G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Game Review
SoHood.com Reviewed by: Mario Diaz
Format: Xbox 360
Game Rating: 3.0/5.0
Growing up in the 80′s I was fortunate to have been around some great cartoons including the G.I. Joe series, so I was more than happy to have a chance to play as some of my favorite G.I Joes: Snake Eyes, Storm Shadow, Destro are all here and other G.I Joe characters that are in the movie are also included in the game.
The gameplay and storyline starts where the upcoming film ends, it centers around the G.I Joe’s trying to stop the Cobras, across different locations and in 4 different types of environments, snow, jungle, desert, and underground bases. There are 20 levels to complete, but the levels themselves are very liner, as you’ll have to clear out an area, flip a number of switches or destroy an important machinery, all needed for advancement to the next available area .You’ll soon notice that the game becomes very repetitive, with only a small number of variation of missions and of enemies scattered around.
You unlock 16 characters by finishing a mission or by finding them inside missions. Once unlocked you’ll have to use the points that you earned every-time a mission is completed. The lesser known G.I Joes are cheap, but the more known ones, make a dent in your points. Making you replay missions to gain more points to unlock the rest.
The vehicles that one can operate can at times be fun, accept that the controls are very loose, in fact it’ll take some getting use too, as it handles very awkwardly. Lucky you won’t have to maneuver very much as it’s always for a short distance.
A nice feature is the option to play alongside your friend in co-op, it’s one of the bright spots in the game, as it changes the whole feel to the game, as it just becomes two friends shooting at everything in the screen. It brings me to another point on why the co-op is so important, when you’ll playing it solo, the computer controls the second player, sure you can switch between characters with a touch of a button. But for the most part, the computer controlled player mode at times isn’t very helpful, in a game where you’ll always out numbered, the A.I chooses to not shoot at times, why? I don’t know.
The Bad: The Camera, you don’t have an option to control it. When your making your way through a level, the camera is acceptable, but once you have to back track, that’s when it gets bad, as you fight your way around to an unacceptable angle, and at times can’t see what’s ahead.
In between each mission, a checkpoint screen appears, to count your points, but not to save your spot in the level. The checkpoint thing, seems to be some sort of error, if not why have the need of them, as once you die, you have to start over, it defeats the purpose of a checkpoint.
The graphics in the game are admirable at times, but it was a little disappointing knowing that this is a next gen console, with graphics that seem like some port of the last gen consoles. It’s most noticeable in the first level, as the snowy environment look very bland.
The game does a good job of making an effort to have every character have their own unique weapon, style and special ability, but fall short of making this game interesting. Each character gets a melee attack, weapon and once you fill up the accelerator suit meter, you can trigger it to give you added firepower and invincibility. Each time the accelerator suit is triggered the theme song of the 80′s cartoon is played, for a brief moment, once it stops the suit disappears.
About the Game:
Published by: Electronic Arts
Developed by: Double Helix
Genre: Action
Release Date: US: August 4, 2009
MSRP: $49.99
