[Multiplatform] Bionic Commando - There's no way through, you're just gonna have to fuck it.

After playing three matches, here are my impressions...

Graphically, the game is fucking shoddy. It just looks like utter wank in pretty much every area possible. The visual design in the single arena the game shipped with is one of the blandest things I've ever seen. The day-glo character models are hideous, too, but I'm riding on the assumption that they're placeholders for the final game.

The gameplay earns a resounding "meh". The idea of leaping around an arena, swinging from girder to girder and stomping foes before filling them with lead from the other end of a zipline is appealing as FUCK. I want to enjoy the gameplay so much. Unfortunately, the controls are clunky, the movement animation is floaty, there's no sense of weight to one's character and the zipline-swinging feels totally devoid of momentum. Clambering up onto the side of a building after grappling at it from a distance feels particularly awkward, and the arm's targeting reticule is unusually picky.

I'm still hoping this turns out to be a good game - for all I know, the single-player campaign could more than make up for the extremely disappointing multiplayer. What I've seen of the game in preview videos only superficially resembles what I just played.

At least the game's menus are gorgeous, though.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

After a few more matches, I'm starting to reconsider.

The game still feels awkward as all fuck, and the lag issues don't help what is already an incredibly chaotic experience, but the swinging action is something I'm starting to come to terms with. As is often the case, the SP campaign probably has a lot more sheen to it in general.

Even in light of numerous questionable design choices, I can see BC's multiplayer being enjoyable when it's not an indiscriminate KILL-EVERYBODY-YOU-SEE maelstrom. Maybe I'll rent it once it's out.

There's nowhere I can't reach.