Bionic Commando Longplay (Spectrum 128k) [50 FPS]
17Developed by Software Creations and published by Go! in 1988
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Bionic Commando was one of my favourite arcade games back in the 1980's. Not only did the game boast fantastic graphics, the use of a bionic arm to climb and swing between platforms was new and exciting and set the game apart from most other platform games where jumping was the norm.
Equipped with a bionic arm and a range of weaponry, the player must swing their way to victory through forests, forts and sewers whilst on a mission to disarm a nuclear doomsday device and to prevent complete Armageddon at the hands of an alien force.
The European C64 port of the game (also handled by Software Creations) remains one of the best examples of an arcade conversion done right (whereas the US version remains one of the worst). With this in mind, I was keen to see how the Spectrum version compared to the C64.
Initial impressions are pretty good as the player parachutes into the first forest level, gun at the ready. It isn't until you begin moving around that you start to notice the problems.
The smooth 8-way scrolling of the arcade has been replaced by a flick-screen system, likely as a lack of hardware scrolling available on the Spectrum. This isn't in a problem in itself, but enemies are positioned on new screens in such places that the player dies instantly the moment the screen transition has taking place as there's absolutely no time to react to the situation. This results in the game becoming a quite frustrating experience to say the least.
Whilst I don't doubt the abilities of the team in bringing a complex 16-bit title to the Spectrum, the various elements don't sit very well together and despite looking like Bionic Commando, the game doesn't feel as robust as it should do.
Another issue I have is the speed at which everything takes place. The bionic arm whips up and down at lightning speeds and I found it almost impossible to prevent it from triggering a second time when moving between platforms, making shooting soldiers whilst climbing incredibly difficult. Swinging horizontally is equally perilous and should be avoided unless you know exactly what is likely to be on an adjacent screen.
The graphics are acceptable and it's certainly captures the essence of the arcade game, but there are a couple of issues that do affect the gameplay somewhat. The colour clash makes it difficult to see enemies on certain stages (2 and 3 especially) where they just blend into the background, and there's very little difference in the sprites used for the additional weaponry which makes it impossible to tell what you're picking up.
One area where the game does shine is in the music department, provided you're rocking a Spectrum 128k. Tim Follin is on hand with his own renditions of the original arcade music, which sound excellent and make good use of the Speccy's sound chip.
All things considered, the Spectrum version of Bionic Commando becomes playable once you learn it's foibles and how to work around them. It's just unfortunate that you end up learning how to beat the game by dealing with it's issues, rather than strategy and reflexes.
Sadly, it's just not as good as the C64 version.
#retrogaming