Bionic Commando

There are some great moments, but they're few and far between. [July 2009, p.80]

Taken on its own merits it is a solid if unspectacular third-person action game, and about the unkindest thing you could say about it is that it is bland and inoffensive.

Despite its shortcomings, Bionic Commando has become a nice game. Swinging from building to building in a destroyed Ascension City is a nice experience, and the vast amount of cool action make up for most flaws in the game.

Bionic Commando could have been more. All its problems results in an inability to set the game in a superior quality level. However, many will face the desire to continue playing and, even through all the problems, wont stop loving it.

While the combat is a bit of a letdown, the high bar for difficulty is certainly more addictive than it is frustrating, which compensates for the title's shortcomings and fittingly punctuates a solid piece of work.

Despite the not-so-bad first impressions, Bionic Commando is a disappointing game. Linearity is not a drawback by itself, it's more about the way it has been pushed into the game, which often delivers loads of frustration... Long and frequent loading times, lousy A.I., and inaccurate controls just confirm that this is not a Capcom game, but more a Grin one. Let's hope Capcom itself will be on the next RAD Spencer incarnation: all it needs is some polish.

Patchy fun, but lack of polish and predictability betray its lack of reach. [June 2009, p.68]

I personally could not overlook a number of glaring flaws, most importantly the horde of control issues, in addition to the annoying load times.

It's hard to forget the unresponsive controls, ludicrous story, and questionable combat encounters. The game is uneven and inconsistent enough to scare away even eager fans who have patiently waited 20 years for another swing. [June 2009, p.83]

If the level design did a better job of integrating exploration, platforming, and environmental puzzles, it could have overcome its deficiencies on the combat front. As it is now, Bionic Commando is only worth a rent or bargain bin purchase.

Being a Bionic Tarzan while swinging from building to building has its thrills but the core action is repetitive, unimaginative and constraining. [July 2009]

As long as you're not expecting anything more complex than the ancient side-scroller that inspired it, Bionic Commando offers plenty of fun. [June 2009, p.100]

Bionic Commando has some enjoyable moments, but consistent fun always seems just out of arm's reach.

Even these best intentions cannot hide the fact the game never consistently hits the epic feeling most will feel it should.

A flawed, yet incredibly enjoyable, history lesson.

Crappy story and occasional boring moments aside, Bionic Commando is a good game, akin to a summer popcorn flick. It won't stick with you, but it'll certainly entertain you. When the action amps up it feels awesome; it's just too bad that those moments couldn't have comprised the game's entirety.

If you dig the swinging and master the controls, you might find this sequel worthy of its legendary name. Other players, however, will discover a linear game banking on a gimmick.

Despite the high budget Bionic Commando never manages to swing high enough, mainly due to the steep learning curve and troublesome controls. It's still quite a good game, just not as fantastic as we'd hoped.

It does a lot of things right (great looking graphics, fun multiplayer, and quality voice work), but it's constantly held back by unfortunate design decisions that replace satisfaction with frustration.

It's not a horrible game, and it does provide some fun for the 8 or so hours of gameplay, but it's not particularly exciting or noteworthy either.

Try as I might, I can't think of anything that Bionic Commando offers that one would expect from a modern full-priced game.