Diving off a building and tearing towards the ground at eye-bulging speed, only to shoot out a grappling hook ala Spider-Man style at the last minute and swing away, inches from the ground, is a most enjoyable experience.

That is, if you manage to get it right...

There is a lot about 'Bionic Commando' to like, but with a learning curve that is simply brain popping, it's a fair assumption that a lot of gamers will probably never get to experience it in full.

Let's take the above-mentioned Spider-Man wannabe antics as an example: the idea is to use your bionic grappling arm, latch onto any structure close by, swing through the air, release the arm at just the right moment, latch onto another structure, etc. etc.

It's a simple enough concept, right? Except that if your timing is out, or if you don't get the right combination of control triggers right, you'll land up on the ground. It won't hurt you, but when the path of least frustration is to run on the ground when you could be swinging through the air, it's not good is it?

That said, once you've knuckled down and climbed the heady learning curve to master the controls, navigating the splendid-looking environments at the edge of a grappling hook will be quite rewarding.

Speaking of environments, 'Bionic Commando's' looks great. The lighting is especially well done, with the sun setting through skyscrapers during the first part of the game begin a particularly marvellous sight (a pity then that you'll be busy climbing that nasty learning curve at the time and probably won't notice it...)

On the flip-side of the awesome environments, you'll find surprisingly crappy-looking character models — and I'm not referring to the main character's dreadlocks here. They just look a little... what's the word I'm going for here... bland? You've got these amazing-looking environments to run through, but your character looks like a 1980s GI Joe rip-off figurine with stocky movements. What's up with that?

But enough of the graphics — how does it play?

Once you get the hang of the controls, pretty well actually. Using your bionic arm in combat (e.g. grabbing an enemy with your grappling hand and pulling yourself to him in a blurring, jarring foot-in-the-snotter kick) is particularly fun.

At first the guns seem a little too light in the pants and you'll get shredded by enemy fire a couple of times, but then you'll realise you need to be a little more careful until you get bigger guns.

Which is actually a nice touch because, if you think about it, in reality soldiers won't shoot crappy just because you have a crappy gun. In a real-world situation you'll just have to get a BFG as soon as possible — and it's the same here.

But then you get spear tackled by more design issues: an open world that feels decidedly linear, very little attention being spent on the storyline, and save points that are not frequent enough.

This last issue is my final Big Gripe about this game, but it can toilet the whole game for you — especially in the beginning when you're still wrestling with the controls — when you have to slog through certain parts over and over again just to get back to the point where you got shot to pieces.

Some respectable AI, online multiplayer and system link with up to eight players helps to ease back a little on the pain, but in the end 'Bionic Commando' is a game that should have spent more time in the design phase to iron out the frustrating parts and make the game more engaging.

It's a great rental for a weekend, but definitely not high on the purchase priority list.

7.1/10

Buy this game: PS3 | Xbox 360 | PC

Review: Wii Sports Resort It's a huge improvement on 'Wii Sports' and a worthy addition to your gaming library.

Scary plane landings Getting off the ground is the easy part; it's getting back down safely that's hard. Watch these.

Odosketch Sketch your own masterpieces and watch how others' take shape one brush stroke at a time.