GI-Joe… The action force.
Ah another movie another movie tie in game. As a reviewer that is something that tends to make me shudder, but not this time. This time it is a game about GI-Joe, my favourite toy and comic series as a child!
For the uninitiated, GI-Joe was originally a series of military toys released by Hasbro in 1964. They were 12 inch figures that where basically the male version of Barbie Dolls! In England we called them Action Man. As time progressed, GI-Joe figures began to shrink, becoming a smaller 3.75 inches and more variety, no longer was it just your military style figures, you had ninjas and all sorts. Also we had a defined enemy, Cobra. Again in the UK these figures were called Action Force.
If you see it in the second hand aisle, you could do a lot worse!
Anyway, they disappeared a while back, so it was with great joy that I heard there was to be a GI-Joe film, and was almost as happy that there would be a game of it as well. Finally I would get to be Snake-Eyes!
The story revolves around the origins of the enemy organisation, Cobra. GI-Joe, already established as a specialist unit “outside the rules of government”, is hot on the trial of a mysterious figure called The Doctor. He is in posession of a technology that could destroy the world and must be stopped!
So we have the plot, what kind of game do we have? FPS, RPG, Beat em up? No, we have an overhead view Shoot’em up. Feeling very much like the classic Ikari Warriors this is an all guns blazing, pyrotechnic feast of destruction.
Each mission sees you choosing the 2 best people for the job. At the start you only have Duke and Ripcord at your disposal, but as the game progresses you can unlock other members of the team, each with their own specialties. So for instance Heavy Duty is great for just all out short range destruction, with his grenade launcher, where as my personal favourite Snake Eyes is the melee character of choice, with his deadly Katana.
Game mechanics are simple, shoot everything, and then shoot it again. As you score points and collect objects around the screen you will be given the chance to use a special power and wreak even more destruction! This is classic Shoot ’em up stuff here.
Not the most attractive games, this also has one of the most irritating soundtracks ever, with quite background music giving way to great big fanfares as you power up, but somehow it suits the whole “Real American Hero” attitude of the game.
Controls are simple and reactive, with one small exception. Vehicles are a nightmare to drive; they just seem to go where they want to! But there is not much driving needed, so it won’t make you to angry.
All in all this is a simple shooter and it is pretty good at being a simple shooter. It fits in well to the feel of GI-Joe, and whilst it can be repetitive and a bit lazy, it is fun in short blasts! If, like me, you were a fan as a kid, you will get immense satisfaction out of playing as Snake Eyes. If not, then there is still a lot of fun to be had here!
Not great, but fun. If you see it in the second hand aisle, you could do a lot worse!
The Bad: Repetative and a bit lazy
Bronze Y Award