Review: Bionic Commando for the Xbox 360

Bionic Commando on the NES was one of my favorite adventure games featuring a crazy story involving Badds and a guy with the title of Generalissimo. The final boss’ name was “Master-D” and instead of spinning records, he was an exploding head that looked suspiciously like Hitler. Years later, I found out that WAS supposed to be Hitler, but thanks to localization tweaks, it was changed to the name of someone that might have been been on MTV.

Bionic Commando's come a long way since this came out more than two decades ago.

So here we are with not one, but two games based off of Capcom’s controversial, head asploding title. One, Bionic Commando: Rearmed, is a remake of the NES game which, itself, was actually based off of the original arcade version without so much story behind it. And now we’ve got the full console treatment with…Bionic Commando.

The Commando has been updated with a gritty attitude and dreads to match, but the story is still reminiscent of the badly translated version that we were treated to in the States. And he’s in 3D. The polished controls go far in making you feel like a swinging hero without boundaries, but there are a few short circuits in this bionic production inducing enough frustration to question whether it was worth the pain of having to go through it all.

So here’s the field report from this operation for anyone interested in the details. Not quite the tear jerking return that I was expecting, but the eighties-style charm is hard to resist if you like that kind of thing.

Xbox 360 Review: Resident Evil 5

The demo left me a little cool on Resident Evil 5, especially after playing through Dead Space, but the full game was a welcome surprise once I had “relearned” the controls and got back into the swing of things. The game became a lot more entertaining afterwards and it was filled with everything that I’ve come to expect from Capcom: twisted villains, story steeped in Resident Evil’s lore, fun extras, solid voice acting, great graphics, and awesome unlockables.

Some things also took a little getting used to, such as the real-time menu, but this is also a great way for newcomers to get into Resident Evil without having to know about everything that occurred before. But for veterans, there’s plenty for them to feel nostalgic about here while running for their lives at the same time.

A complete field report has been prepped here if you want the gory details.

Chris Redfield returns with a new partner

Ready for another steampunk game? This time, it’s from Russia…

It looks like another steampunk game is on the horizon, this time from Russian publisher, GFI. The game is called “Steam Slug” and it looks like it will be a third person shooter set in the 14th century. The twist is that steam machines with living brains in jars have risen up and in the ensuing war for survival, the world is reduced to something of an apocalyptic wasteland.

I’ll give it marks for doing something completely out from left field with the story…most of the Russian games that I’ve played have whacked out sci-fi tales whether it’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or You Are Empty. Steam Slug sounds like it’s going to be following that tradition and looking at the first screens, it’s not going to disappoint in that department. It sounds like it could be interesting.

You can check out what is already available at the official site.

I'm guessing that's some kind of train. Either that, or a steam-powered worm thing with a spiked head.