Bionic Commando vs. Dragon Age

Not my usual, but it feels like one of those things worth mentioning, if only because I don't know if I'll see much on it elsewhere.

The New Bionic Commando game is a classic mismatch of great gameplay and a lame, lame story. The gameplay is the proper mixture of challenge and intuitiveness- getting new moves does not add needless complication, or just make the game harder. The advanced techniques add to a growing repertoire of combat options that only serve to make an already solid combat system grow even more so. More enemy types are introduced, slowly, a good deal of the environment can be climbed or used as a weapon, and they manage to recapture much of the fun of the 2-D platforming experience in 3-D.

The plot in many ways follows the opposite course, having a hackneyed plot you can see coming from a mile away. The twists are assumed almost from the beginning of the game, from the first cinema. We see Nathan 'Rad' Spencer jailed- fair enough, public fear of bionics sends them underground, puts them in jail, etc. We see Super Joe, an obviously evil old military man, unlike his heroic former identity from Captain Commando, sending Nathan off to fight the baddies that have blown up the city and conveniently set up the radiation clouds that keep this game from being an open environment- which is fine, for the most part.

I'd call the following spoilers, but it's not like it's spoiling much of anything. Nathan finds out the baddies are not new baddies, but the same old baddies, led by Groder. Only late in we find out Super Joe is evil and, gasp! was using you to claim the MacGuffin for his own nefarious ends. The cliche Dead Wife is also, gasp, murdered by Super Joe, but for perhaps the stupidest reason ever- her... well... somehow she was turned into his bionic arm. Which would be really, really creepy, if it wasn't so stupid. I mean... how? Fleshy person to cyber arm. That makes no kind of sense at all. There is a girl with cybernetic legs and super speed... while the game progresses in a way where you think you'd fight her, or she'd do something important, she instead shows up a few times, then dies horribly- she made ZERO impact on the plot. None.

The game is such a stinker that GRIN, the parent company is dead. So, no chance of redemption. Which goes to show... plot matters.

Now Dragon Age: Origins is out, and I can't help but feel this game is truly the reversed situation. The game itself is, to be blunt, awful. It doesn't play in such a way that makes me feel that all classes or paths are truly viable- pick the mage's tower too early, with a week class, and it will be a long ugly trudge through it. The combat often feels random, many enemies having 'finisher' style moves that will kill a character, without fail, unless the AI messes up and forgets to do you in. Rogue's seem virtually worthless as their inferior combat skills make them a detriment to many parties. Mages show such flexibility as to be almost invaluable. Warriors play pretty much like better rogues, as they are basically a big sack of armor, hitpoints, and damage. The combats are HARD, but not in a way that I would call challenging- they're tedious affairs, victory more dependent upon enemy mistakes then player skill.

The plot of Dragon Age is absolutely amazing though. Ferelden is a fully realized world, characters all seem to have a place in it, with deep backgrounds and sensible relations to events around them. Each of the race, gender, class combos have their own little twists and options, putting much of the story squarely in the players hands to determine, with so much detail, there's even lore scraps you can pick up.

Bionic Commando is considered an utter stinker of a game, while Dragon Age is considered 'amazing'. Which leads to a few thoughts:
1) Gameplay is starting to matter less than visuals and story
2) Bioware can ride its success hard, even glazing over their bad games with positivity carry over from old
3) If you're plot seems unconvincing to a 6th grader, you might want to rethink a few things.

Usually, I do tabletop stuff, but I think this points out some parallel: good rules alone cannot sell a game, and a beloved setting can sometimes glaze over awful rules.

Only you can prevent Wife arm.