I never played the original Bionic Commando, so I cannot acurately compare it to this remake. What I'm told, though, is that the female commando is new.
This is essentially a mission-based side-scroller that also stems to occasional bloody sniper-modes and some omni-scrolling. The play-control is done rather well, except that you cannot jump. Instead, you have to use your grappling arm to get from one platform to another, which can make for unnecessary dificulty. There is also a lot of maze work in some levels, forcing you to run in circles before actually getting from point A to point B and so forth.
As for the commandos themselves, the "Johnny Knocksville" male commando and the "X-Woman Psylocke" female differ only in looks. The choice is probably based on your preference for gender. I usually play as the female even though I'm male, but maybe that's just me.
The storyline is simple: a former bionic commando loses his temper and decides he wants to destroy the government that created him. At least that's what I remember. You are a new commando sent to stop the evil cyborg at all costs.
As you progress, you will collect new weapons and items. Most of the items are merely requirements to complete your mission while the new weapons simply make you more powerful. You may also collect other enhancements such as a pair of steel boots to knock your enemies out while swinging.

Not as in left me hanging not knowing what to do in the game, it merely freezes everytime I try to enter a level after fighting an enemy truck. Talk about a pain! I've read somewhere else people complain about Bionc Commando freezing up on their GameBoys, yet I see no one talking about it here. It happend on my GBC, and now it happens on my GBA. I still can't get into to level 6 for crying out loud. this is a big problem, that can only be fixed, I found out, by sending your GBC or GBA and the game into Nintendo, where they will fix it for free and whatever. I say, that's good, but right now I'm in the middle of LEgend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons, I don't feel like interuppting my gameplay at the moment. It's really a shame, because I love this game!! The graphics are amazing, how they crammed such life-like human motions into a GB is beyond me. And I wish people would stop complaining about the "irritating music". Where have they been? I love the music! It's also very detailed. You can tell if eletric guitars and drums are playing along with a rock organ at one point. And cymbals and stuff. It's really very entertaining. The BOSSes are hard, but you just WANT to beat them, so you keep doing it and suddenly its like "Oh, now I know what to do!" And you get rid of 'em. I'd love to say "Buy IT!" but not if it means it'll freeze up your system. Hey, if you really like, go ahead and get it, maybe it won't give you a problem, but if it does, Nintendo will fix it.