Seeing, as the kids say, is believing. As I said just a few weeks back, I’ve been impressed with the forward thinking at work in Capcom’s upcoming action titles Bionic Commando and Dark Void. Preview footage of both games has emphasized their unique hooks - a grappling hook and jetpack respectively - but they’ve also implied an approach to level design that could elevate those hooks beyond gimmickry. I got my hands on Bionic Commando at Capcom’s preview event in New York yesterday and, at fifty percent complete, the jury’s still out on whether it can deliver on its ambitions.
Commando’s grappling hook is exhilarating stuff, more demanding and nuanced than the stick-and-swing play of Treyarch’s Spider-man games, but far more satisfying and tactile as a result. It’s tricky to get a hang of at first since the game does none of the work for you. First, you aim at the part of the environment you want to hook to with your right analog stick, then grapple with the left trigger, and finally set your direction and speed to determine trajectory using the left analog stick. However, once you start swinging, you also have to keep using the using the right analog stick to manage the game’s camera angle. That’s a lot to handle, especially in an action game that demands quick reactions to environmental changes. It’s a shame that GRIN hasn’t found a way for their camera to interpret a player’s choices; I acclimated to it after a few minutes but anyone not adept at using a traditional controller may be overwhelmed.
My biggest concern at this point is Commando’s levels. I only got to play a portion of a single area, the destroyed city street shown off in the very first Commando preview. There was an impressive layout of architecture for swinging but, at least in this small section, there wasn’t much opportunity for creative use of the space. Fun as it was, it felt more like a gimmick than the new approach to 3D gaming it could, and may well, turn out to be. Also problematic was how empty the level was at this point, with only a few enemies scattered about the terrain.
Bionic Commando is still a long way out and will no doubt change dramatically on the road to completion. I may have reservations, but Bionic Commando’s already a blast to play. Seriously, I had that stupid grin on my face the whole time I was playing.
Click here for thoughts on Dark Void and check out these links for more of 61FPS’ time at the preview event.
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Going Vertical: How Capcom’s Developers Are Changing the Landscape of 3D Games
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