Bionic Commando Rearmed Arrvives on XBLA

Kris Erickson • Aug 13, 2008 • Comments ()

For those of you who have been patiently awaiting the updated arcade classic from Capcom, we have good news. The game finally arrived today on Xbox Live Arcade, priced at an affordable 800 Microsoft Points.

Fans will surely remember the original bionic Commando, which appeared on the NES back in 1988. The game was notoriously difficult (like most games from that era) and it took a particular amount of skill to jump, grapple, and shoot your way through the hordes of enemy communists that the game threw at you. Even though the game only had 5 levels, it was a rare gamer who survived to the final stage, let alone the closing credits.

Bionic Commando Re-armed (get it?) continues the same 2D side-scrolling gameplay from the original, while adding beautiful 3D environments and some additional modern improvements like 4-player multiplayer and unlockable content. Of course, the famous grappling hook is still a fundamental part of gameplay, as your character can use it to get around the treacherous environment and teach the enemies (probably still communists) a lesson.