Bionic Commando

February 21, 2008 - While
some people were hurling fireballs and dragon punches at Capcom's suite
during this year's GDC, we were catching up with Nathan Spencer, the
hero of Bionic Commando.
We've been following the game for a while now, and were eager to see
what changes had been made since the last time we saw the title in
action at CES. Fortunately, Capcom and Grin did not disappoint. The
first thing that producer Ben Judd pointed out was the addition of
striking blue hues and lens flares to the environments. This was
specifically done in response to continual comments from the press
about the stark, gray apocalyptic settings that had been shown
previously. Now, neon signs illuminated streets and blue skies tinged
with smoke sailed overhead.

One thing that Judd pointed out was a new focus system, which hones in
on background elements -- during cinematics and some battle sequences
-- to highlight the depth of field. Thanks to this feature, we
witnessed a large skyscraper in the background slowly tumble to the
ground thanks to an attack from the Bio-Rain terrorist group. Nearer to
the foreground were a group of enemies that were easily a city block or
two away from Nathan. While picking the terrorists off from this
distance was an impressive feat by itself, what was more striking was
the destruction and debris that eventually resulted thanks to the
building's collapse. Huge clouds of smoke and ash poured down the city
street, pushed forward by the force of its impact, and the shockwave
set off nearby car alarms. This was an excellent way to highlight the
scale of the city created by Grin's proprietary Diesel engine.


Speaking of the scale, we were shown another demonstration of the
game's physics, as Nathan dragged a car from its parking spot to the
edge of a chasm. While we were impressed by the teetering of the car
itself before it plunged into the hole, we were told that the car would
drag Nathan in if he didn't detach from the vehicle. What's cool is
that while there are a large number of these pits across the city zone,
the level is designed so you can't completely fall in and die easily.
Thanks to the bionic arm, players can easily avoid this fate by
rappelling away from danger.

However, while we moved away from the wreckage of the city into a park
zone, replacing buildings with trees and rocky plateaus, the demo was
much more than an exhibition of physics and lighting effects. Here, we
were shown a variety of agile moves that Nathan can pull off, which
only highlight his commando training. For example, he can perform a
leap of faith off of high platforms or branches, freefalling for a
while before performing a 360 degree roll and swinging away to a nearby
outcropping. If Nathan wants to drop stealthily off ledges, he can
perform acrobatic rolls forward or backward and swing away without
guards knowing, so players have a bit more flexibility when it comes to
their battle sequences.


Commando, meet Bio-mech.

Now,
we've known for a while that Nathan can use his bionic arm to pull
objects down on enemies or swing behind opponents to surprise and knock
thugs out. One of his more forceful moves is his zip kick; Nathan
grapples over to the opponent's chest thanks to his bionic arm and jump
kicks backward. Nathan can actually combo this move, silently
incapacitating groups of opponents by bouncing from one to another.
However, this move isn't guaranteed to be successful, as we noticed
when Nathan faced off against a brutal opponent within a Biomech suit
-- a gigantic armored suit that shrugs off most frontal attacks.


These giant suits aren't going to be bosses; instead, they will be
tough opponents that Nathan will come across in his explorations of the
various zones of Ascension City. What's more, there will be multiple
variations on the types of biomechs that Nathan will face. As a result,
Nathan will need to find enemy weak points, such as shooting them from
behind or using the environment against opponents, to eliminate them.
This will become extremely important when Nathan faces off against
large groups of enemies or powerful opponents. In fact, Judd alluded to
the fact that players will encounter one sequence where they'll have to
fight off three of these beasts at once.

While we were only shown two different zones within the demo, Judd
stressed that players will wind up returning to previously explored
stages and areas to progress the story forward, as well as reaching new
areas with his arm. Judd also pointed out a couple of gameplay
features, such as Nathan's regenerating health system which will repair
any damage slowly over time. Plus, while we were only shown attacks
using the bionic arm, grenades and pistols, we were told that there
will be a large number of weapons that Nathan will be able to acquire,
including some powerful firearms.


We were also able to get a slight glimpse into the story and
motivations behind the terrorist group of Bio-Rain. Judd mentioned that
the group are bionically enhanced individuals that used to be members
of the Federal States of America (what used to be the USA).
Unfortunately for them, many of these enhanced people were told by
their government that their enhancements would be removed from them,
which was unacceptable to these people. In fact, the elimination of the
enhancements could mean significant handicaps or even death. As a
result, many of the bionically enhanced feel that having these features
make them human (or more human) than their normal counterparts, and
that their attacks are justified for these reasons. This places an
interesting moral twist to the standard "terrorists attack city" plot.

Judd also alluded to the fact that Spencer won't go against the
Bio-Rain group alone. He'll wind up accessing a number of terminals
that are scattered across Ascension City, akin to the original game.
Here, Nathan will receive information and updates on his missions. This
won't be the sole way that Spencer will receive information; as we've
seen in trailers, he'll also receive holographic updates via his bionic
arm. So while he might be a single operative against a terrorist group,
he'll still have a certain amount of support from Super Joe and his
troops.


Swinging through the air with the greatest of ease.

We also checked on the differences between versions of the game. We
were pleased to find out that there will be negligible, if any,
differences between the PS3, 360 and PC versions. We'll have more on Bionic Commando soon.