Listen up, kiddos. A new Bionic Commando is being created for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. If you’re not excited about this, you obviously never played the original. The NES version was one of the seminal games of many a person’s childhood. It was so strange at the time… do you remember your first play-through? The bitching about not having a jump button? The realization of how cool the grappling hook was? And the ultimate satisfaction of exploding Hitler’s head in the final level, for those of you good enough? Yeah, that’s right, he wasn’t called Hitler over here (and his Nazi henchman were called Badds) but you took him down at the end.
The game was a big success over here, but in Europe and Capcom’s native Japan? Not so much. Which is why it’s taking 20 years for the remake to come about.
The story this time, from the press release:
Bionic Commando features Nathan Spencer (voiced by former lead singer of Faith No More, Mike Patton), a government operative who represents the ultimate fusion of man and machine. After distinguishing himself in a fierce conflict against the Imperials, Spencer is betrayed and falsely imprisoned by the very people he unquestioningly served.
Three years later, on the day he is due to be executed for his supposed crimes, an experimental weapon detonates in Ascension City, unleashing an immensely powerful earthquake coupled with a radiation shockwave that leaves the city in ruins, wiping out its populace. Military intelligence suggests that a large terrorist search force has moved in and occupied Ascension City, but as yet their motives remain unclear. With the terrain in ruins and the terrorists in control of Ascension City’s air defenses the FSA has only one option open to them – the reactivation of Nathan Spencer.
I love Mike Patton. If you’ve played The Darkness you’ve heard how creepy he can be- he voiced the titular character. He’s also going to be voicing a character in the upcoming zombie game Left 4 Dead. The guy’s got a great range, which is obvious for any fans of any of his thousands of bands.
The graphics already look amazing, perhaps a little Gears of War-ish.
Your bionic arm this time can transform from a hand to a grappling hook in a nifty bit of animation, and you can of course swing around the world to find better routes or take on enemies. The arm can also be used to grab boulders and cars to throw at enemies.
The developer of this game, GRIN, was behind the popular Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter series, so there’s obviously some talent being thrown at this project. Along with the Swedish developer there will be an American Producer and Japanese Creative Advisor working on the remake, perhaps in order to gain worldwide appeal this time.
Anyone who wants to experience the original NES game will have to either hunt down an old system, or an emulator, cause it hasn’t been re-released anywhere. The incredible Capcom Classics Collection that came out for Xbox, PS2 and PSP had Bionic Commando, but it was the Arcade version, a much different and more action-focused game. Still great, though.
Check out Bionic Commando‘s official site to sign up for updates, and hope they do well with this one.