I never played the first Bionic Command Rearmed game. So when picking the sequel up I was not really sure what to expect. I had played the original Bionic Commando games and knew what they were about, but little did I know I was getting into one of the cheesiest and best platformers I have ever played.
Yes, you are Nathan “Rad” Spencer and you have one hell of an arm. Oh, and now apparently Nathan has learned how to jump. You and a team of Biotics are headed into battle to fight the infamous General Sabio. Of course the General is planning a missile launch that will devastate life as we know it. You will jump and swing your way through every level trying to make it to the next step to stop the General and save your team. Along the way you will search and with enough time spent find upgrades and to your arm as well as character upgrades. Things like a Hacking Claw or Regenerating Ammo. All the upgrades seem to have some sort of purpose on levels through the game.
The levels will dramatically increase in difficulty as you move forward and the bad guys will become harder to kill and the bosses will just get bigger and bigger. Even though the boss battles are really nice because of the size of the bosses, ultimately they get kind of repetitive because most of the bosses will be killed the same way in one form or another. Use your arm and shoot, rinse and repeat. One of the big problems I had with the game was that the grapple on your arm is not always accurate. I thought at first it was my aiming , but I realized that sometimes it just does not respond well. This is bad news in some parts of the game. If you are trying to search for a weapon upgrade or going for an extra life and your grapple misses your mark, it sometimes means starting fresh and having to do it all again.
If you so happen to make it all the way through the story of the game, (which is pretty long) don’t worry there are still things to do. At the main menu you have the option of completing challenge rooms. Challenge rooms are just what they sound like. They are small, but challenging levels that start off very simple and get harder as you progress though them. This is the only other mode other that the story. As boring as the challenge rooms started with me, they can really be fun. If you enjoyed games like Super Meat Boy then the challenge rooms will be fun for you.
All in all, Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 is a fun game that will be a solid buy even for 1200 MS points by the fans of the series and fans of the genre. The price point may be a little too much for some of the casual gamers that are looking for something new or different. The games achievements are kind of irritating. They will change how you have to play the game and I do not care for any achievements that alter how you would play a game. Even though BCR2 is a great game and tons of fun, I feel that it may miss the mark with some gamers.
