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Bionic Commando Multiplayer Preview

• By Travis Moses
• December 26, 2008 15:25 PM PST
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Hands-on with Bionic Commando Multiplayer reveals a new level and 8-player mayhem.

I could have written a standard running text preview on Capcom's latest showing of Bionic Commando, but instead here are three things that popped out at me while playing Bionic Commando multiplayer.

1. Level design: Because Bionic Commando is half swinging, the other half shooting, the multiplayer levels are uniquely designed around this mechanic. For example, the newest multiplayer level Capcom unveiled called Vegetation Nation is a hybrid between a gigantic green house and a birdcage, which forces players to utilize the verticality of the room by swinging from bridges to get the highest kill count.

In Vegetation Nation, a central column rises from the base of the level to the ceiling. This column supports bridges that jet out at different elevations from the column to the outer walls. The bottom of Vegetation Nation is a basin of water and is an instant suicide if you fall in. Use your bionic arm to swing and dangle from the bridges, trying to remain in constant motion to stay alive.

2. Old school weapon pickups: Unlike shooters of modern day, such as Call of Duty and Team Fortress 2, where you choose a weapon loadout before each match begins, Bionic Commando recalls the days of old where weapon respawns are on the physical map.

In Bionic Commando multiplayer, each player starts the match with a standard Tungsten pistol. This makes the odds a little more even. Perhaps you've been in a frustrating Call of Duty multiplayer match where one player is a dozen ranks higher than everyone else and has unlocked all the high-caliber weapons. Not much fun when you're on the lower end, is it?

Since the bigger, more powerful weapons are spread out across the maps in Bionic Commando multiplayer, everyone has a fair shot at getting to them. The shotgun, grenade launcher, assault and sniper rifle are located on special pads called weapon respawns. When a weapon is picked up, that weapon respawn becomes inactive and a certain amount of time needs go by before it respawns the same weapon that can be picked up again. The same goes for health and armor.

3. Bionic mysteries: Capcom is being secretive when it comes to what is and what is not unveiled when it comes to Bionic Commando, especially in the multiplayer department. The game is just around the corner and the press has only seen a few levels, 2v2, and 4v4 multiplayer. There are still a handful of levels which are sure to ship with the game and the max player count for online is 10, which means 5v5 team deathmatch. There are also elements from the single player mode that are currently missing in action from multiplayer, such as grenades, the Tarantula rocket launcher, and some of the super bionic moves. Surely more levels and 5-on-5 player mayhem will be shown soon and GamePro will be there to give you all the details when it happens.

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