System: PS3
Publisher: EA
Rating: T (for Teen)
Genre: Action
Release Date: August 4th, 2009
Official Website

G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra is an action game with an open shooting (no ammo requirements, no targeting necessary) style system. There’s 12 unlockable Joes to play and I enjoyed getting to see what difference each Joe brought to the gameme play (one of my favorites quickly became Heavy Duty). I like that there’s a pretty clear difference with how the different Joe’s act and are capable of in combat (eg. Scarlett being a little slower due to the different weapon). Although despite their different abilities, the characters were pretty interchangeable when it came to characterization throughout the game.  Some of the non-playable Joes like Wild Bill felt far more true to their known personalities than most of the playable characters.

I did run into some things I really disliked – most of which had to do with the camera angle – and that it changes on it’s own, flips around to show a different angle (like in a hallway) at awkward moments, or doesn’t move when you really need it to (to see around a sand dune when driving one of the tanks). I understand that with a second player system, the camera needs to be able to keep both characters in sight, but not having anyway of changing it can be really frustrating – especially when playing through missions as a single player.  This became especially frustrating when trying to steer one of the many vehicles available to the Joes.  During one level, I got stuck on a sand dune for a while because I couldn’t change the camera angle, and I couldn’t tell how to get off the stupid dune without being able to see around other larger landscape features.

If you’re playing a solo mission, you can choose a secondary Joe to take out with you.  The game makes it easy to switch between the characters you’ve taken out on a mission, but the second Joe will not interact with items without direction from you.  So for instance, if you need a certain Joe to unlock a specific door – even if you have that Joe with you as a secondary character, they will not interact with items on their own.  I know it’s a small item, especially amid a game with low graphics and simplistic game design, but it was something that got on my nerves several times as the game progressed.

If you’re a G.I. Joe fan, you may enjoy the plethora of collectible items you’ll find throughout each level.  These items could be file cards on the Joes, or PSAs that may remember from your G.I. Joe childhood; lots of 50% battle tips (I hear the other half is violence, I mean, that’s what I learned from the cartoon back in the day) to be had in each PSA.

I will admit that I haven’t seen the movie, so I can’t tell you how the characters or story might compare to that of the movie. But I can tell you that not all of the playable characters are movie characters.  The story in the game is a fairly simple: Cobra is stealing all this stuff – Joes! go everywhere they’ve already been or might still be hanging around and trying and figure out what they’re making with it!  It makes for a pretty straightforward plot-device to make sure your Joes get to visit a bunch of different locals throughout the game.  It might progress the plot, but it doesn’t always make the levels extremely unique.

Despite some of it’s flaws, it’s a simple and fun shooter, especially if you’re a long-time fan of the G.I. Joe franchise.  And even if you’re not, if you need a quick game to keep you occupied between release date explosions, it’s worth renting and giving it a play-through.

Popularity: 1% [?]