Bionic Commando has never necessarily been one of Capcom’s go-to franchises, but it’s always had a pretty solid cult following, particularly for the NES release. Capcom seems a bit iffy about the property, getting a mostly American production team to work with Swedish developer Grin on reviving the franchise. They sought to re-familiarise us with the world of Bionic Commando and its grapple-armed hero Nathan “Rad” Spencer last August with the remake of the NES game entitled Bionic Commando Rearmed. Now it’s time for the real deal – the fully fledged sequel for the high definition consoles. It may seem unnecessarily edgy at times, and there are a few baffling design decisions, but tight gameplay and a brilliant soundtrack make Grin’s Bionic Commando a remarkably solid successor.

Set a couple of years after the defeat of the Imperials in Bionic Commando Rearmed, former hero Nathan “Rad” Spencer is incarcerated, after the government left him to take the fall for a failed black ops operation. The incident inspired hatred for bionically enhanced people, forcing the government to make bionics illegal. Spencer is freed from death row and reacquainted with his bionic arm and former comrade Joseph “Super Joe” Gibson after Ascension City is attacked by a pro-bionics terrorist group named Bio-Reign, causing widespread death, destruction and radiation. At first the story seems pretty disposable, thanks largely to gruff, curse-heavy dialogue from the main protagonist, but it starts to become a lot more engrossing in the latter half of the game.

Once you gain control over Spencer and his arm, you’ll need to become enlightened in the ways of the bionic arm. Fortunately, a rather nifty tutorial section teaches you everything you need to know about using the bionic arm, as well as the other stuff Spencer is capable of. Using the bionic arm takes a little time to get used to; you need to know exactly when to let go during a swing to get the proper boost, since it’s not automatic like Bionic Commando Rearmed. Once you’ve got the hang of the arm, swinging around Ascension City is really damn fun.

Don’t expect to be swinging around freely, though; Bionic Commando is a tightly-paced linear action game, not an open world game. You can accept that for the most part, but Grin doesn’t make it any easier by showing you this big city, and only letting you access a small portion of it because other parts are coated with a convenient radiation which the arm can’t grapple. I’m all for focused action, but Bionic Commando seems a little too restrictive at times – you want to explore, but there’s always some form of seemingly minor inconvenience that prevents it. However, if the game was an open world experience, the level design probably wouldn’t be anywhere near as good as it is

It seems like Bionic Commando is at its best when you’re simply navigating the environment. The action sequences are good, but the enemies are a bit plain and the actual combat is uneven. Grin obviously put a lot of work into the bionic arm deal, but it appears as though they felt like they needed to tone down the game’s gunplay in order to encourage players to use the arm in combat, so the game wasn’t simply another throwaway third person shooter. You can do some pretty cool stuff with the arm like flinging objects at enemies, using it to propel Spencer for a zip kick or the old fashioned slap and juggle. The vast majority of the games guns are limp, not just in terms of strength, but sound effects as well. The default gun sounds like a pop gun, and packs a similar punch. Secondary guns have a bit more power to them – the Tarantula rocket launcher is particularly good – but these are few and far between, and there’s never enough ammunition around.

Most of Bionic Commando involves swinging between waypoints and hacking the odd node, with a few fights along the way. There are a few little things to break up the pattern though, mostly coming in the form of challenges. Challenges come in all shapes and sizes, from collecting a few hidden icons around each level to trying to take out a specific number of enemies in a single attack. Some of the challenges stack – one will ask you to knock out a soldier with a Death From Above attack and if you complete that, it’ll get you to take out three in one go. Most of these challenges unlock useful upgrades in the game, while others are tied to the game’s Achievements or Trophies, if you need a little extra incentive. The way the game handles challenge completion is pretty annoying though; players can complete a challenge and get the Achievement/Trophy for it, but the game won’t actually record the completion of the achievement until the next save point, so if you die in between, the challenge has to be completed again.

Bionic Commando fills the standard 8-10 hour action game requirement, but the heightened level of difficulty, even on the default “normal“ setting, makes the journey feel longer. If you feel so inclined, the game has a fairly solid multiplayer component. It consists of your fairly basic Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag play modes, but the bionic arm makes for a fairly unique approach to an otherwise standard third person shooter multiplayer experience. It’s not going to become the multiplayer game of choice, as it has some serious balance issues (watch out for turbo pad players using the pistol, it gets nasty), but it provides a nice diversion from other multiplayer shooters on the market.

Grin’s pulled out all the stops when it comes to Bionic Commando’s presentation. The game has a very sound technical base, with excellent character models, high quality animation and beautiful environments. The game transitions between several well conceived and constructed environments; the recently devastated Ascension City looks particularly awesome. I’m not a big fan of Spencer’s new design – the dreads, gravelly voice (provided by Faith No More frontman Mike Patton) and attempted edgyness don’t seem like a logical progression for the straight and narrow soldier we played as in the previous game. The game’s soundtrack is pretty good, especially when it comes to the new variations of the series theme (there’s a piano one, a rock one and an orchestral one) that play throughout the game.

Bionic Commando is a good game that could have been better. The overall product feels quite uneven; it looks brilliant and most of the actual gameplay is very classy – it just seems like Grin has had some really bizarre ways of dealing with classic game design problems. The way the bionic arm has been implemented into the game is fantastic – swinging around Ascension City is really cool – but did that really need to come at the expense of a more balanced combat system? They’ve built some giant levels, but you can hardly access any of it – it’s oddly frustrating, particularly in an age of widespread open world action games. If you’re in need of a solid, entertaining and tightly focused action game, then Bionic Commando is the ticket, but be warned; you’ll often feel like Grin could have delivered much more.