First we told you the new Bionic Commando side-scroller adds jumping. Then we praised the jumping. Today, we add: But you don't have to jump.
While showing Kotaku a build of 2011's Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 last week, a Capcom spokesperson let me know that you don't need to jump in the new game. You can. The little hop makes it a little easier to get through Rearmed 2's tricky stages. You may play the game in "retro mode," however, which turns off the jumping.
Either way, you've got a gun and, of course, the series' signature swinging grappling hook. You can swing toward enemies, pull barrels toward you and toss them away, and all the other basic stuff a Bionic Commando hero should do.
You gain other abilities in the game, including optional passive attributes such as automatic health regeneration or an item-attracting tractor beam.
Jumping? You can skip it. This concept of adding a fundamental new move to a character who didn't have it for years — and then not making it essential — would seem odd, but only if this game wasn't coming from Capcom, a publisher that still can't gracefully address the conundrum of whether characters in Resident Evil should be able to run and shoot at the same time.
Movement changes are a confusing thing in the games of Capcom. So jump in the next Bionic Commando, or don't. Confused? At least Bionic Commando: Rearmed was a good game. Hopefully any confusion about this aspect of the sequel won't be a drawback.
Rearmed 2 is set for an early 2011 release as a downloadable game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.