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While reviled by long time fans when it first announced, it’s really not that big of a deal – it’s a short leap executed mostly to climb over barrels or hop over small gaps without having to go around them. The most controversial new addition is the jump button, the first time seen in a 2D Bionic Commando game.
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Rad now has an amazing ’80s-style mustache, and while the character artwork is no longer provided by the legendary Shinkiro, it looks similar enough. Rad Spencer is the leader of this mission, and he is joined with several other bionic commandos, who don’t really do much other than delivering bits of exposition and getting killed. Taking place after the first Rearmed but before the post-apocalyptic landscape of the revamp, this sequel sends our heroes to the island nation of Papagaya (obviously a stand-in for Cuba) to square off against the dictator Sabio (clearly meant to be Castro.) As before, you’re trailing after a group of soldiers that was previously sent to infiltrate the island, lead by one Colonel Brubaker, who have since gone missing. The result is still an excellent game, although one that changes up familiar elements for seemingly no reason. In light of this, Capcom commissioned a sequel from Swedish development team Fatshark, since GRIN had since closed down. While Bionic Commando Rearmed was initially created to tie-in with the 2009 reimaging, it ended up being substantially more popular than the game it was meant to promote.
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