CAPCATHON, GAME 3: Bionic Commando (1988, NES)
Bionic Commando on NES is still a great game, through and through.
It's not as graphically dazzling as its arcade predecessor, the translation can range from "funny" to "confusing", and the early-game can be horrible, especially while you're stuck with your default gun and if you don't know that you can grind enemies for health (such a bizarre mechanic for an action platformer- surely incorporating a normal health bar would have been much less difficult and would have reaped much better results), and even when you get how the game properly works and you begin to crawl forward towards your goal, you lose all your lives and must restart from the beginning.
But if you stick with it, for just a bit longer, you'll find a very rewarding game. Once you get the rocket launcher, enemies can be mowed down like pins by a bowling ball. The over-the-top shooter perspective segments, while initially seeming like a shoehorned inclusion to keep the game fresh, actually hide items that let you continue after a game over, letting you keep all your items and progress. (They're not substitutes for saving or a password system, for the record, but they help nonetheless). If you talk to the NPCs, you will be pointed in the direction of very helpful items, such as the flares for Area 4, or the Communicators, making the Federation army seem like a tight-knit group.
But none of this compares to the sheer joy that is controlling Nathan "Rad" Spencer: the clunky but promising formula of the arcade game has been reworked into something of a "tactical platformer". Since you cannot jump, you must think laterally to ascend and navigate the many levels you'll be going through. Despite some general stiffness, the control is much better here than in the arcade game- swinging in particular has been reworked for the better.
The music is also great too: although it's repetitive, it's not grating, and some especially catchy tunes are definitely going to get stuck in your head. I also recognized some tracks from the arcade game, which I thought was a nice touch.
All in all, after the initial "difficulty wall", Bionic Commando felt like a fairly balanced game, with a few deaths that I can admit were my fault, and not the game's. I reccomend you check this incredibly solid platformer out!
Bionic Commando on NES is still a great game, through and through.
It's not as graphically dazzling as its arcade predecessor, the translation can range from "funny" to "confusing", and the early-game can be horrible, especially while you're stuck with your default gun and if you don't know that you can grind enemies for health (such a bizarre mechanic for an action platformer- surely incorporating a normal health bar would have been much less difficult and would have reaped much better results), and even when you get how the game properly works and you begin to crawl forward towards your goal, you lose all your lives and must restart from the beginning.
But if you stick with it, for just a bit longer, you'll find a very rewarding game. Once you get the rocket launcher, enemies can be mowed down like pins by a bowling ball. The over-the-top shooter perspective segments, while initially seeming like a shoehorned inclusion to keep the game fresh, actually hide items that let you continue after a game over, letting you keep all your items and progress. (They're not substitutes for saving or a password system, for the record, but they help nonetheless). If you talk to the NPCs, you will be pointed in the direction of very helpful items, such as the flares for Area 4, or the Communicators, making the Federation army seem like a tight-knit group.
But none of this compares to the sheer joy that is controlling Nathan "Rad" Spencer: the clunky but promising formula of the arcade game has been reworked into something of a "tactical platformer". Since you cannot jump, you must think laterally to ascend and navigate the many levels you'll be going through. Despite some general stiffness, the control is much better here than in the arcade game- swinging in particular has been reworked for the better.
The music is also great too: although it's repetitive, it's not grating, and some especially catchy tunes are definitely going to get stuck in your head. I also recognized some tracks from the arcade game, which I thought was a nice touch.
All in all, after the initial "difficulty wall", Bionic Commando felt like a fairly balanced game, with a few deaths that I can admit were my fault, and not the game's. I reccomend you check this incredibly solid platformer out!