MOSTLY ARMLESS

One of the aims for

Rearmed was no doubt to serve as an appetiser for Grin’s full-size 3D Bionic

Commando a year later, a game which contributed to the studio’s closure. While the followup isn’t a disaster – the arm is given plenty to do, with Spider-Man-like traversal implemented well enough – it remains an ill-advised departure that dragged Rad Spencer into the swamp of drab 360-era action games. Its ‘oorah’ attitude, green-grey palette and po-faced storyline about nuclear terrorists feel incongruous for a franchise synonymous with colourful uniforms and cartoon violence. Despite its own failings, then,

Rearmed is still the definitive Bionic Commando experience, and its retro stylings feel far less dated in 2021.