you've seen any release trailers of the game, you've seen everything that the game is going to show you. The fun and heart of the game lies in the execution of the mechanics.

I think Capcom & GRIN did a really great job of updating the Bionic Commando formula from a 1988 NES sidescrolling platform game to this 3D Action Adventure game. They've built a really solid base to build off of, now they just need to take it further. I would like to see a more open world that rewards players for exploring off the beaten path, more interesting setpieces and bosses that are consistent with the design philosophy of the game and work off of Spencer's abilities, a more finely tuned approach to how weapons should work in tandem with the game's flow, and challenge levels akin to the exercises in GRIN's Bionic Commando: Rearmed. Those improvements should turn this game/franchise from a notable summer blockbuster into a AAA game worthy of all the accolades of other legendary game franchises.

I'm not going to humor this post with a crack about Bethesda's buggy release history and how "X" Never Changes

Anyway. Bethesda released their final (announced) DLC pack for Fallout 3 yesterday, Broken Steel. This is the pack that I was the most excited about, because it adds some expanded gameplay upgrades to Fallout 3, as well as another new area to quest in, etc. What was particularly enticing to me was the fact that the game now does not end after you finish the main questline and the level cap has been bumped up to level 30 (from 20). It was great to take my first character out of retirement and tour the Capital Wasteland again and actually be rewarded with Experience points. I'm somewhat disappointed with the descriptions of some of the new perks that I read. As opposed to being fun, interesting character tweaks that you can't get anywhere else, the new perks are somewhat uninspiring. Examples include: three seperate perks to set your karma to best possible/neutral/worst possible, one perk to automatically know how to create every custom weapon in the game, one perk to convert Nuka-Cola into Nuka-Cola Quantum, one of the two final perks at level 30 increases all of your characters stats to 9 (out of 10), etc. It seems like almost all of these are "grind-reducing perks" which misses the point of what was so fun about character perks in my opinion. Mysterious Stranger, Hired Assassin/Lawbringer perks... stuff like that is more what I had in mind. Thinking off the top of my head, I guess a lot of perks in Fallout 3 were grind-reducers, but they were cleverly described in context which led to your character feeling more S.P.E.C.I.A.L. (sorry).

However, the other final level perk (while not feasible in gameplay) sounds far more amusing: when your health drops below 20 HP, you spontaneously combust into a nuclear explosion that (I assume) kills everything around you.

Again, in the little bit I played, it was fun to be exploring the Capital Wasteland with my main Fallout 3 character again. Even yesterday, I still found new locations in the game that I had never seen before (including a computer that had a "beta" text-based adventure game on it, hahaha). There's still even new quest content and items that I have to explore on top of all the additions to the main game! I will definitely have to set some time aside for my re-entry into Post Apocolyptia.

Killzone 2, more like BORE-ZONE... I got nuthin'

I finished the single player campaign of Killzone 2 on default difficulty this past weekend. It was... serviceable. On the one hand, I feel like the game probably shines on a higher difficulty level. On the other hand, I detest how "muddy" the look sensitivity feels and the button configuration. I kept thinking to myself over-and-over that if this game's controls felt as sensitive and right as Call of Duty 4's that I probably would enjoy the game much more than I ended up doing.

The standout positive things that I enjoyed about the game were:

1. Amazing graphics. I remembered being wowed by the initial E3 trailer (that was later admitted to be pre-rendered). The final game actually comes very close to that level of graphical fidelity.
2. Great ragdoll physics after killing an enemy soldier. The Helghast soldiers drop like they have actual weight to their bodies and armor. This makes the game feel more convincing and immersive.
3. Uh, the graphics are great?
4. There were some really great set-pieces midway through the game till the end. There was a great end of level sequence in the game where you are attacked by Helghast inside of a shantytown; very fun playset. The abandoned mining/refinery village was fantastic; with a engaging sniper showdown. An assault on top of a speeding train was another highlight. The final push into Col. Radic's stronghold also had a great flow of action with semi-linearity and seemed appropriately apocalyptic. Basically anything that wasn't "War-torn City" was visually appealing and memorable.
5. Piloting an Exo-Skeleton Warbot near the endgame was a fun surprise, especially after the game had avoided vehicular combat up until this point.
   
6. The final showdown was tense and and suitably epic, even though it overstayed its welcome.
7. Multiplayer seems like it could be a lot of fun. Plus botmatch! I always appreciate that in first person shooters. Must be my fondness for Reaper Bots.
   
8. The graphics were really great.

Things that I didn't like:

1. Back to the game's controls, but it bears repeating: This game simply doesn't feel responsive enough, even after messing with sensitivity settings. Combine that with many of the buttons you need to hold down simultaneously to get into cover and then aim through your reticle... it's overly complicated. My mind kept wandering back to Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow Six Vegas and thinking: if these games figured out how to have fluid controls with similar game design two years ago, how did Killzone 2 miss the memo?
2. The basic gameplay simply isn't very fun. There is a very generic feel to the skirmishes you will have in this game. The shooting mechanics are unsurprising; you've used these guns in countless other First Person Shooters before. Couple this with the irritating restriction of being able to swap your primary weapon only. Granted, I like the back-up magnum your player character is equipped with, but it really stifles the variety of your encounters when your tactical load-out choices are Assault Rifle A + Magnum, Assault Rifle B + Magnum, Machine Gun + Magnum, Generic FPS Staple Weapon + Magnum etc. At least there's offhand grenades (thank you Halo). Even the enemy types hearken back to the complaint of generic enemy design. You've got your regular foot soldiers, big guys, a couple flying drones. Sometimes those foot soldiers will try to kill you with a knife! A couple tanks too I guess? Killzone doesn't even have as many enemy types as BioShock, never mind the fact that it simply doesn't hold a candle to BioShock's aesthetic design and atmosphere.
3. Bros of War - Man, this is so irritating in this game. Gears of War is pretty notorious for this overly-macho frat boys-getting-new-toys-and-killing-durty-foreigners/aliens/whatever, but for some reason Killzone 2's take on this aesthetic irritates me even more. The members of your Alpha Squad overly irritating macho assholes who aren't any tougher than your average grunt but spout off like they are the omnipresent force of victory on the battlefield. Fuck you, annoying loudmouth stereotype guy, I'm the only fucking reason this invasion is going to be a success. When you can sympathize with your enemies (who are Space Nazis) more than your own squad/military, you've missed the boat when it comes to drawing players into your world.
4. About half or a little more than half of the level design is lackluster. When your enemy skirmishes are generic and uninspiring to begin with, it falls to the level design to have interesting places to fight in. Thankfully the latter half of the game picks this up, but you'll have to stick with the game for a while until it does.

Ultimately, this game validates my Gamefly subscription. It was fun at its best, but quite irritating at its worst. I would consider playing the game on a higher difficulty to see how tactical the gameplay could be if it wasn't so uninspiring the first time around and the controls were tighter. If the multiplayer side of the game is as fun as it seems (and the internet is to be believed), then Killzone 2 is probably worth picking up on the cheap ($25 or less IMO). If you have no interest in multiplayer, this game has rental written all over it.