Top Secret: The Bionic Commando Podcast, chances are you have not heard of it. Chances are also you are really missing out on something awesome also. Beyond the the fact that these are the guys who are working on Bionic Commando these guys are extremely funny. They bring a great light to the truth behind being a localization team, both the good and the bad. They also have some of the best guests from Capcom in for interviews, including the father of Mega Man.
Direct from Capcom’s HQ in Osaka, Japan, Top Secret brings you the latest information on Bionic Commando, exclusive interviews with the people behind the biggest titles in Capcom, and many more great guests from every side of the games industry. Updated every second Tuesday.
I highly suggest you should add this podcast to your list. Also it is available on iTunes.
I played and have been playing the original Bionic Commando for the past couple of week on and off. I certainly wasn’t expecting the remake to be suddenly published without being prepared for it. Then it was, and I was sitting there saying to myself “You do not need to be playing yet again game you do not have time for” and I was wrong. I logged onto Capcom’s digital distribution website and purchased the game for PC for fifteen bucks. 251 megabytes later I had Bionic Commando Rearmed.
Writing a review of this game can certainly be a hard task as I would want to point out all the great things compared to the original. I will not do that, however I will point out what makes this an excellent 2D game.
Gameplay
The wire mechanic with the lack of jumping makes this game’s gimmick solid. You are constantly trying to get better at this game and do better tricks. You cannot just sit down and master it but also you are not beaten to death by controls that are too hard to use. This means you will want to use a gamepad and if you do not own one I suggest buying one. Selecting easy makes this game a breeze but higher difficulties will make your fingers bleed making the game playable to all skill levels.
Combat is challenging making you rely on skillful use of your weapons while not worrying about running out of ammo. Different types of weapons along with the claw at the end of your wire keeps your options for combat extremely open and diverse. On a side note you start off with only one weapon.
Music
Not much to say about this one. Music is freaking awesome with remixed splendor throughout the entire game with original content as well tucked in somewhere. I highly suggest anyone that enjoys remixed 8 bit music to buy this album on iTunes.
Retro
Despite the removal of references to Nazis and to Hitler (The Leader) the game remains almost completely the same. Almost means that they changed what must be changed to make the game better. One of the biggest changes is when you get a Game Over it does not restart you to the title screen, so a casual gamer can now sit down and play through the game. Other changes include creative reinventions of some boss battles, which are awesome, and some dialog changes. One of the changes I enjoyed it the puzzle you have to complete to hack the enemy comms.
Modern
With the addition of fifty challenge levels, multiplayer, and co-op this game will keep you busy long beyond what you invest into it. For fifteen bucks I expected a lot less and I certainly see a lot more.
I suggest if you own a Playstation 3, Xbox 360, or PC to purchase this game. This is one of the best games I have played this year and I think you will agree. With the price tag of either $10 or $15 you have no excuse not to buy it.
Ah a classic! I’ve played Wolfenstein 3D and Spear of Destiny which were both excellent games. For some reason I never played Return to Castle Wofenstein when it came out and I should be ashamed cause of the fact being a big fan of Agent B.J. Blaskowiz and his guns. Also shooting Nazis never seem to get old, or has it?
Being 7 years old already the game still plays extremely well even with out dated graphics. The part I like best about this game is this is what the world that Wolfenstein was supposed to be when it was visioned way back by ID Games. While you don’t end the game killing Hitler just shows that this is one of many games of Wolfenstein that are still to come, and will come as they are making a new Wolfenstein right now.
Playing through the game made I realize there is a lot more depth in game play then I noticed back when it came out, while I watched my friends play through the first few levels. The enemies take cover in an intelligent way and don’t just stand there while you shoot them, while some do, I assume that’s cause they want to die without their back turned towards me. What annoyed me the most was the sneaking mission and that is cause I am stupid. I had to actually realize that you had to use your binoculars to look at the towers to avoid the lookouts depending on which way they were facing. That is cause I thought surely this game is so old I don’t have to do anything but run from spot to sport seeking cover and I was wrong. The levels are designed very well and thankfully so cause they are not pretty to play being nothing more than blocks that are covered in low textured graphics. The addition of as much destructible objects such as bridges and buildings make you feel like you are actually destroying your environment while you are just hitting triggered events instead of dynamic physics, which is still impressive for 2001.
Currently I believe I am half way through the game, maybe a little more. The way the game is broken up tends to break me from playing it all the way through. When you have a couple of levels in a row then you return home for mission briefing I tend to save and quit the game at that point. I suppose it is a good thing it gives you the chance to put the game down after an hour, but I do enjoy a game that keeps you playing.
There are many games out there I will play from start to finish twice or more. Crysis is on the list of games I still don’t care to replay and for a while there I didn’t know why. After a while I would hear people talking about when they played Crysis and get an urge to play it again but yet when I sat in front of my computer I wouldn’t install it and I would move on to another game. At first I thought this was cause the game was very plot driven and it ended on a cliff hanger I didn’t care to repeat. This was not the case.
Crysis had one big short coming in my eyes. With all the realism, excellent graphics, and great game play it was a terrible shooter. I know it is a sci-fi game and isn’t supposed to be a simulation but considering you are a super soldier going up against normal infantry in the beginning of the game you would think they would die easier when filled with bullets. I tend to play games with a combination of stealth and run and gun tactics and while the run and gun tactics were certainly a good way to play Crysis, you could find yourself out gunned by the enemy fairly quickly. I tended to rely on stealth a lot cause if you played your cards right you can be stealth-ed two inches from the back of a soldier’s head. This is the point in the game where I wanted to quit playing because I had my gun pointed two inches away from their head and they would not die from a quick bullet spread to the back of their head.
After a while I just started to blitz soldiers and run off and hide and repeat. This was boring and time consuming and almost ruined the game for me. Farther in the game I felt like it was an arcade experience as you can see the sci-fi elements manifest around you and then everything felt like it was at home. You don’t worry about head shots when you opponents are not human or super human and expect a massive amount of firepower to take them down.
Every time I sit down and almost hit the install button I remember how much I hated playing through the first part of the game feeling stupid that a super soldier is being out matched by normal infantry and when the game gets really good it ends.
I’ve been reading a lot of Apple Wireless Keyboard reviews. Mainly cause as much as I would like to love all Apple products, some just suck bad. The Might Mouse is the reason I have to be careful anymore. Another reason is I use Windows on my MBP and my hardware will have to work with that too.
I ran across this review for the Apple Wireless Keyboard though and it blew my mind!
I am assuming when you turn off the lights your computer sits there till it goes into sleep mode for the night as you crawl off to a warm place to sleep for a few hours sleep as well. My computer does the same thing though before sleep mode kicks in my keyboard lights up due to the low light. There is a light sensor in my Macbook Pro and it tells my computer to dim my display so it doesn’t hurt my eyes and to turn on the back light under the keys in my keyboard.
I found a funny little application over at SlappingTurtle Software that when your light sensor hits a certain level it fires up sounds of crickets and or frogs called NightSounds. Now this is a great idea! Sadly this application hasn’t had much love as it does not even have an icon. The idea behind it is solid though, especially if you are a user like me that keeps his laptop nearby while he sleeps. Combining this feature with other media options could produce an extremely usefull application.
While iAlertU isn’t the best application to secure your computer it certainly does exactly what you want it to do for the right price of free. It lives in your menu bar and you simply point your apple remote towards your computer and hold the menu button and with one bleep (sounds like arming a car) you computer is now locked up. If anyone disturbs your computer an alarm will go off (also sounds like a car alarm) and your monitor will start to flash. What the person who is messing with your computer doesn’t know is your web camera just took a picture of them, dated it, and is sending an email to you.
I think this application works best on a Macbook Pro as it uses the motion sensor and the built in iSight efficiently. To disarm your computer you just hold the menu button on your remote till you hear the disarm bleeps. While iAlertU is not fool proof and someone that truly wishes to steal your laptop will get away with it, this will certainly help to annoy if not possibly capture the culprit. I find it more of a way to entertain and secure my laptop when my eyes are not on it, as I would certainly not leave it in another room alone.
If you use your Apple Remote you will find this program very handy.
iAlertU is the first of its kind alarm system for your Apple MacBook computer. Basically iAlertU is a car alarm for your Apple Mac. iAlertU uses the built in sudden motion sensor (SMS) device to detect movement of your Apple MacBook and triggers an audible and visual alarm. The alarm can also be triggered by keyboard and mouse/trackpad movement. The alarm is designed to continue sounding even after the Apple MacBook screen has been closed. iAlertU is activated and deactivated using the infrared remote control included with every Apple MacBook computer. User adjustable settings let you decide which type of alarm triggers you would like to use, the duration of the alarm, and motion sensor sensitivity. iAlertU also features functionality which utilizes the built in iSight camera to photograph the would be thief and then email the photo to a user specified email address. Check out the demo video on YouTube.
I can be really crazy about my computer security sometimes. Though I tend to be a little more silly about it than serious. This option from Rohos Logon Key Security seems to be more of a serious option. There is a demo which I will not touch cause I will get myself into trouble somehow I feel. Like I said before this is a serious option and I am more silly.
This technology is built around securing your computer while a USB or other device such as an iPod is connected to your computer so when the device is removed your computer goes into lock down.
How it works
Rohos Logon remembers selected USB flash drive that user has chosen for protection. From that moment when USB drive get disconnected from Mac - Rohos immediately locks Mac desktop.
The first version allows to setup only 1 USB stick as a security token.
When you turn on USB key security Rohos disables the option “Require password to wake this computer from sleep or screen saver” because Rohos instalsl its own desktop lock window. Rohos lock screen has a button to Sleep your Mac after you pulled out USB flash drive.
Rohos Logon user interface allows you to quickly turn ON or OFF USB key protection.
I’ll stick to my silly cleaver security programs though. Take a look at their video tutorial.
There has been a theme of completely useless iPhone applications rescently and if you have been following the new you know about the $999 I Am Rich application. This however $0.99 and is extremely cool and completely useless. I would not call it stupid as it does have some neat features and for a buck you can not be to angry with such a simple purchase.
iLightr is an innovative entertainment app that harnesses the unique features of the iPhone to create the most realistic lighter experience available on any mobile device. Rather than a stale, unchanging looped video of a flame, iLightr combines high-resolution OpenGL graphics, dynamic sound effects, and accelerometer support to create the only truly interactive lighter simulation available.
