History:

Only just recently played the original Bionic Commando, and never touched this one.

Expectations:

For all intents and purposed the Gameboy Color is just a handheld NES, so I really don't see any reason this game should be every bit as, well, playable as the first one. Hoping for a good time!

Day 1:

Yay! Exposition! I'm not gonna lie... I skipped through it after a couple panels. I'm here to shoot grappling hooks and collect power-ups, not read!

First surprise of the night, two commandos! I went with the female commando because I thought she looked awesome. Aside from the purple dye job she kind of reminded me of Nova from Starcraft 2 so I named her Nova. After getting started, I found myself back at the familiar (and horrible) map screen from the original Bionic Commando. I was really hoping they would have gotten rid of that, but, oh well. At least I knew how to deal with it this time. The UI was still updated someone, making it a lot more clear what it was I was actually doing at any given moment, and had some surprisingly helpful digital voice cues. I was dropped off in my first mission and everything felt immediately familiar, but better! Swinging, shooting and exploring all handled exactly as expected but everything felt smoother and cleaner. I was half expecting a 1:1 port of the original but what I wound up playing was a really an upgrade! Graphics were fantastic, animations were smooth and fun to watch. Some animations, like pulling yourself up a platform, were a bit slower, but not so much it impacted gameplay, just that you had to adjust.

The level layout on the map is also more clear. I made it to Level 5 without feeling like I was getting lost, and so far those neutral stages seem to be gone. The trucks are back, and the overhead levels are actually harder this time around, but still perfectly manageable. Also new are sniper levels, which are fun little arcade games. All in all I'm loving this game so far. I have a lot more levels to go through, though, so boy am I lucky they also added a freaking save system!!!

Day 2:

It's dialogue like this that keeps me playing. So after I start playing a game I often like to go around reading what others have to say about it. One thing that caught my eye about Bionic Commando Elite Forces was word of this infamous game corruption/freezing glitch that occurred after resuming a saved game. Naturally, I scoffed. Surely these fools simply had bad cartridges! And with that I loaded up my game and continued on my merry way...

...Damnit. There are a lot of crazy workarounds for this glitch, but the one I like the best was to just beat the whole game in one sitting. I know what I'm doing tonight!

Later...

After starting the game over and getting stuck on Level 10 for a while, the hand cramps started setting in and since I hadn't saved at all up to this point I figured there wouldn't be much risk in saving now and picking up tomorrow.

Day 3:

And the save is corrupted! I think I may give it a go on the Gamecube...

Later...

So the GBA Player didn't work out, way too much lag. This is one reason I keep eyeing the Retron 5, is for that Gameboy slot. In any case, I'll have to try again tomorrow.

Day 4:

I was able to recover my save file by starting a new game and saving on that file, since apparently the glitch can only infect one save slot at a time? Anyway, it worked, and I was back in action starting at the halfway point.

Unfortunately, I think at this point I've "overplayed" the game, and I'm having a hard time caring moving forward.

I played for another half hour, clearing Stage 10 (again) and getting game over on Stage 11 because that boss just refuses to die!

I went back for another 20 minutes of hooking and swinging (Phrasing!) and decided it was time to call this one before I ended up hating it.

Conclusion:

So I really do like this game. A lot. I was expecting a clone of the NES version of the game and what I got was a full on upgrade. The controls feel smoother, the level designs are more interesting, the graphics and fantastic and the music is great. The game's systems have been streamlined and it does a much better job of guiding you where to go next. If it weren't for the all-too-real save glitch, this would be a damn near perfect title!

I think when, in the future, I get the itch to fire up some Bionic Commando, I'll still go with the NES version. Yes it has its problems, and it's a bit busted in its own ways, but something about it just has me favoring it more. Still, for a portable option there is nothing better than this game!

Liked:

- Having a character selection added a nice touch to the game.
- Level designs had me using my grappling hook in very interesting ways.
- Game systems and progression was much more streamlined, alleviating most of the frustrations from the first game.
- Excellent music and graphics.
- Controllers were smooth and tight, making traversing stages every bit as enjoyable as in the NES version.

Disliked:

- The save glitch puts a real damper on an otherwise excellent experience.
- Some levels aren't very clear as to where you're supposed to be going.

Personal Score: