Bionic Commando

"Dedicated to my bionic shaft."

Bionic Commando has been one of my favorites since it first came out, and it still is.

Gameplay:10 The gameplay is what is best about this game. This a 2-d side-scrolling action game. You have a Bionic arm which you must use to get from various points in the game. You do not do any jumping at all. You only grapple onto things using you bionic arm. But that's what's so cool about this game. It's so much fun grappling around. Grappling later on in the game will get pretty tricky so you will have to of mastered your grappling skills by then to win. It doesn't take too long to get used to it, so that shouldn't be a problem.
You will pick up various items, such as better weapons whenever you beat a stage. Sometimes you will need a specific one of those items to finish a stage. Whenever you kill a guy they will drop a a small canister. Pick up enough of these and you will be able to take more damage. You start out with only one hit and you will be able to have up to eight.
The locations in the game vary from being inside and outside.
Your main goal in any level, is to destroy the reactor core in the base you are at. But there are often bosses blocking you from destroying it, so you have to finish them off. Some of the bosses can be tricky, but some of them are pretty easy. The last boss is really rather easy too. It just takes proper timing to beat it. Which at the time, I sucked at and I could not seem to do it right. It really doesn't keep the game from being fun though.

Graphics:9 For NES the graphics are quite good. And the character faces that show when you talk to people are done well. The Bionic Commando looks especially cool.

Sound:10 Most of the music on this game is nice to listen to. I always find myself humming the tune to the first stage even when I am not playing it. The sounds it makes are good too. Like the sound it makes when you use your grappling hook or fire off a shot from your gun.

Story:7 You are the Bionic Commando sent out to stop Commander Kilt and eventually stop the evil master D. Master D is an alien that strangely enough, looks exactly like Hitler.

Difficulty:9 The first time through this game, it will be hard to beat. Because you have to beat in one sitting. It may take you a while to get used to some stages. But fortunately, there are items that you can pick up that allow you to continue. You can have no more than Nine at one time.

Replay:10 I don't know about you, but I have played through this game countless times. And I will probably play through it many more countless times.

Buy or Rent: BUY THIS GAME NOW!I assure you, that you will not regret it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 02/25/01, Updated 12/26/03