Games owe Spidey a big thank you
Clearly, video game makers think there's something appealing about "Spider-Man." Two new games owe more to Spidey than Tobey Maguire does.
In "Bionic Commando," you use a chain connected to your bionic arm as a grappling hook to swing from building to building -- and from stalactite to stalactite -- through a city and through vacuous caverns.
You do this to combat terrorists running amok on a futuristic, sci-fi Earth. The nasty government has given you one bionic arm (yes, the cheapskates funded only one bionic arm) and have asked you to single-handedly take out all these terrorists. No pressure, right?
All this swinging looks and feels a lot like Peter Parker's superpower. Also like Spidey, you shoot your grappling wire into a bad guy's chest, then you fish-yank the wire so that your feet land on his chest, then you kick him into tomorrow.
Or you can simply shoot terrorists in the face with a gun. It's your choice, killer.
The first "Bionic Commando" came out in 1987 and offered the same grappling and gun methods. So "Bionic" has been Spider-Man-esque since its inception. But this "Commando" is even more like the masterpiece "Spider-Man 2," since it's a free-roaming, goal-oriented outing in a big city.
A moderate complaint: Eluding bad guys' gunfire is somewhat lame. On every building top, and lurking around every corner, is a terrorist, shooting sniper rifles and machine guns at you. They always know precisely where you are. And they always have good aim. This swarm of lookalike sniper villains wears thin after a while.
Meanwhile, in "Infamous," a nuclear explosion has left your city half blown up -- somehow leaving you (a bike messenger) alive and capable of firing electric volts out of your fingertips at bad guys' heads.
Most nemeses are former drug-dealing junkies who rob and kill weak people. You can save their victims, or you can be an antihero and let them die; it's you choice, killer.
In "Infamous," you don't swing from webs or from grapple-hooks. But in a very Spidey way, you use supernatural strength to climb buildings and to jump from rooftop to rooftop.
In fact, the movements of "Infamous" seem most like 2007's quite good "Crackdown," a Spidey-inspired adventure in which the hero uses superpowers to climb buildings and hop across rooftops. In other words, "Infamous" plays like an homage to a game that was itself an homage to "Spider-Man 2."
Coincidentally, "Infamous" leans on the same trick as "Bionic Commando." Snipers and machine gun nests try to take you down, cowardly, from afar. This repetition becomes routine after a while.
So while "Infamous" and "Bionic Commando" are big, solid, cool and fun (for the most part), the caveat for each is that snipers can be fairly annoying. Not the worst problem in the world.
But how are you supposed to feel a sense of accomplishment in "Infamous" when you're constantly dodging bullets from the false construct of an army of drug-addled snipers who always spot you a mile away and always aim bullets at you perfectly?
Aren't drug addicts supposed to have bad reflexes?
("Bionic Commando" retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3 -- Plays fun enough. Looks very good. Challenging. Rated "M" for blood, gore, strong language and violence. Three and one-half stars out of four.)
("Infamous" retails for $60 for PS 3 -- Plays fun enough. Looks very good. Challenging. Rated "T" for blood, drug references, language, mild suggestive themes and violence. Three and one-half stars.)
What do you think? Tell me at delfman@reviewjournal.com, or post your reviews and rants at reviewjournal.com/elfman.
NEW IN STORES
"Fuel" is an impressive-looking road and off-road racer that jumps on the bandwagon of open-world racing.
You can drive motorbikes, cars, all-terrain vehicles and trucks across 5,000 square miles. That's 100,000 potential miles of roads for you to race through.
And you can compete for the final flag, or you can go for leisurely, bumpy rides anywhere on your map all by yourself. Online, up to 16 gamers can challenge each other.
The game retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS3. It's rated "E" for comic mischief.
"Red Faction: Guerilla" is set on Mars, which has become inhabited but is under martial law. Your mission as an uber soldier is to kill bad guys and blow up bad-guy encampments with guns, grenades, rocket launchers and all kinds of massive firepower.
But can you do all this to save residents from an oppressive regime? Find out by foraging through mining towns, mountains and other hot spots in "Guerilla's" open world.
This third-person shooter was designed for THQ by Volition, the people that made "Saints Row," but "Guerilla" is graver than that campy shoot-'em-up. Online, the multiplayer suits up to 16 gamers in team deathmatch, capture-the-flag and other modes.
The Tuesday release retails for $60 for Xbox 360 and PS 3. It's rated "M" for blood, strong language and violence.
"Rock Band Track Pack: Classic Rock" is a basic additional disk for you to play 20 more tunes on your "Rock Band" system of guitar, drums and microphone.
This classic rock mixes traditional rock (Steve Miller's "The Joker," Rush's "Closer to the Heart," George Thorogood's "Bad to the Bone") and what used to be known as punk rock (The Police's "Can't Stand Losing You" and Dead Kennedy's "Holiday in Cambodia.")
The game already came out in May for Wii, Xbox 360 and PS 2. It will be released Tuesday for PS 3, retailing for $30 for each system. It's rated "T" for mild lyrics.
-- By DOUG ELFMAN
