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Bionic Commando: Elite Forces

Format: GameBoy Color
Published by: NST/Nintendo
Based on: God's gift to gaming

Genre: 2D Platformer
Media: cartridge
Date: January 20, 2000

Putting the 'swing' into 'swinger,' baby

Retrogaming rehashes typically fall under one of two categories: remakes, or sequels. Pong, for instance, is a remake; Pitfall 3D is a sequel. Or if you prefer, there are two other ways to categorize games spawned from the retro trend: fun, and rubbish. When looking at Bionic Commando: Elite Forces, it's hard to assign a category for the game within the first set of criteria; however, by the second set, it definitely falls under "fun." Which is good, because if Nintendo had butchered one of the true NES classics in a slobbering craze to cash in on an established (if somewhat forgotten) franchise, I would be forced to call in an airstrike to rid the earth of the state of Washington.

Luckily for Eddie Vedder and his parking-lot cronies, no such extreme measures are necessary. While BC:EF is not quite the perfect follow-up to the original for which one could hope, it's close enough that only a truly anal-retentive creep or a videogame reviewer could complain. As I fall into both categories, I will now take a moment to air my greivances.

First of all, a matter of personal preference - I realize this leaves me teetering on the precipice of the realm of the dreaded Hard-Core Jaded Old-School Lamer, but I just don't like the visual style in this game as much as the NES original. Maybe it's the result of over-familiarity with the original, or maybe Japanese anime style has corrupted my brain. Whatever the case, there's no denying this is a refined and slick-looking product; it just deviates from something that was great to begin with. </whining>

My more substantial complaints also stem from the visual aspect of the game. First, there's a teensy little touch of the dreaded overanimation phenomenon - as is common with many games featuring detailed character animation, response can sometimes lag frustratingly as characters cycle through their entire motion bit. While this problem is absolutely minimal here, it's still noticeable. So the commandos (cleverly named "Male Commando" and "Female Commando" by NST, and less cleverly "Daisuke" and "Yuka" by me) tend to respond a little more slowly than previous wire-swinging heroes. It's fairly easy to compensate for this, but it's one of those things that shouldn't need to be compensated for, and makes me a bit grumpy.

Another problem coming from the graphics is that of the character size in comparison to the screen; the sprites are big and beefy (or big and dainty in the case of the Female Commando), but this introduces a small crisis in gameplay: because much of your progress in the game is attained by swinging horizontally among well-spaced objects, the play area is sometimes too small to allow you to see precisely where you're swinging. This leads to progress through trial and error, which in this kind of game is a Bad Thing. The problem is somewhat compensated for by allowing you to look up and down (though you can't look down while hanging from your wire, when you frequently need it most), but there's no way to see further to the sides - which is where you're swinging. This pops up in direct NES ports such as Super Mario Bros. DX and Ghosts 'N' Goblins, but BC:EF isn't a direct port. This flaw is even more egregious in light of the fact that the previous GameBoy Bionic Commando game (see sexy sidebar at left) featured smaller sprites and was therefore better suited to the gameplay.

And finally, the detail of the backgrounds is made possible at the expense of clear outlining, meaning you'll often discover the threat contained in certain innocuous-looking background graphics only after stumbling upon them. This can be almost as puzzling as the legwarmers the Female Commando wears, which combined with her pink hair make me suspect she's actually Noa from Legend of Legaia, all grown up and kicking butt.

But all things considered, these are minor quibbles from someone who was holding the game to unfairly high standards. Considering this is the first game from Nintendo's nifty new American in-house development team NST, it's a dapper example of how to make the GameBoy Color sing. And it's so weird to play a good game and see Western names scroll by in the credits! The graphics are phenomenal, with high-color cutscenes, fluid animation, and backgrounds nearly worthy of Neo Geo Pocket Color. Nearly. You Pokémon kiddos are going to choke on your drinks the first time you play this and see characters moving with more than 2 frames of animation!

To boil it down, Bionic Commando is a re-interpretation of the original NES title. The plot structure is the same (explore, collect, rescue that dimwit Super Joe, and travel with Joe to the final area to destroy the Albatross Project), but the specifics differ. The ultimate villain is some dope named Arturus, who can't even set his own VCR, let alone hope to resurrect some ancient war machine. And his head doesn't even explode in grisly glory, darn it.

Gameplay differs from the NES source as well. Movement is still handled on a map, although it's far more restrictive - your commander will frequently say crap like "You're not ready to go to that area yet, Daisuke." Additionally, the neutral areas have been replaced with occasional encounters in-level with the inactive Bionic Commando ("Hi, I'm a loser with nothing better to do than hang out in this chamber."). Each commando is able to take a slightly different path through the game, adding that teensy little bit of extra incentive to replay the game - which can sometimes be a daunting prospect. While fun, this game is freakishly difficult, frequently to the point of emotional abuse. Even veteran BC fans will see the reaper many times. Sometimes this is the result of those darned shortcomings I bemoaned earlier, but it also stems from sincerely challenging gameplay. Rare these days, eh?

To boil it down even further for those of you who have never played a Bionic Commando game (get thee behind me, Satan!): the hook for this game is that your Bionic Commando is incapable of jumping. Rather, he (or she, we've got the whole post-RE2 gender equity thing going on here) has to swing from platform to platform with the aid of a bionic grappling hook. Certain platforms can be mounted by retracting the arm and pressing up. A new ability here is the magical Contra-esque ability to climb down to hang from beneath a platform with a simple double-tap. Travelling through the levels will net you various weapons, communication devices and accessories. It's nothing terribly new, but then again it is based on a 10-year-old title, so cut it some slack. There's also a sniping mode where you can pick off enemies at a distance to earn bonus items; the downside of this is that Dave Perry's ego swells every time you play.

Bionic Commando: Elite Forces won't win any awards for originality, but I'd like to think that wasn't the point anyway. The whole idea here is to bring a really cool video game series back into the public eye, and by crackie I hope it has as much success at retail as it has in the gameplay department. Unfortunately, there's an awfully good chance this game may be buried in the deluge of pathetic GameBoy software that has flooded the market in recent years. No problem there - the best solution would be to give us a sequel (in 2D, thanks) on a next-gen platform (please?). A few games have co-opted some of Bionic Commando's gameplay elements (even Super Metroid), but none stand up to the real thing. NST, I would pay good money to see more of these. As in... uh... $30 apiece.

---

The other commando

While the NES version of Bionic Commando is well-known and widely respected - and the arcade version is deservedly forgotten - there was one other notable Bionic Commando game quite some time back for the original GameBoy.

Like Elite Forces, the original Bionic Commando for GameBoy (henceforth referred to as "BCGB" to save me the hassle of typing it out) was something of a remake of the NES version. The story was largely the same, though set in a more futuristic setting - no Hitler Master-D here. And the art rather resembled the character designs from Macross, although thankfully Radd Spencer didn't win the day by singing "My Boyfriend is a Pilot."

BCGB also added certain features that made their way into Elite Forces - like the horribly annoying final area where you have to rappel along the underside of Albatross to reach the final battle, dodging flames and slippery collision detection.

In some ways, BCGB was a superior game to Elite Forces, because the game sprites were smaller, allowing you the ability to see more of what you were supposed to do - although there were still more cheap leaps of faith than the NES version ever saw.

You don't run into BCGB very often. But if you happen to find a copy, pick it up to complete your collection of this amazingly cool series, thus making you the envy of the lesser mortals around you.

The developers sure weren't shy about taking credit for this game. At least, assuming the graffiti found throughout the various stages represents the development team - and who can blame them? This is certainly a better game to stick your face into than, say, The New Adventures of Mary-Kate and Ashley.

The game's snazzy ancient ruins and statues remind me of Tomb Raider. Except that I don't expect the Female Commando to double over in pain, clutching her back as she throws out a spinal disc due to her unbalanced load. Also, Lara Croft never stuck her extended arm up a statue's nose.

Thank you, Yuka, but our Super Joe is in another castle! One thing that never seems to change - Super Joe always manages to get his sorry buttocks captured by the enemy. It looks like the enemy was kind enough this time to let him keep his weapons - but, in hostage-NPC tradition, he was too dumb to break out on his own. Ladies and gentlemen, our hero.