Bionic Commando: Rearmed Review (XBLA)

Bionic Commando for the original NES remains one of my all time favorite games, so you can imagine my excitement when they announced a next gen version. Then they got me even more excited when they followed that announcement up with news of a 3D/2D remake. Bionic Commando: Rearmed is simply one of the best games you can pick up on Xbox Live Arcade and The Playstation Network. It takes every great detail of the original and makes it work in today's gaming generation.

 

Each and every level has been remade in high res graphics and a thumping electronic remix of the original songs. Updated game play mechanics have been added where they make sense, like being able to bring all your weapons with you on each map; opposed to just one like the original game forced you to have. The bosses of the original game where not one of the game's strong points, but the team who put together Rearmed has made awesome, intricate battles that change depending on what difficulty level you put them on. If there is only one gigantic change of the game, it is the last level. It is completely new to the original game and its also quite long. Not to mention frustrating! By the time I finished the last stage, I probably spent a good two hours total learning every part of it to make the most out of my lives. Even then, I spent another 5 lives on the last boss and just managed to finish him of with one remaining. As frustrating as it was though, beating it gives you a massive sense of accomplishment and unlocks Super Hard mode.

Another cool feature that GRIN (The team who remade the game.) put in was offline two-player co-op and 4 player offline deathmatch. Each element adds lots of hours to the game play and wraps up this awesome remake package into one great game.

For those of you who have played the original, buy it! Its worth it. To those of you who haven't, try the demo and experience the awesomeness! You won't be disappointed either way.

 

5 out of 5.