Bionic Commando: Rearmed Review

Bionic Commando: Rearmed is nothing like an archetypal retro conversion, taking games like DIGDUG and putting them completely to shame. BC:R is how retro conversions should be done, not taking what was there in the first place and adding a little bit nicer graphics, but taking the original game and then building on it. This is exactly what has been done here, Capcom have given this old gun a new lease of life with one of the best face lifts ever!

Capcom has made the old 2D side-scroll into a brilliant 3D side-scroll, with the 3D visuals taking some major glory, each of the areas look amazing with vibrant colors and lush settings. One thing that has been changed quite a lot is the music, which now has been given a modern feel to it but even through the new soundtrack you can feel and hear the old chimes singing along side, adding to the wonderful feeling of nostalgia that the game gives off in tidal waves.

BC:R has some great new features as well as the new art style, some things that would never had been possible on the original NES carts with a split-screen co-op campaign mode and a four player versus mode, which of course add a new angle to the classic game. This is especially true with the co-op mode as you and a mate can battle through all the levels in the normal game helping each other out as the game goes along.

Along with the new features BC:R keeps a lot of the older features which sometimes are overlooked in the era of easy and casual gaming. One is the old adage of lives, something that isn’t generally seen nowadays making sure that a game is accessible to all skill levels, each of the levels in the game you only have three cracks at, with a chance to add more lives to your roster in special rooms that can be found at your side's camps dotted around the world map.




There is another angle for the avid gamer, which are the challenge rooms. These rooms are again dotted around at the different camps on the world map, and each one offers a different challenge. The idea of these rooms is to test your skills with the one and only Bionic Commando, each one is set against the clock, but there is not only the personal satisfaction of completing the challenge but each one has its own leaderboard to which your time will be added making the challenges a bit more rewarding.

It is a shame that there is no Live access for the multiplayer only local, which would have added some more depth to the game, but even so,the leaderboards do use Live so it is no different to most of the recent Arcade releases.
Overall I have to say that Bionic Commando is one of the best retro releases to come in recent years. Although, mainly thanks to the Arcade, there has been a flood of rehashed 80s titles but none really have the level of completion that BC:R has. But the big question really is whether the upcoming new third person shooter taking the same name as this series can live up to the dizzying heights this Arcade game has claimed.


OVERALL 8/10