A Story About My Uncle Hopes You Love Swinging Around

I like how Patrick implies that Bionic Commando (2009) doesn't exist, perhaps rightfully.

I love swingers.

Wow, this looks completely different from the last time I saw it. Looks pretty fun. The way his hand just sorta stays open while he's swinging looks really dumb, though.

Is that music in every trailer ever made? I swear I've heard it somewhere else before.

Woah so pretty. Dumb name.

Looks cool. I thought the narration going on in this trailer was pretty dumb though.

It looks very interesting, to think this is from the studio that made Goat Simulator :)

That narration was laughably dumb, as is the name. The game itself looks decent enough but the art style is pretty boring and there doesn't seem to be much going on.

That's how most people would feel! I actually thought the swinging worked pretty well in that game.

I don't know. I'm neither feeling the sense of movement or swing speed to be "right". Maybe it's a different beast behind the controls, but looking at it feels very bland. The setting feels weirdly generic and the narration tells me nothing.

Woah woah, chill out on the negativity there, boss. Maybe, as said, it's better in person.

This looks pretty interesting, but the problem is that the swinging doesn't really look satisfying. It's less a swing and more a leash, it seems, that pulls you over.

Whatever, Bionic Commando 2009 is one of the most underrated games of the last generation

If you like invisible walls and intolerably awful main characters, it truly was a gem.

If this doesn't have Oculus Rift support, the devs are missing out on a prime opportunity.

See, this guy knows

I'd buy it just for the music

@jonny_anonymous: If it includes that kind of orchestral music in it, it may just push it to a great experience.

I feel that there is a lot of missed opportunities at great experiences within games by not including certain scores. The power of music to invoke emotion and feeling is surprisingly still so underused.

To me, that's what made the first two Halos such joy to play through.

Looks and sounds awesome!

2009 Bionic Commando was a wonderful game. Absolutely flawed but really unique nonetheless.

I'd also vote that Bionic Commando 2009 was a good game with some bad plot points and that I'd be more jazzed for this if it wasn't essentially 1st person platforming, which I've never been able to like. The Portal games get a pass because the lack of combat allowed you to do it mostly at your own pace.

Oh boy, that voice work is... cringey.

Man, it took me a bit to wrap my head around that headline before I realized it was the name of the game.

So who's uncle worked on this?

@glottery: My uncle over at nintendo got me a free copy of this!

It is probably the greatest game title ever created...but it needs some creepy guy who tells perverted stories to really be authentic.

The swinging worked great. It was the horribly confined levels with invisible walls of death that were the problem. Final boss bit was cool.

That was what I came to post. You know when Brad talks about getting butterflies in his stomach when leaping off tall buildings in games? Imagine him playing this with the Oculus. I get the same feelings. I think if I managed not to puke this would be amazing for about five minutes.

US Release Date: July 23, 2012.

Ummmm.

@bbk: The multiplayer was stellar, and after the admittedly shit first half of the game, it just really opened up in amazing ways. There are sections of Bionic Commando that offer combat on a level no other console third person shooter has given me, including Vanquish, especially if you play it on commando difficulty: BC was one of the few games that don't feel cheap and irritating on higher difficulty, just more genuinely challenging.

What I will say is that the lead character of the game may be the single most irritating dude I've ever had to play. But I tolerated it simply because the game played so well.

Holy shit that VO is flat, and the movement when landing/jumping would benefit from any more animation.

That being said, wow those levels are gorgeous. That game mechanic looks like a blast, and the trailer music felt appropriate.

That's what I was about to say. The movement was easily the best part of the entire thing. And the multiplayer was surprisingly fun. I'm saying this being someone who generally doesn't play ANY competitive multiplayer.

I legit lol'ed when that one eyed monster appeared at the end.

I actually really liked it and think that it's underrated. Especially the multiplayer, which I played with a bunch of online friends through Hamachi after the servers went down. Biggest problem I had with it was the art style and designs. The plot was dumb, but laughably so. Your arm being your wife is to this day one of the most insane and dumbest plot twists in any game ever, and I loved it.

Oh, and this A Story About My Uncle game looks like it could be neat.

The hand animation looks terrible--but this is all prerelease so who knows how it will look in the final build. I am the eternal optimist.

ARM UNCLE. There, I said it.

The 2009 Bionic Commando was great in many ways. A terribly underrated title that gets a lot of unwarranted hate. The insane tentacle menu alone is one whole extra star on that game.

It looks like they're using the "grappling hook" physics from an old Q3 mod called Bouncy Q3A. It swings like a rope but pulls the player towards the hook at the same time, which leads to some pretty gnarly slingshot-like jumps. It's the best grappling hook physics system and it should make this game really fun to play.

@hurricaneivan29: I get what you're saying about missed opportunities to have well-done, orchestrated music in games... but is this really an example of that? I dunno man, kind of just sounds like really generic, melodramatic movie trailer music. I feel like it lacks the subtlety to be genuinely emotionally impactful. Maybe it's just me, but I think that style of over-the-top, emotional music can be more damaging than anything when handled like it is in this trailer. I'm just reminded of all those Coldplay songs that end up sounding the same and our used for uplifting commercials and sporting events. It kills any genuine emotional response by being too in your face.

@mysterysheep: Standing by my original comment, I also agree with you in that it should be done subtly to get the best effect from it, and of course with variation.

Seems weird, but in a good way. Can't say I've had good experiences with first-person platforming in the past, but there's a first for everything.

I enjoyed the 2009 Bionic Commando. Although, the ending was hilarious, and I don't think they meant it to be. Still. I got pretty good at it while playing through, and some awesome action went down. Really fun. Also, this game looks pretty cool.

Damn that looks really fun. Hopefully the May 28th release date is a release date and not "early access." I might buy it on that alone.

Looks cool to me

I would say he implies it wasn't up to snuff. I bought it during a Steam sale, and can say I liked the swinging mechanic.

That 3d bionic commando could have been made 10 times better by just having a more punchy sound track and pace. It was instead all moody and didn't "feel" like bionic commando.

That one stupid 'indie' game name you have there.

@humanity: Yeah, and the piano version of the BC theme that plays in it! Overall, I'd say it wasn't one of my favorite games but it certainly doesn't deserve the hate it gets.

Edit: Also, apparently Giant Bomb's own Jeff Gerstmann gave it 4 stars.

It was a fun little game, 4 stars well deserved. Not 5, but a solid 4.

I'm with you.

There's something off about the animation for the hand when using the grapple beam. It's too casual, there's no sense of anything exciting happening, the electricity comes out and the hand/arm barely notices it. It should be a big deal to fire it, and when swining it should look more strenuous. If there was no beam, you couldn't tell what was happening from the animation.