It’s been three years since the revival of the Bionic Commando franchise dating back to the old days of the NES. Not only did Bionic Commando come out with two games back in 2008 but one was a 3rd-person shooter, open world sandbox game while the other was like the old school styled 2.5D platformer. Low and behold a majority of the crowd enjoyed the Rearmed series, I don’t know if it was the green jumpsuit with the spikey orange hair, but dreadlocks on the 2008 Bionic Commando looked a little too hip at the time I’m guessing.
In Reamed 2 you’re back in the shoes of the arm grappling commando himself Nathan “Rad” Spencer but with a mustache now since he’s a bit older. A missile threat from General Sabio has Nathan and his band of bionic commandos dispatched out to deal with the threat head on. Soon after the BC’s are dispatched they get separated in the Papagayan jungle. Immediately as you start the game you get the sense of how small you are since everything in the background compared to the foreground is so immense. Another great thing that I noticed is that within the first stage you see a large explosion in the background, meaning you know that you aren’t in the battle alone. Co-op is available in the game although the game doesn’t change too much. Yes it’s fun to swing around together, but not being able to have special co-op actions like a trapeze move to swing across larger pits makes co-op seems like it was just added to the game to be there as an option.
I’ll admit though, the feel of the game feels like the old Bionic Commando with a little change, one big that is, which is the jump functionality. I know what you’re thinking… “Oh big whoop, you can jump now. It’s about time.” However think of it this way, out of all the 2D, 2.5D Bionic Commando games, this is the first time where Nathan can jump. All of the old BC’s have been very challenging without the ability to jump, but even with it in, it still gets challenging. Many times I found myself plummeting from the top to lower levels because of miscalculated grapple jumps (thank god for no fall damage). Levels are designed to be vast. The speed of the swing and long falls could make levels short, but it seems that the designers took that into consideration and scaled the levels to account for it. Also the replay value is pretty high since there are power ups throughout each area where special bionic power ups are needed to reach them, although back tracking isn’t always needed to beat the game. There are parts of the game where I did find myself going back to the previous levels though to hopefully find new weapons, but most of the time I’d concentrate on finding everything on one level and completely forget about the story of the game.
The game is a fun kick back to retro gaming, I’ll give it that, but controls are a little hard to get used to. I found myself grappling at air countless times because the direction that you’re pushing the analogue isn’t fully in that direction. Also the addition to some sniping mounts and helicopter ride where you control a large cross-hair to snipe or shoot enemies on screen made breaking up the constant swinging between platforms fun, but it’s far and few between each level. Boss battles throughout the game is basically a wash, rinse, and repeat. Similar bosses show up with a slight different tactic to beat but nonetheless it’s pretty much the same. Also for the Playstation 3, players need to be connected online to play, why exactly? I have no idea. In all honesty, the game is fun though. If you’re looking to get back into the classic feel of the last game, are a fan of the series, or you’re a completionist and enjoy doing speed runs this game has it. A multitude of collectible items are on each stage, and you can even check the online leaderboards to see how you measure up the the greater bionic commandos out there. For $15 or 1200MS points, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 is worth every penny in my opinion.
Overall = 7.8
