TOKYO--Let's face it: You don't become Nathan Spencer overnight. Even the bona fide bionic-armed badass who serves as the central character of Capcom's upcoming Bionic Commando had to start somewhere, and so will you in the game. One of our first stops this morning on the show floor of the 2008 Tokyo Game Show was the Capcom booth, where we got a brief chance to check out the new Bionic Commando build, specifically the new tutorial that will help you get the most out of Nathan's awesome appendage.

The tutorial starts off with the most basic action you'll need to master in BC: the arm swing. When Nathan approaches a ledge, you extend his bionic arm by pressing the left trigger (or the L2 button on the PlayStation 3). Once his arm latches on, you can keep hold of the ledge by holding down the trigger; by letting go at the right moment, you can swing through to the next ledge. The timing on this is tricky at first, and you'll be thankful for the tutorial's quick reset, but soon enough you'll have figured out the timing for the basic arm swing.

After you master the basics, you'll have to clear a few progressively more difficult training rooms (one where you need to swing across multiple overhangs) and a final challenge that will require you to make your way up and across a series of ledges and overhangs, with the ultimate goal being a ledge high above you near the ceiling of the room. While it's likely possible to make it from point A to point B in one elegant, never-ending series of leaps and swings, we couldn't manage it. Instead, we had to start over several times after plunging to our virtual deaths. The tutorial has a smart little feature in this regard; if you make it to one of the multiple levels in the room, you will restart at that ledge if you fall.

Once we managed to get to the next room, the rest of the tutorial had us focusing on shooting, as well as some cool tricks you can do with Nathan's bionic arm, such as grabbing an enemy and then viciously drop-kicking him.

Of course, a tutorial will take you only so far in Bionic Commando. Sooner or later, you're going to have to head out into the big bad world of BC and put those skills to use. Though our demo time on the TGS show floor was limited, we did get a chance to try out a nontutorial level. Here, Nathan started out on a ledge overlooking a cityscape that looked to be booby-trapped with what appeared to be huge floating bombs. We didn't have enough time to investigate much of the city before one of the eminently polite Capcom floor assistants declared that our demo time was over and ushered us out the door. We plan on continuing the adventure tomorrow and will report back with a more extensive report on the level.