Bionic Bay (PC) Review

For some reason, I’ve been thinking a lot about classic platformers lately — and what made them good. When it comes to the lifespan of this hobby, they’re pretty important. Many people can trace their earliest forays into gaming to a pivotal platformer. Whether it’s Super Mario, Banjo-Kazooie or even Bubsy, it usually comes down to the movement. The best platformers always—through some combination of sound, visuals and sheer feeling—make the basic act of navigating their world fun. That said, Bionic Bay has some really fun movement.

“Bionic Bay has some really fun movement.”

It’s not your typical movement, though. Sure, Bionic Bay gets the essentials out of the way early. The first level functions as an expanded tutorial on how the game handles momentum and air dashes—so much so that the powerful “roll, jump, air dash” combo becomes second nature. Players are quickly thrust into complex platforming and puzzle challenges that demand some real outside-the-box thinking.... Read more