Capcom has completely re-imagined their NES classic Bionic Commando. The game is coming this Spring and all the trailers and screenshots have us eagerly waiting to throw a tank and someone with our huge robotic arm.  The demo is a taste of the multi player mode and we get to try out a map that takes place at night on top of a building. The game starts of with every Commando, all the players start out the same in very bright colored attire, scattered around the map. There are weapons strewn about as well as health and armor upgrades. The object is very simple. Kill as many of the other commandos as you can before the timer runs out.

The premise is great, but this really is nothing new. It feels very much like the GTA deathmatch modes. The skill of the player is often and almost always trumped by the gun they carry. If someone has the grenade launcher, it is impossible to take them down with something of lesser power. I did not see any head shots and for the exception of the sniper rifle, zooming was at a minimum. You will also notice that it does not take much damage at all to die. Players often just sprayed and prayed at you in the distance.  The bionic arm was also not as useful as I would have liked. You can swing up to higher levels, but most if not all of the weapons are easily reachable.

The demo was not bad, but not great either. It seems like the multiplayer may have been tacked on and I am not sure how much people will play it because it really does not offer anything new unless you really like running around shooting in a clusterfuck. The players were also limited to 8 per map which is not many compared to other games. I personally would have much rather played a single player level, but this was a nice taste. Since visuals are sometimes dulled down in multi as well as in demos, the lackluster graphics are not too much of a concern. Yet, the buzz is out there on the new Bionic Commando. Let’s see how the game plays in a solo campaign before it is deemed just another 3rd person shooter.