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

A 3D reworking of the classic Bionic Commando games is set to arrive on 360 and PS3 this summer (well May/June time depending on region) and later in the year on PC. The game is being developed by GRIN, the Swedish developer behind the recent XBLA/PSN update of the original - Bionic Commando Rearmed.

For 360 owners there is now an multiplayer demo available on Xbox Live, and I imagine you'll find a few GFFers online to play with over the next few days. Unfortunately no joy for PS3 owners who'll just have to wait until the full game hits, or check back here for people's impressions of the game.

- Bionic Commando video at GameTrailers.com
- Hands-on preview at Eurogamer

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Unfortunately it seems the demo is incredibly limited to the extent that all you can do is search for games. The fact that it's only one map isn't an issue, though the map itself is hardly inspiring, but I'm somewhat annoyed that you can't create a lobby to invite friends to, or even think about setting up a private game. As such there's not going to be any playing with GFFers unless you get incredibly lucky.

As for the game itself, well the mechanics seem to work well enough, though I'm not entirely convinced about shooting, but the deathmatch mode is pretty terrible. Can't say I enjoyed it too much. Perhaps I was doing something wrong, but it seemed very random as to what sort of damage you'd do with weapons or even the various arm attacks.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

There's never any time to aim since people are either grappling all over the fucking place or just blindshooting in your general direction. I imagine combat works much better in story mode, since the AI-enemies will not act as chaotically as real people spazzing out with the controls. I would hope.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate 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.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

The primary negative thing I noticed about the whole experience was the lag fits the thing had, I'd zipline kick a guy only to see him not fly off for a full half second or more.

The actual swing mechanic is pretty solid though, and I'm thankful for that. GB has a point, and I think the combat itself will be less spazzed out when it's SP stages to go through rather than worry about other players.

But I didn't find the controls that clunky at all, maybe a tad confusing at first, as there's a lot of context heavy stuff, but it responded pretty well and grappling accurately is no big deal.

Not sure I understand the momentum comment, as it seems quite important as you're going about, so much so in fact that releasing at the wrong angle fucks up your jump pretty radically.

I didn't find the aiming too difficult either, but maybe I was just playing against a bunch of people who gave me too much time to do so, I dunno.

I'll tell you what though, swinging in to the snipers nest, zip line kicking a guy off a stage, having him grab back on and fling himself up only to pop him point blank with a snipe is extremely satisfying.

I didn't really care about the multi in the game, and the demo confirms that the swing mechanic works well, so I'm still pumped about the SP experience later.

MP Is a bit too chaotic for it's own good, though. Maybe if other players calmed down a bit they'd get more than one kill a round, but I don't see that happening.

(Anyone understand the purpose of the score and score multiplier? I came in second once while having more POINTS, but one less kill than a guy. Is it used for some other non-DM mode?)

I was speaking idiomatically.

My bet is that Deathmatch (and most likely other modes) will have a setting to rank people by kills/deaths or score. They probably overlooked that when they threw together the demo, or they felt that removing the score count just for appearances would be more effort than it was worth. Though, it may also settle ties when ranking by kills (and vice-versa).

Like Skills, I am unfazed by the blehness of the demo. Looking forward to the retail release.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

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.

FELIPE NO

Just came home from some rounds playing the MP demo at work, and I have to unload some complaints about it. I find it utterly baffling that they released this demo, which I consider to the most compelling argument against buying this game that I've seen so far. I never expected the multiplayer to be good in this game, but that it'd look like shit? I didn't expect that. Aside from that I also found it to be un-fun in general, there was no sense of joy when swinging around at all, and I just found the whole experience alternatingly baffling and frustrating.

Why would they release a multiplayer demo? Did they think it was fun to play this game in multiplayer? What should I expect from the single player and the rest of the game, if they choose to use this as a demo? It's just brought up a lot of questions that I didn't have before. I was going to get this game at launch, but now I'm not so sure...

I'm not saying the actual final product will definitely be bad (I certainly won't be playing the multiplayer if I do decide to get it, but then I never do), but I just can't wrap my head around the fact that they actually released this.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

That was the best damn lobby ever conceived by man. Even by bionic man.

Seriously though, that was fairly unimpressive (except for the lobby). It felt like the demo for a mediocre XBLA game. The aiming was kind of awkward and the swinging didn't feel nearly as fluid as it should've been. I was more curious about the single player game to begin with, but apparently they didn't see fit to even bother with a demo for that. If they want me to judge by the multiplayer alone then at least they've saved me some money.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

So I've been tooling around the MP demo over the past few days; sure, I think Grin should have allowed folks to set up their own matches, but I found the actual boots-on-ground experience fun in a fast-paced old-school way. Odds are you'll find five minutes zipping by before you know it (a series of time warnings - 60s, 30s, and countdown from 10s, for instance - would've been appreciated).
To attempt answering BF's question about scoring: the multipliers are intended to encourage kill streaks (and, therefore, fast-and-furious gameplay); and you get bonus points for killing folks with zip-kicks (and, I would guess, a good old-fashioned beatdown) and while they're airborne.
And yes, the piano arrangement of the Bionic Commando theme works nicely; it'll be interesting to see what else the music team spins up.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

The more I play this demo, the more tolerant I am of the multiplayer. It's weird.

I've gotten used to the aiming, mostly (though I still don't know how the grenade detonation works). I've noticed the quality of the competition has evolved a bit too, as more and more people are becoming less spastic and more clever with their grapple-work to beat enemies.

Now that I'm pretty good with timing my swings, it's gone from pretty fun to immensely enjoyable. Not saying multiplayer has been saved from mediocrity, but it's at least proven to me that the main mechanics of the game work.

How ya doing, buddy?

So apparently there's a hidden option for setting up private matches in the Bionic Commando demo, if anyone fancies giving this a try:

Quote:

According to the Capcom blog, you should go to the options screen (press start on the main menu), then get a friend to send you an invite and accept it, and say no when it asks if you want to exit your current game.

This deposits you on a private match screen, although Capcom says you shouldn't mess with the game mode or frag limit options or it will crash the demo.

[ source ]

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Better than nothing. Hopefully I'll see you guys on there tonight when I get home.

I was speaking idiomatically.

It took us a second (ok, more than a second, Mo0 figured it out) to realize exactly what needed to be done. Your friend has to send you an invite from any other game, not from inside the Bionic demo itself, then you can create the lobby using the above method.

Had a blast playing with Mo0/Garr/Tritoch/miles just now, even though the latter two seem to dislike the experience. Garr is ridiculous with that DfA shit. >=(

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

So the game came out.

So far? Loving it. Achievements net you in-game bonuses (for example, getting the Close Up achievement reduces the spread of the pistol when zoomed in). That's something a lot more games need to do.

FELIPE NO

Went to the launch party of the game in Sweden tonight. Damn, the single player seems really fun from what I could play of it there. Sound was fantastic, graphics looked a lot better than that ridiculous multiplayer demo, too. I think the game goes on sale here Friday, but I'm glad I didn't cancel my preorder. Looking forward to it again now.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Just so everyone's clear, this is not a sandbox style game (at least, not yet). You may think that there's a big open city at first, but it becomes apparent that it's just narrow corridors you follow until you reach the next checkpoint. "Radiation" in blocked off areas will kill you if you try to press on, and "irradiated objects" is just fancy talk for "places we're preventing you from grappling onto."

Still, you can grapple onto most anything else, and it's damn fun to do. There's also a bunch of different moves that weren't in the demo that are pretty fun.

I just wish dying didn't wipe out your in-game achievements and collectibles that you got in that particular area, as it also removes what bonuses you've acquired for doing them.

EDIT: Also, do yourself a favor and turn on the classic skin. Infinitely cooler, even if the shit voice doesn't come close to matching his looks.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Haha, man. I'm glad I'm not the only one who dislikes Grin's character designer.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by GB

Just so everyone's clear, this is not a sandbox style game

I'm really quite curious. When did this game ever get advertised as a sandbox game? Half the negative reviews this game has gotten seem to get really hung up on that, and it's really a surprise to me.

How ya doing, buddy?

I haven't really been reading the reviews, but I certainly didn't expect it to be a sandbox style game. I'm almost positive that was never in the plans. It would be fun as a sandbox game I guess (but so would every other game basically, sandbox games are inherently fun ), but as far as I know this game has always been a mission-based, straightforward action game. ¯\(º_o)/¯

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

But the trailer had BUILDINGS and shit. A city! YOU MUST ASSUME IT IS FREE TO ROAM. And then complain when it is not!

My one gripe so far is the death = resetting of collectibles/challenges for the current area. Also that the collectibles are waaaaaaaay too easy to find. Most are in plain sight and the rest come with very little exploration at all.

That said, I'm having a lot of fun throwing cars at people. Maybe some of the other multiplayer maps will have tossables? I dunno, haven't looked into it.

Also, if you're going to have the character design be a straight up copy of Ronon Dex from Stargate Atlantis just have Jason Momoa do the voice work, even though he sounds like a dingus, because even that'd be better than...whatever the fuck it is we got.

I was speaking idiomatically.

This is me completely disagreeing about the voice work but also saying the game is BBBAllin' Where the fuck is my soundtrack already capcom?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Bacon Man

I'm really quite curious. When did this game ever get advertised as a sandbox game? Half the negative reviews this game has gotten seem to get really hung up on that, and it's really a surprise to me.

I've read somewhere that it was hinted that you may get more freedom to roam than originally thought (if true, I dunno what asshole at Capcom or Grin thought that was a good idea to say), so I guess everyone was pretty pissed when it turned out to be fairly linear.

Honestly, I don't care that it's level-based. I like not having to putter and wander around looking for collectibles or even just the correct way to the next mission. The levels give you plenty of objects to grapple onto and thus you're afforded many different ways to travel, and that's enough for me.

I really hope this game sells. I think they're on the cusp of something really great, but it gets bogged with some crummy elements that could be easily fixed in a sequel (precise aiming with things other than the sniper rifle, the loss of collectibles and in-game achievements upon death, etcetera).

FELIPE NO

There's more lateral freedom in the later stages (especially end of Act 2, Chapter 3), in the port. You need it to because there's lots of fireball throwing assholes.

Game's kinda short. Bought Wednesday, finished just about an hour ago. I wish there was a total time clock.

The Biomech fights were the only things that got a tad annoying. Oftentimes you wouldn't be given enough places to move and get behind them, and it felt more like luck when they didn't face you fast enough so you could get the zipkick in rather than you actually outsmarting or out maneuvering them.

Rest of it is pretty ace though, and my GOD, the soundtrack.

I was also extremely amused by the "skip" function of the dialogue during a certain boss fight. Instead of hearing the boss's speech, Spencer would just yell "Would you shut the FUCK UP" and cut it short.

Ending leaves little room for a sequel, all things considered. Although I totally hope for one because the minor niggles could be ironed out into something god damn HYPER AWESOME.

Also I hear CTF Multi is pretty sweet. Anyone tried it yet to confirm?

Also also, Commando is tearing me a new asshole.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Okay, I just had a weird dialogue thing happen to me, too. Fought the giant worm robot thing right now and died. Ordinarily the beginning dialogue is:

Joe: "Spencer, there's no way out. You're going to have to fight it."
Spencer: "My pleasure."

Instead, I got this on my second try:

"Spencer, there's no way out. You're going to have to fuck it."

"Um..."

Jam it back in, in the dark.