Every now and then in the calendar year I get to say, “I can really get behind that finally
after not being such a big fan of a particular thing.” In 2005 God of War made me a fan of
puzzles in action games. Which I was either not good at and/or didn’t have much of an
understanding of how they can really go along way in creating a great pace in a campaign.
2007 the “right” Role Playing Game (RPG) came along in Bioware’s Mass Effect. Always a
lover of huge stories in the genre, a gateway was needed for me when the strategize and
wait my turn based JRPG’s just didn’t give me the game play I wanted on a console.
Published by Capcom and developed by Grin the release of Bionic Commando Rearmed
(BCR) on Sony’s Playstation Network and Microsoft’s Xbox Live Arcade finally I can really
get behind full games as Down Loadable Content (DLC).

The game stops just short of making me say thank you to Capcom for a $10.00 price
point for such a high quality title. That coming from someone who completely missed the
20 year old original NES Bionic Commando that BCR is based on. While the updated visuals
really catch the eye it was the remixed music heard in the first announcement trailer that
really got my attention. The music soundtrack is good enough to warrant a purchase of a
few tracks in the iTunes Music Store going pass lame techno beats while playing up the
nostalgia of the original. Two -player co-op, leader boards, and challenge levels flush out
the 200 plus meg download. Like some of everything I find great. The sum is greater than
the parts. One part in-particular that’s not so hot is the use of the d-pad to direct your
bionic arm can be hit or miss no overused tired pun intended. Honest. The underwhelming
3-D block puzzles would of been perfect for my taste years ago before the afore mentioned
God of War ,but even this bite sized smaller scale title could of used way more variations to
the puzzles.

PSN and XBLA for me personally are slowly getting better with age. Being over 20
minutes away from the nearest Blockbuster and not really in need of a Netflix Membership
every month. Downloading a movie through both of services is really cost effective when
factoring gas prices and time. Almost everyone can agree that Microsoft points is the
digital equivalent of a Carnival Ticket Point Scale where the amount you buy almost always
means you’ll be left with some unused points. Plus buying this mystical currency in packs
for one download is flat out annoying. The main reason I picked up BCR on XBLA
stemmed from having unused Microsoft Points from last fucking year! User generated
content across these services seems like the next step, though my guess is that it’s not
going to take off overnight. At the risk of sounding like a guy who cheers for Sony and
Microsoft to make more money the revenue stream provided by DLC was and is much
needed. Just look at it from the stand point of the starving artist or small developer that
really needs every cent to keep the power on in the work place. How did The Joker say it
in The Dark Knight? “If you’re good at something don’t do it for free...” Getting back to the
topic there is room for more community participation when not in a game. The Fall Update
on Live and Home on PSN hopefully will address that. As for today my personal favorite
thing has always been demos to upcoming games. My biggest question and concern might
be will and how much longer will Live charge Gold members to play? The obvious flip side is
will and how much longer will Playstation remain free?

BCR is enduring and charming. DLC despite a few missteps are going in the right
direction. In 2008 it’s time to say, “I can--no I am really behind this now!”