This game is under-appreciated. The plot is weird and kind of doesn't go anywhere, the world is grim and sometimes absurd, and some sections of gameplay suffer perhaps due to rushed development or inexperience. But if you want a near-future action game with super-serious voice acting, dramatic revelations and a dark action hero tone, play this game at least once.

The story takes place in a straightforward Metal Gear Solid type of semi-futuristic world. Augmented humans were respected as government superheroes for a while, then outlawed after defeating their villains. This indirectly created a big evil terrorist group made up of villain tropes and cyborgs who didn't want their cool powers taken away. They think the only way people will respect bionics is with a show of force, though some of the rank and file are realizing these tactics are bad.

Our anti-hero protagonist was one of the first government cyborgs and saved the world a few times (the other games in the series) using his chunky bionic arm. He ended up training others, but then failed or refused to kill some targets on a mission where allies died, so he got an insubordination death sentence ... until the terrorists attack and he's the only one who can stop them. Obviously the government deploys him via air-to-surface missile. After he kills all the bad guys, there's a few late twists and the story is over.

Despite his record, everyone hates the protag for various reasons and he hates everyone, which brings out some hilariously grim lines and quips, like the protag snickering to himself after killing grunts with the sniper rifle, or the general giving orders then adding you don't need to try too hard not to die, or the protag's ex-subordinate defending the terrorists for killing an entire city by saying the government wanted to put her in a wheelchair. There are no good people in this story.

The main draw of the game is the mechanized arm swinging, which takes a bit of practice but you soon start to feel like Spiderman in one of his games with good web-swinging, including automatic length adjustment, smart attach points, zip pulls and swinging around corners. All of this creates great freedom of movement with large maps designed for fun swinging, though of course you are limited in where you can go by areas of “radiation” and other hazards plus blue-tinged buildings which can't be grabbed.

Attacking with the arm starts out just punching and grapple-slamming into targets like a human cannonball, then slowly grows over time to include increasingly better options: slamming into the ground so hard you stun anyone around, punching large objects (or bodies) into the air and kicking them, extremely accurate throws that can include area damage, and finally a super-move bar which fills up as you get kills and which you can unleash to slam or whip everyone around or instantly defeat some larger machines. Near the end, you're basically a cartoon wrestler who happens to carry guns.

Besides the grappling arm, you wield a custom pistol and spiky grenades, plus one of several larger weapons which can be swapped out at supply drops. The large weapons have less ammo and tend to be one-hit mook killers: a shotgun with a terrifying description, a solid and simple sniper rifle, a homing missile launcher and more. You don't feel very skilled with any of these due to the wide aim, but your specialty after all is the arm. There's also a neat skill reward system where you gain upgrades by completing challenges like “kill five grunts with one grenade” or “get fifty headshots” so using a weapon in impressive ways makes you better.

Finishing up the positive elements of this game with a few minor suggestions, I would start on the highest of three difficulty settings for a fun old school “get good” challenge, softened by somewhat generous checkpoints and constantly regenerating health. There's at least one place in the game where, after dying in a boss battle, different dialogue plays that feels like an Easter Egg blooper, and you can skip the second-to-last-boss' ranting by hitting a skip button to swear at him. Odd “collectibles” are scattered around the maps and finding them unlocks neat concept art in the Extras Menu.

At its core, this is a mid-tier linear action adventure game. Back when you could rent games, this would have been a good rental or a bad purchase. There's not a lot of replay value and after beating this once, I don't want to imagine going back and starting from the beginning with all of the later powers still locked; this game would have been better with a New Game Plus mode giving you double the enemies and everything unlocked from the start.

The story has that unfortunate feel of something which should have gotten a few more drafts and revisions. There's definitely a plot, but it's not very deep, doesn't make much sense on closer consideration and probably has a few holes. Revelations and twists toward the end are just there for the sake of having a twist ending, though might have worked well in the middle if they also changed the entire nature of the game and led to a satisfying ending that was more than defeating some bad guys.

More seriously, this may take some time to get working on modern computers, though as usual there are fans of the game who provide online guides; after I got the files and settings fixed, I had no more issues. There's a door in the game which can only be unlocked by playing the other game, but don't set your expectations high, it's just a small concept model museum. And the final two boss fights are painful quick time events with button mashing, though they do an excellent job of using dramatic settings and reveals, plus the finishers are great.

Overall I'm glad I played this game and I'm also glad I got it cheap. The gameplay is fun once you've gotten into the swing of things, the challenge is real and the experience is like a dumb action movie somewhere between “cool in its time” and so bad that it's good. I definitely recommend this if you like 3D action games with style and grit.

fun!

I played Bionic Commando as a child on PlayStation 3, I had never played it seriously because I was too young.
Now with a steam deck and a 70 cent key I have recovered this hidden gem. Incredible music, fun gameplay and tons of possibilities thanks to the grappling hook arm.
If you have problems starting it on steam deck like it happened to me, I'll leave a guide here.

I found this guide on Reddit, god bless you AL209man.

“The current workaround is to
1. force it to Proton 5
2. Pressress the "Verify Integrity of game/demo files" button. It'll reinstall the game files.
3. then launch Bionic Commando (2009 video game).
4. Then quickly exit out the game
5. now choose newer Proton versions up to Proton 7.0-6.
If you were to change Proton versions above Proton 7.0-6 the game will crash upon boot up and you will have to redo the steps again.”

To solve the audio problem I just needed to check the integrity of the game