Getting armed with a revival

While I was at the VGXPO in Philadelphia this weekend, I had the opportunity to get a little hands-on time with the new Bionic Commando that comes out early next year. Unsurprisingly, it looks and plays pretty well. I say "unsurprisingly" because the game is developed by GRIN, who was also responsible for the superlative Bionic Commando: Rearmed. This game, along with that one, really shows that they know what works about the franchise.

Unlike a game like, say, the last-generation Spiderman games, Bionic Commando doesn't allow you to latch onto the utter nothingness in the sky to swing around; it involves carefully latching onto tangible objects that you can swing on or to. Angela and I noticed that the person in front of us was having a problem with the swinging mechanics, but I was able to pick them right up because they require the same precision that Rearmed demanded.

But there are also a number of new aspects, like the fact that your character can actually jump! Jumping actually gives a new dynamic to the game, and gives new possibilities to platforming with the ability to jump and swing simultaneously. It's also a hell of a lot of fun, and it feels great; like what the aforementioned Spiderman games should have felt like. The game will also involve taking down enemies not only with the gun you're armed with, but with new techniques that involve the bionic arm. 

I was looking forward to the game before, but now I can't wait to getting ahold of the actual game in a few months. Hopefully, the demo that I played (which was of the PC version) will be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and Playstation Network sooner rather than later. Also, here's hoping they actually get the demo out before the game, but there's a good chance as Capcom tends to be pretty good at this kind of thing.