Bionic Commando
Preview
A sequel worth the wait
by Howie Howard
previewed on X360
Back in the days
When was the last time you had the opportunity to go back in time to a more peaceful and simpler time? Unfortunately we can’t do that, but if I could, the time period I would pick would be the mid 1980’s. The 80’s were the thing of new frontiers, especially on the digital gaming front.
I can remember going into arcades only to be amazed by the beeps and bops of a countless number of new video games. Gone were the old tired and boring pinball machines to be replaced by driving games, sports games, and various action fighting games. One of my favorites during that time was a fun little action title called Bionic Commando by Capcom. I could immerse myself in the role of an action Super Hero and all I needed was a pocket full of quarters to feed into a hungry machine.
I did the arcade scene for a couple of years and would dream of swinging like Tarzan while battling hoards of evil Nazis in the privacy of my own room. Back in those days as it is now, it was politically incorrect to refer to any one group of people as Nazis, so the evil enemies were renamed Badds or Imperials. Their leader (Adolph Hitler) was called Master D. Thankfully Bionic Commando eventually came to a new home gaming machine called the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1988.
From that time on I was in gaming seventh heaven and I saved the world countless times with my powerful little 8-bit graphically rendered bionic arm equipped Super Hero. Yes the graphics compared to today’s picture perfect renditions were pitiful but the story was something else. In fact, the story line of the original Bionic Commando for NES was special in that it contained a plot. A plot in those days was a rare thing as most games consisted of aimlessly shooting enemies in order to run up a high score. The arcade version of Bionic Commando was kind of a numbers game too until NES turned it into a story of good versus evil.
3D now
Lets time travel twenty years into the future from 1988 to late 2007 and to the press release announcing the return of our bionic arm equipped Super Hero, Nathan Spencer. Swedish game company GRIM is the developer and Capcom is the producer. The word is that Bionic Commando will be released before Q4 2008 or more specifically in the spring of 2008. From what I have seen Capcom is right on schedule and this one will be a good sequel.
Bionic Commando begins about ten years after our Super Hero has dispatched the evil Imperial forces. Game plot and graphics follow the original game faithfully except for the fact that the 2D pixilated characters and environs are replaced by a colorful 3D world. Nathan Spencer resumes his roll as the main character and some of the other game character return as well to do battle against a new terrorist organization. After the Imperialists were defeated Nathan Spencer is dishonorably discharged from the Tactical Arms and Security Committee (TASC Special Ops.) where he was accused of treason and murder. He has been sentenced to death for these crimes. On the day that this sentence is to be carried out the reborn “Imperial” forces, now known as BioReign are planning to destroy Ascension City. Luckily Nathan’s old boss “Super” Joe Gibson is able to stop the impending execution and free him so that he can once again attempt to save the day.
