Bionic Commando Rearmed 2

[ItsEvan]

Seriously, guys, someone has to ask me a question about this game right god damn NOW
Preferably about the story, firstly.

[StatiK TactiK]

Is it any good? lol I've been hearing disappointing things about this. I enjoyed playing the first one.

[ItsEvan]

Personally, I haven't played the first one, neither the very original on the NES, but I love the **** outta this game.
The only reason why I tried to provoke questions was because I had writers block, but yeah...

There's a pretty wide selection of upgrades, from weapons to different arms to passive abilities. They all mix and match each other in different ways, for example pistol, grenade launcher and health regen is the most versatile, whereas speed-runners might choose a speed upgrade, shotgun and uppercut.

I got a video review coming up - I'm gonna hopefully complete it by the end of today. Hopefully that will answer your questions.

[StatiK TactiK]

Oh so I guess you can't answer my next question. I heard they added a jump button (previously you had to grapple and swing over boxes and gaps) so I was going to ask how that affected the gameplay and level design in general.

[ItsEvan]

That's the thing though, it doesn't really affect gameplay. All the jump does is make one's life easier. Levels are perfectly able to be beaten without the use of the jump button. If you ask me, the developers put the newer player in mind, and didn't want them to suffer the same mechanics that other people did ten years ago for the sake of nostalgia. You can still play the game without jumping, the nostalgia factor is still there, but it's more subtle, the way it's supposed to be.

The challenge levels...on the other hand... do require jumping in certain areas. Hell, one of them was so devious I had to take advantage of the recovery blow that you get when you're hurt.

[StatiK TactiK]

Yeah the challenge levels in the first Rearmed were pretty damn hard too. I could only beat a few of them before I gave up lol

[ItsEvan]

I got a sick nasty video of me beating the very last challenge level that's coming up in my video review. Hopefully that can refute anyone's qualms with the controls being bad.

[ItsEvan]

Here's the script that I wrote for the currently publishing video review:
"Developer Fatshark recently took over the reins of the Bionic Commando Rearmed franchise, after its previous developer GRIN tanked in sales regarding the remake of Bionic Commando and also of Wanted: Weapons of Fate. Does Fatshark have the capability to continue the legacy that GRIN started?

Before I explain my experience to you, as a disclaimer I should first state that I haven't played the first Bionic Commando game, nor have I played the first Bionic Commando Rearmed installment, but I believe that there is credibility to this ignorance.

For instance, I don't benefit from the nostalgia factor that this game may or may not have. If there were any allusions or mentions about the first installment of the franchise, I wouldn't be able to pick up on them. However, just because I haven't played the first Bionic Commando doesn't mean that I should suffer the same mechanics that other people have endured in the past - especially regarding the controversial decision to add the ability to jump.

I love jumping. It makes getting good grappling positions easier, it's possible to dodge bullets, and it's something that I can relate to, having played other platformers in the past. If there are any naysayers out there that disagree with me, I say this - screw you.

You obviously haven't read the achievement list, which provides points to anyone that doesn't jump. There's also a difficulty that disables jumping, meaning that from the very start of the game it's possible to not propel yourself off the ground with your two legs.

Not jumping isn't the only allusion this game makes, there are also more subtle hints that refer to an important event in America's history - the cold war.

The very introduction of the game makes allusions to the Cuban missile crisis and the Bay of Pigs incident, most noticeable is the antagonist who seems to look strangely familiar to a prominent political figure of both yesterdays and today's world.

There are even more subtle hints during gameplay and in level designs that allude to communist Cuba.

The actual storyline doesn't parallel to the cold war as much as it provides comic relief during intermissions before bossfights or completing levels. It was either hit or miss for me, but reading Nathan "Rad" Spencer's overly machismo quips provided an almost consistent amount of chuckles throughout the playthrough.

And what a long playthrough it was. The mission to cut off Castro's finger was much more enjoyable on a difficult setting. On hard difficulty, it took the span of a week to get this game done, not including the challenge levels, of which there are a total of twenty four. Requiring great skill, sweat, and maybe even tears to accomplish, the challenge levels also took a big chunk of my time to beat.

The hard difficulty encouraged me to seek out the collectibles that buffed my armaments - some more versatile than others, but the game doesn't force you to use specific weapons. There's a pretty large variety of tools that allow you to dispatch yellows and their yellowism ideals in creative and painful ways.

There's health regeneration for the newbie, speed modifications for the speed-runner, a damage buff for the big bang aficionado, bottom line, if there's a certain style of play that you like, chances are this game will be able to accommodate them.

To be fair, Rearmed 2 doesn't really accommodate the necessity of descending. Even though through most of the game you're ascending on rooftops and tree canopies, the later levels often have you falling down to reach the end, which is problematic because it's hard to see where you're supposed to land.

Oftentimes, I found myself landing in water or on some spikes the beginning of my playthrough. Yeah, there's a learning curve to using the grapple arm, but without the complexity of the grapple, it would be much easier to do speed-runs, meaning that not much would separate the great from the not-so-great.

Glitches do exist, but are infrequent, nor are they interfering. Boss patterns are simplistic and easy to learn, sometimes dragging on in some cases, it's possible to not take a scratch in a scuffle with an adversary, but they won't take damage in some cases until they allow you to hurt them. It also seems like some of the sounds were missing as well when referring to boss battles.

Even with these mistakes, the polish still shines true even with these tiny tarnishes. With an almost allegorical story, rad gameplay, and the tad price of fifteen dollars, it'd be a bad decision not to download this sequel."

[Murgatroyd7]

Having played the original NES game and the first ReArmed, I can say that the ability to jump makes a huge difference. That old game took me weeks to beat, but with the ability to jump, it may have only taken several days. I really think it makes the game a lot easier. Of course, even without jumping, it's still quite a bit easier than the first one. Even so, I think they did a great job and made a fun, challenging game. It's a heck of a lot better than that crappy current-gen remake they came out with not too long ago.

[StatiK TactiK]

I didn't even play the remake of Bionic Commando but it looked like complete poop lol Didnt even want to play it and I like Bionic Commando

[Murgatroyd7]

I played the multiplayer demo, which was awful. I'm sure the singleplayer game is probably better, but it still can't be all that great. I'll probably eventually play it out of curiosity, though, because you can get a new copy for $10 or less.