Early Look At the New Bionic Commando 63
G4 had a chance to try out the upcoming Bionic Commando title due out in May. The game is a sequel to the NES version from 1988. Their impression is mostly positive: "The gameplay is fast and exciting, but a little light on combat, at least during the first level. There are also challenges that unlock upgrades for Nathan. These could be as simple as doing five zip kicks or as complex as killing a specific enemy with a specific move. It's a great way to add depth to the game and encourage the player to use all of the moves available to them." However, they do criticize the game's linearity, where movement is often restricted by arbitrarily placed radiation clouds. Capcom recently announced that a demo for the game will be available in the coming weeks.
360 and PS3? (Score:4, Interesting)
Come on, this game is begging to be Wii only. Use the wiimote to control the bionic arm. Their lack of vision here disappoints me.
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But that pretty much sums up the Wii.
Lots of great potential, but it's all used for crappy party games and such for the most part. I'm not sure if it's lack of innovation on the studios part or if it's to do with Nintendo not fostering an environment where these sorts of games can thrive.
Perhaps it's just because the Wii really can't deal with decent sized and decently detailed game worlds that people have come to expect, who knows.
One of the games I liked on the Wii was ghost squad, which I picked up for l
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Perhaps it's just because the Wii really can't deal with decent sized and decently detailed game worlds that people have come to expect, who knows.
You mean the kind that people got on the PS2 which is weaker than the Wii?
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Wiis are all fine and dandy for infantiles and 3 year old kids, but men with hair on their nuts deserve better. More realism. Like curse words [elitecoder.com] and heads asploding [elitecoder.com].
Bonus: if you can name the console and game the above linked pictures were taken from, then you win smug self-satisfaction.
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They allowed beer pong uncensored on the European WiiWare service, noone bought it... (the game was a big seller in the US)
I think a drinking game is a different case for censorship than a game that just contains objectionable stuff since a drinking game actively encourages the player in front of the screen to drink alcohol according to the on-screen events and it's likely that people would get drunk playing the game, do something stupid and the headlines would read "Wii makes man fall out of window". That'
Re:360 and PS3? (Score:4, Informative)
So exactly how do you explain the following Wii titles:
Resident Evil 4
No More Heroes
Madworld (one of the violent and profane games I've played in a while)
House of the Dead: Overkill - which just got the Guinness World Record for most swearing in a video game.
The problem isn't that Nintendo is unwilling to approve mature content, it's that many publishers aren't willing to try putting mature content on the system, and because they've been stalling on doing so, many of the gamers who would have bought those games have started to bail on the system. Just because the system has family friendly titles doesn't mean there aren't some dads out here who also want to play more mature games after the kids go to bed. At least Sega and Capcom are keeping that category alive.
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Considering the tech differences you practically have to redo everything from scratch if you're going to make a port so cross HD-Wii games tend to have at least two versions developed more or less independently of each other with the Wii version usually handed to some incompetent outsourcing house that then produces a huge pile of garbage. It's not a new phenomenon on the Wii, the handhelds always got the crappy versions of cross platform games too and I recall many copmplaints about the botched PS2/Gamecub
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I can't remember the last time I used the wii to play a wii game.
Typically I play downloaded classic games or gamecube stuff.
RE5 as well (Score:2)
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Yes please. What I need now more than anything is a thumbstick to move and a brick to shake to do every other action. Because it would be fresh and exciting.
I'm bitter about my Wii purchase. Does it show?
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Re:Wii? Are you serious? (Score:4, Insightful)
You see, I don't play games to droll at pretty pictures. I play games to have fun. Have good gameplay mechanics, a good control scheme, and an interesting idea and you can have atari 2600 level graphic for all I care. I've been gaming for 20 years, and I've had more fun with my wii than I have on any platform since the super nintendo. For that matter I can find a lot of little flash games with sprite graphics that are more fun than most AAA games that come out these days- developers have almost killed gaming by putting flashy graphics over fun.
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I do wonder, lots of titles fail, obviously, since there is so much crap released, some dominates and then there are some titles in between. If your title fail or become one of the later ones isn't it much better if it's somewhat more simple in technology and for things like the DS instead of huge complex PC titles?
Sure the return in $ may not be as good, but in % vs the investment and also when it comes to the risk taking I would assume the simper titles will be better.
But then a simple title need to offe
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The money seems to be even more in games that do simple things well with little technical effort and a topic that people can instantly appreciate. Those are the games that cost pocket change to develop and then go on to sell millions of copies, making an insane return on the investment. Flashy games also cost flashy amounts of money to make and while some of them do sell big they still won't reach the insane investment-profit ratios of games like Nintendogs.
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Not really. Those huge-budget games need to sell at least a million copies to break even. Anything less and it's a big money loss. Take Mirror's Edge for example.
Meanwhile, Carnival Games takes a minimal amount of development costs, sells millions, and makes the developer and publisher a ton of money. But have the publishers caught on to this? No, instead they raise the average game price by $10, spend more than ever on big budget nonsense, and piss and moan about the used market killing their profits.
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Sprites vs renderings is like art drawings vs photos.
You must appreciate the details and all the work put into making it look cute/nice/impressive vs OMG, WE NEED AN IMAGE OF THIS and then put it up right there.
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Generally it depends on what you're doing. Lots of characters with little animation, go with sprites. A few characters with tons of animations (e.g. a fighting game) 3d models may be easier. Customization doesn't play nice with sprite animation at all. The ease of rendering them lets you throw a few hundred at the screen even on a last gen system without slowdown.
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(from the "yay for car analogies" department):
Graphics is to games what new car smell is to cars. Sure, the customer loves it, but it wears off fast. And after that, he only cares how it steers and how much he likes actually driving it.
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I think a perfect example of requiring state of the art visuals to make a better product would be the upcoming Ghostbusters game. The entire point of the game is immersion, this is a sequel to the movies so it needs to look as close to a movie
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People like you always forget that the games of yesteryear *had* cutting edge graphics for the time they were made! It's *always* been about pushing the envelope of what is graphically possible!
Almost killed gaming by putting flashy graphics over fun? Are you fucking serious? Name *one* game that sold well that had "flashy" graphics and zero fun.
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Almost killed gaming by putting flashy graphics over fun? Are you fucking serious? Name *one* game that sold well that had "flashy" graphics and zero fun.
Final Fantasy. Over and over and over again.
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Even on the 2600, many games had better graphics than Adventure.. yet Adventure is considered a classic and people still play it.
I thought it was Mattel Baseball for the 2600, but I can't find info about it on wikipedia, that I liked as one of the best baseball games I've played -- because it's so simple.. and you're basically dots IIRC.. (Maybe very crude stickmen.) IIRC there were other more sophisticated baseball games for the 2600, but the simpler one was more fun. (I even brought it to college in the
Stop making remakes (Score:2)
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At least they got an idea "let's remake this", probably because it delivered something special, instead of not getting an idea and deliver more of the same old / what everyone else release.
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Well, swinging around on a grappling hook is always a good idea (but also easy to botch, especially in 3d where many games go with a lock-on system which completely undermines the whole make-your-own-stunt appeal of the rope) and I don't think they're actually keeping more ideas from BC than that, just using the name to get some extra hype because many game reviewers did play games on the NES.
Of course I'd rather see Ninja Five-O (GBA) get a follow up because ninjas > commandos but then again a 3d game w
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And what is YOUR idea? It's easy to tell someone to come up with something original, but you give it a shot. What is a brand new idea that no one has ever done, that would be good as a video game and sell a million copies?
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Of COURSE a remake, the more ancient the game the better. Hell, you can even remake all the crappy games of the time. Nobody is going to remember it and will laud you for your fresh and new idea.
'scuse me while I write a remake of Pong.
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'scuse me while I write a remake of Pong.
That's been done so often... I'd point at Bit.Trip Beat but taking that as the latest example would run the risk of there being about 100 other remakes being released between BTB's release and now.
Anyway, some games could really use remakes to remove the bad designs stemming from a period where people simply didn't know better. Take Zelda 2: Link's Adventure. The game is loved by some, considered terrible by others. It could be greatly improved by altering some key d
Re:Stop making remakes (Score:5, Insightful)
I was an original BC player and Rearmed rocked my world, even after having played through it again on Rocknes merely a month beforehand. If you didn't enjoy BC the original maybe it's not for you, but give it a chance and perhaps you'll find something that rocks your world too?
Games are like dames. Some are cheap and you get what you pay for; some look pretty but it's just cosmetics; and some are classy and only get better with age and experience.
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The current crop of game-playing kids wasn't even born then, imagine the demand for a remake with this fresh audience.
There, fixed that for ya.
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A remake...of a 21-year-old game? Come on. Get some new ideas, for chrissake. The current crop of game-playing kids wasn't even born then, how could there be any demand for a remake?
You may not be aware of it, but video games are no longer solely the domain of unpopular 12-year-old boys. A lot of those boys have grown up, are in their 20s and 30s now, and still play. And they have a good amount of disposable income available for the hobby, which both Sony and Microsoft have used to their advantage. You w
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No, they waited 10 more years to release the NeoGeo, which was God knows how much in today's inflation-money.
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Son of Bionic Commando.
Bride of Bionic Commando.
I Was a Teenage Bionic Commando.
(You can do it too, kids!)
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(You can do it too, kids!)
Bionic Commando Commando... wait...
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Yeah! It's the Six Million Dollar Man, but with the additional challenge of chafing.
I'm sorry. (Score:3, Funny)
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And will this game cost $6m to make?
I'll get me coat...
Not the remake, a sequel (Score:2, Insightful)
Judging from the comments there seems to be a little confusion. This is NOT the remake of Bionic Commando, the remake was released last year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionic_Commando:_Rearmed [wikipedia.org] and was great IMHO.
This article is about an sequel to Bionic_Commando; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bionic_Commando_(2009_video_game) [wikipedia.org]
Hmm... (Score:2)
...the arbitrarily placed borders blocking you from exploring further places combined with the targeting system looks a lot like Enter the Matrix.
NES version? Boo! (Score:2)
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You think the arcade version of Bionic Commando was better than the NES version? I've played through both and I have to tell you, you're not only wrong, you're fucking crazy. Do you think the NES version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was better?
Capcom's doing this? Oh christ no. (Score:2)
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And the main character will open his mouth when he jumps, like he's screaming.
Oh wait, the Bionic Commando dude can't jump. Well, that's one worry less!
Please let him jump (Score:2)
Cool! An Anne Hathaway/Sela Ward love scene! (Score:1)
> There are also challenges that unlock upgrades for Nathan. These could be as simple as
> doing five zip kicks or as complex as killing a specific enemy with a specific move.
> It's a great way to add depth to the game and encourage the player to use all of
> the moves available to them.
No it isn't. Good game design is a great way to get people to use all the available movies: Because they are fun and spectacular to do, and don't feel gimped.
"Rewards" is a piss-poor way to encourage the player t
I take this bazooka. Go Get Him! (Score:1)