READ THIS IF YOU ARE DECIDING TO BUY BIONIC COMMANDO! Breathing new life into nostalgia!
Honestly, I haven't been hooked into playing a game for quite some time since my purchase of Playstation 3. I started this game and was instantly intrigued by how FUN it is to swing around once you learn the basics. That factor alone is simply enough to keep your interest by the 10th hour of this game. The story is interesting enough to compliment what your actual purpose in this game is. What the GameSpot reviewer completely misses is the fact that the original Bionic Commando games never had an intense story and the game was never reliant on it. The story was always merely a side effect to give you motivation to complete the game.
I will explain this game in one sentence as best as I can. This game is amazingly fun. You find yourself immersed in swinging around at ridiculous heights to the point where you almost don't want the level to end. Each area has it's own feel to it which is complete with a breathtaking backdrop. The graphics in this game are definitely top notch and are good enough to stand up against the other blockbuster games that have come out this year. For a third person action game it definitely takes the cake for one of the best.
To rate this game a 6.0 is seriously just an insult. Granted this game is not the best but it still ranks way higher then that. To give such a bad score based on a stupid story that really has nothing to do with the game play is either laziness or just complete ignorance.
The gun control and aiming in this game is good enough considering it's NOT the main weapon that you focus on. The bionic arm is practically the only thing you WANT to be using throughout the entire game unless it is completely necessary to either shoot enemies from a distance with a sniper rifle or blow a boss to shreds with a grenade or rocket launcher. Sniping in this game was very fun and accurate and using the rocket launcher was fun as well.
Did I mention the fact that you can shoot any weapon WHILE SWINGING? This makes room for some awesome combat moves and if you get really good at swinging you can pull off some amazing stunts. At one point in the game when I was fighting a boss I gave myself a show of a lifetime. I was swinging furiously to dodge an array of missiles soaring at me from a giant ship. In mid swing as I let go of one ledge to get to the other I aimed my reticle at the enemy and launched a rocket right before latching on to the next beam. The sight of this was enough to make me jump out of my seat in excitement. It looked so cool.
Finally, I want to explain the amazing physics in the game. The grappling hook wire that comes out of the bionic arm is perfectly matched to real physics. If you grapple onto something and run around a pole in a circular motion the wire from the hook WILL wrap around the pole. If you grapple onto an object and jump off a ledge, depending on the weight of the object, you will either pull the object off with you or it will be heavy enough to let you RAPPEL down the side of the wall. It also works vice versa to where if you grapple onto an object that is heavier then you such as a car and you knock that car off the ledge, the weight will be so intense that you will start to slide and be pulled by the object as you struggle to keep it up. You'll see your feet sliding and grinding up the gravel underneath just as you'd expect in real life.
To top it off, the special abilities you gain as you get further into the game are just FUN AS HELL. The best is the throwing ability because it simply just looks amazing and is the most exciting. You can grapple onto any object (a car is the best) and then do a "Kite" ability in which you whip-snap the car into the air and then while it's at the height of it's whip you hit THROW and send the object flying at high speeds either at an enemy or just for fun. It's amazing to see a car being tossed a mile away from you and watch the windows shatter and the car alarm go wild as it slams into whatever it hits. You can STILL see objects clearly even if they are amazingly far away from you. You can imagine how fun it is to grapple an enemy and send him flying head first into another enemy. The other abilities are just as fun but I won't get into all of them right now.
If you are deciding to get this game and are not sure whether to rent or buy based on the CRAPPY REVIEW that gamespot gave it then let me assure you. If you are someone who can't afford games very often then I suggest you rent the game for as long as you can and play on the Bionic Commando difficulty. If you have the money then definitely BUY this game and OWN it because it's amazingly fun and has replay value. The multiplayer which I didn't even get into is seriously amazingly fun and is waiting for you once you beat the game and learn how to swing perfectly.
Trust me. BUY IT.