C64 (UK)

C64 (US)

C64 (UK) - This version's graphics and level layouts are the closest to the arcade version. For the most part detail is fairly good, though sometimes the repeating background textures can appear a little shoddy (see robot picture above) and unfortunately the main player sprite doesn't look as good as it could've (as can be seen with US version's C64 sprite, which looks more like a man wearing shades and less like a robot)

C64 (US) - Though it looks a little basic overall the graphics are still functional. The main points are that the textures are cruder than those in the UK C64 version, occasionally the background graphics can look a bit empty, and some of the objects in the the levels are much smaller than usual (just check out that tiny bee hive in the first screen shot).

Spectrum - The detail level is not really that noteworthy, there's not much going on in the backgrounds, everything is a little scaled down, and there seems to be something wrong with all the sprites (more on this later). It's probably still a little better than the US C64 version though (looking at the second picture along the buildings and floor textures look to have a lot more work on them). I've definitely seen the Spectrum do much better than this.

Amstrad - As is easily evident from the screen shots above the Amstrad version of Bionic Commando is a direct port of the Spectrum version, and as such has the exact same level of detail (ie nothing special detail wise)

C64 (UK) - The use of colour is quite well done for every level in the game, everything is realistically coloured, good job.

C64 (US) - The colour use isn't bad, I would say it's quite a way off from being as good as the PAL version of the game though as the colour use is a bit simpler.

Spectrum - Its half alright, and for a Spectrum this is actually pretty good. Colour clash is very much evident, but it doesn't have a harmful effect on game play as bullets are pretty easy to see. Mainly, while the colour is a little bit garish and unrealistic (though nowhere near the levels of the Amstrad version) it does the job.

Amstrad - The colour of this version is truly atrocious, no effort seems to have been made to make it look even half decent. Everything is appallingly garish, and often unrealistically coloured (added to the Spectrum version's bright yellow trees we now also have bright orange grass?!). The status bar at the bottom of the screen is different for every level, but no matter what level you're on it manages to look terrible. All of this is a little unacceptable for the Amstrad to be honest, the Spectrum has an excuse for its yellow trees (no brown in the hardware's pallet) while the colour problems with the Amstrad version are all due to it being quickly ported from Spectrum instead of being designed for the Amstrad from the ground up.

C64 (UK) - Pretty good animation that does the trick, especially good is the swinging motion which is much better than in the other versions.

C64 (US) - The animation isn't particularly good, it looks half alright when walking but the grappling hook use looks poor.

Spectrum - Both the walking and grappling animations are adequate, its nothing amazing but not bad by any means.

Amstrad - The Same as the Spectrum version, but slower.

C64 (UK) - Generally very good and smooth, you can out run the screen occasionally but that's a minor criticism.

C64 (US) - This version has push scrolling, its better than the Spectrum's scroll but nowhere near the higher quality constant scrolling of the UK C64 port.

Spectrum - A bit on the dodgy side, a push screen scroll is used in this version and it looks quite choppy in action, it looks a bit ugly, and can occasionally cause problems with the game play.

Amstrad - The scrolling here is quite poor, exactly the same as the spectrum version.

C64 (UK) - Firstly, admirably all the music from the arcade is present (a different one for every stage). The music itself is a little bit inconsistent though, its starts off poor with the opening menu music (an un-melodic mess) and the first stage music (ill fitting and grating on the ears), but improves more and more as the game goes on. One of the big highlights is level four's music which includes some pretty impressive use of the C64's sound chip.

C64 (US) - There only seems to be one tune used, the arcade's first stage music (a tune that I personally feel is one of the weakest in the game) this song plays throughout the whole game, it's not particularly well composed in this instance either.

Spectrum - Absolutely amazing quality for the Spectrum music, easily some of the best use of it's sound chip in existence. The only unfortunate thing here is that one of the arcade tracks is missing (level four) this level re-uses level five's music. Due to the missing track I'm finding it difficult to judge a winner in the music criteria, so I'm going to go with a draw, mainly because whilst the Spectrum has fewer tracks what it does have are less intrusive than some of those of the C64, when playing certain levels on the UK C64 version I do actually find myself going to the trouble of getting the remote so I can mute the TV.

Amstrad - The great music from the Spectrum version was completely dropped from this port, there is no in game music.

C64 (UK) - This version has no sound effects.

C64 (US) - Not much going on sounds effect wise, most of them are adequate, though the grappling hook sounds a bit on the ridiculous side here.

Spectrum - Sound effects are alright but very basic, the gun sounds decent, the grappling arm sounds metallic, its pretty solid for the old Spectrum beeper really. Seeing as this section is offering up no real competition I'm actually calling a win for the beeper!

Amstrad - Even the sound effects manage to be worse than the Spectrum version, which is rarely the case, the grappling hook even sounds a little bit Atari 2600 to me. The only good sound effect used in my opinion is the one for explosions.

Bionic Commando is a five level arcade platforming game. Its main selling point at the time was that instead of including the traditional jump button, it gave the player a bionic arm and the ability to grapple onto platforms and swing around the stages. Much of the game play consists of shooting the enemies and using the bionic arm to climb up the vertically orientated levels and swing over hazards. Due to the removal of the ability to jump the game really emphasizes quick thinking and forward planning as you always need to be thinking of the next place to grapple onto to avoid getting pinned down. Whilst including some clever game play ideas for the most part Bionic Commando is an old arcade quarter muncher, and as such can tend to be a little on the frustrating side at times.

C64 (UK) - This version probably plays the most accurately to the original arcade game (mainly due to the closer level layout, and attention to detail). It does play a little slower than it should though and also has some other problems. The biggest of the problems is probably the controls, which are unresponsive (if an enemy is coming from behind and you try to turn and fire the slowness and lag will usually cause you to walk into them, also the firing itself tends to be unreliable) and missing certain actions (you can no longer hold a direction whilst swinging to jump gaps, you have to just disengage the grapple at the right time instead). To compensate the missing action the developers added in a little jump to the character when you disengage the grapple, but unfortunately due to this when you need to quickly disengage to avoid an enemy sometimes the little jump sends you careening into them instead. The unresponsive controls are a problem for the game as they offset the usefulness of the new grappling move and when added to the game's natural jump omission they give you the feeling of controlling an unwieldy, crippled character, in the arcade version it felt more like you were losing one control feature and gaining a new one. Some other things worth mentioning are that the enemies are more aggressive in this version, and that the tree branches sometimes break even when you're not actually standing on them.

C64 (US) - The US version of Bionic Commando suffers from a plethora of missing elements. The biggest problem here has to be the crude implementation of the grappling arm, in this version it can only be used to pull yourself up vertically or diagonally, there's no swinging motion at all so you can't jump gaps. In comparison to the UK version the controls are more responsive, and in this version you can actually direct yourself whilst falling (very helpful), however this game's even more limited move set coupled with some brand new issues (you can't move forwards and fire as this causes you to start grappling instead, you can't fire whilst hanging) makes it overall just as stiff to control as the UK version. This version is also very much lacking the attention to detail found in the other versions, for instance some of the hazards are missing such as the gun turrets, and the robots (which were basically moving hazards). Both of these elements were recreated pretty well in the UK version but whilst still appearing here don't actually do anything anymore.

Spectrum - Though the level layouts are a little scaled down here compared to the C64 (UK) version, they are still actually fairly accurate (even the robots move properly), for the most part everything is in the right place but is a little smaller than before. This version is by far the fastest and most responsive. The grappling hook works quickly and unlike both C64 versions has a full moves set, but it suffers a little due to not having as fluid movement. Like the other two games there's some problems unique to this version. The push scrolling makes it difficult to forward plan as sometimes you can't see what enemies are coming up, and whilst swinging you are no longer invincible to enemies. The enemies are very fast in this version to the extent that they can be difficult to react to in time. Apart from this the game play is pretty fun, though doesn't retain the feel of the arcade version in the same way as the UK C64 game does. Game play wise the Spectrum and C64 versions of Bionic Commando are difficult to compare, they both play very differently to each other and are quite on par. Personally I think I'd give the edge in game play to the Spectrum version (by a hair), due to its more responsive controls and faster game play.

Amstrad - Like most of the games directly ported from Spectrum, Bionic Commando on the Amstrad runs significantly slower than it was originally intended to, the slower speed really hurts the game play as movement feels too slow, and enemies arrive and attack at a speed which makes them too easy to deal with and no longer a danger. This version is much more tedious overall as a result.

C64 (UK) - No noteworthy extras.

C64 (US) - Nothing really worth mentioning.

Spectrum - Not really any extras, cut scenes or in game storyline to speak of.

Amstrad - Exactly the same as the Spectrum but different colours. The title screen is truly an abomination to behold.

Funnily enough, due to a seemingly unresolved bug with the colour clash in the spectrum version you don't actually get to see what the main sprite is supposed to look like until the 3rd level, this is what it was meant to look like

Firstly the US C64 version is out of the running as its too slow and is missing too many crucial elements to the game play (no swinging, slow grappling, no environmental hazards), its music is also far inferior to the other versions.

The Amstrad version is nothing more than a watered down port of the Spectrum game. Its missing the Spectrum version's sense of speed and excellent music, and the colour aspect is even worse than before.

Comparing the Spectrum and Commodore (UK) versions I would say that in the area of music and game play the two games are on par with each over, but the C64 versions graphics and scrolling are much better, and as a whole it generally represents the original arcade game more closely than the Spectrum version (which has a very different feel to it).