Thursday 03 Sep 2009

Beneath the broken, frustration-inducing, cringe-provoking, wahja (embarrassment by proxy) surface of GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra - a clear license cash-in - beats the heart of a half-way decent, at times kinda fun arcadey third-person shooter, and it would have been a good, solid title, especially if offered as a digital download via the PlayStation Network (PSN) or Xbox LIVE Arcade (XBLA), if it weren’t for the game’s many and varied problems getting in the way and ruining it.

The action of GI Joe consists primarily of you running ‘up’ and ‘into’ the screen - something like what you would expect a fully 3D Contra game to be, except nowhere near as good as you would want. Your chosen Joe, of which there are a dozen (after rescuing and unlocking each one, each with their own specific skill set), will ably shoot at either the closest enemy target (which comprise enemy soldiers, ‘flying’ mines, tanks and turrets, amongst others) or a target of your choosing by flicking the right stick and auto-locking onto whoever or whatever you deem fit to receive hot lead (and grenades) to the face.

One of the cleverest things the game does is reward you for simply shooting and destroying ‘stuff’ that act as obstacles both to progression and your current mission, i.e. rewarding you for simply holding down the trigger button; shooting enemies and obstacles will earn you points, for example, as well as contribute to an ever-increasing ‘grenade meter’ - after inflicting enough damage on your foes, you’re rewarded with a grenade to inflict further damage. If you wish, you can also hide behind obstacles to use as cover from the incoming hail of bullets shot by your enemies, while popping out occasionally to return with your own volley.

Similarly, another ability, Super Joe, opens up to you after wreaking maximum havoc in your environment, allowing you to transform into a mechanised super suit for a limited period of time in order to afford players with more devastating attack power. The option to drive around in armoured, armed-to-the-teeth vehicles rounds out the available methods of death-dealing in the world of GI Joe.

The obligatory collectibles (in the form of ‘intelligence’ briefcases and other shiny objects) are scattered throughout levels for extra points, while literal points pickups are also on offer to provide players with boosts to their… points.

As a final feature worth mentioning, GI Joe has a two-player cooperative drop-in mode, allowing two players to seamlessly play together at the press of a button, as the second participant inhabits the body of a second Joe, two of which are on-screen at all times during play. If you don’t have a friend to play with, you can swap between either of the on-screen Joes at any time while the buddy AI takes up the task of operating the other.

Now, on paper (or digital text, as it were), all of these features add up to what could and should have been a tight, well-scoped arcade action game, but as many a gamer may or may not know, it all comes down to the execution of specific gameplay and technology elements to ensure the package presented to the world is of a consistent and non-intrusive quality, so no-one gets poked in the eye while enjoying an otherwise pleasant experience.

GI Joe is full of ‘eye-poking’ elements, however, which constantly sully the ‘otherwise pleasant experience’ in question.

The first of these elements that is instantly noticeable is the movement of the camera. Wildly zooming in and out, twisting back and forth unexpectedly and moving into positions so as to obfuscate the action and allow enemies out-of-scene to attack without repercussive action on your part… the camera in GI Joe is pretty appalling when it’s not behaving (which is most of the time).

Driving vehicles in the closed and crowded environments is an absolute chore, serving only to destroy targets and enemies in the shortest amount of time possible and no more. Interacting with buttons in the world is also quite a task, as you’re never really sure if the game is ‘ready’ to take your input command (despite a glowing on-screen button) or will instead instantly transform you into a Super Joe (both actions use the same button) with epic GI Joe-themed music as accompaniment, which can lead to simultaneously frustrating and unintentionally laugh out loud moments as you begin storming around in your mech suit for half a minute.

It can quite often become confusing as to who your current target is and where you’re shooting once a target as been eliminated. While shooting, sound effects for these actions may or may not play out in their entirety. In an effort to make the act of shooting even more difficult, character movement is of a decidedly ‘axial’ nature, always snapping into one of eight directions instead of allowing a full range of incremental 360 degrees.

The story is wholly forgettable (what nefarious plot is underway and is the evil Cobra behind it?) so no need to mention any more than necessary, which is to say, none at all, except that the game insists on injecting ‘plot points’ that are communicated to you via radio from a cast of, again, forgettable characters (mainly because there are so many with such silly names), unless you’re a hardcore GI Joe fan. In that case, you may very well squeal in delight every time you hear your favourite character coming in over the ‘wireless.’

As a whole package, GI Joe is promising but ultimately disappointing in the execution of its separate elements. The experience may even have been saved by implementing a working camera system, but the price of that experience would still not be equal to the value and enjoyment you may extract from it carcass. Offering GI Joe: The Rise of Cobra (The Game) as a digital download on XBLA or PSN for $10 (or less) would also have gone a long way to enticing gamers to give it a try, but in its current form and physically packaged state, it’s a game not even a hardcore fan could love.

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Contributor:	Oliver

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