G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra
Just because it’s a kids’ game doesn’t mean you won’t want to play it. However don’t get yourself caught dressing up dolls (if you keep it secret that’s probably okay).
What do you want from a G.I. JOE videogame, really? We think that running around and shooting at psycho ninjas and gung-ho enemy soldiers serves us fine, and blowing stuff up along the way only makes it better. Throw in vehicles that include tanks and a jeep with mounted rocket-launcher and we’re happy as Larry. Not sure if there is a Larry in the G.I. JOE universe, but if there was he’d still be a Joe anyway.
Electronic Arts is playing this one simple, and by and large successfully from what we’ve gleaned so far: an hour or so of blowing stuff up as the iconic (in the US anyway) action heroes that comprise the G.I. JOE organisation. Heavy Duty, Ripcord, Shana “Scarlett” O’Hara, Duke, Gung Ho and Kamakura… there are 12 characters to choose from at the start with four to unlock (COBRA guys – boo!), and you can roll solo or with a pal in hop in / out co-op gameplay.
Control is clunky but it works out fine. Basic move and shoot with auto-targeting means you seldom need to think about what you’re doing. There’s a basic cover system that combines with a bare-bones destructible environment ploy to prevent nervous Joes from cowering too long. Fortune only favours the brave, and even during co-op you’re competing for a percentage of the spoils, all adding up to Battle Points to be traded for unlock-able characters and missions.
Each character has a powerful alternate fire, such as Ripcord’s heavy artillery and Heavy Duty’s pulverising machine-gun blasts. They each have a special ability out in the field that you’ll need to open doors hiding collectibles that boost your score. When playing solo it’s quick and easy to switch between characters to balance the takings and earn upgrades across the board. Melee attacks are also quite fun, bouncing foes into the air Devil May Cry style to finish them off with gun fire.
While going around endlessly looking for stuff to blow sky high, you contribute to the power of the Accelerator Suit – a kind of limited supercharger for both characters. Once fully charged you just hit the Y button (or Triangle) to herald the G.I. JOE theme song while boosting attack and defence powers through the roof. We challenge you not to break a smile when this kicks in; it’s so silly it’s awesome.
So far we’ve only really become miserable at the vehicle control. Since the camera angle is handled by the game, so as to leave on-foot gameplay uncomplicated, driving around using a juvenile up = go, plus direction to steer system has you crashing into obstacles for a while. But it’s just about fun when you get used to it. As with similar games of this ilk, vehicle sections are introduced to break up the monotony. For G.I. JOE Electronic Arts has also added team support such as air strikes and wotnot to spice up the action.
The game is released to coincide with “G.I. JOE: The Rise of Cobra” in cinemas, on 7 August. If you’re capable of switching off your brain and letting the pretty fireworks and sonic tomfoolery shower your senses, both tickets could complement each other pretty well. We dare say you should be looking forward to it.
