GI Joe Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

Team actioner based on the film.

For all those old enough to remember GI Joe, you probably are about the same age as me. It was a time of Transformers and Wacaday and we never really got to see much GI Joe. Still, he was pretty popular in America and managed to survive the big screen animated version thanks to the fact that people reacted so badly to Optimus Prime's death that the studio rewrote the ending. Anyway, enough animated film trivia, this mobile game is based on the upcoming action film. Which, if the trailer is anything to go by, is a lot better than Transformers 2. Then again, Chun Li edged Transformers 2 and this is coming from a Transformers fan.

I guess there isn't that much to say about the game. I'll start by saying it's not bad. It has all the elements we've come to expect from these action games. 3 characters to use (who can be switched between at each checkpoint). Each one has a different secondary weapon which needs to be used in some areas (sniper rifle, grenade and EMP). The suit each character is wearing allows decent combat as well as Flash style running and Jet Li style double jumps.

As with other action games, there is a supposed espionage element where you can hide in the shadows in some places. But surprisingly, most of the enemies were placed in areas where they could see you before you got the shadows, so I never really got the point of this and just blasted them anyway. Again, as with other action games, you have to activate consoles which open doors to allow you to progress.

The developers have tried to keep things interesting by having a flying level and driving (tank) level, but these are far too easy as your health regenerates and the enemies are fairly easy to avoid or take down. What isn't so easy is the fiddly controls. They don't sound fiddly. In fact they seem pretty standard when you read what they are, but the jumps often don't work well. You have to jump and then use direction as there are no diagonal jumps. Still, using a double jump should give you enough air time. And double tapping for the fast run is great when on purpose, but it happened accidentally a few too many times for my liking.

What is good about the game is that it follows the plot of the film (which I haven't seen yet so I am assuming it does) and doesn't try to do anything too grandiose. There are numerous checkpoints in each level and reloading the game will take you to one of these which is great. Plus there are some bosses dotted around who should take you a couple of goes to figure out. Oh, and I nearly forgot about collecting the dog tags on each level. These are usually somewhere out of sight so it might take you a little while to find them all. I'm not sure what happens when you do as this isn't Metal Gear Solid.

Graphics and sound aren't bad, the running and jumping effects are cool and there is a fair amount of detail in the 2D graphics. Sound is slightly less well represented, although there are some background sound effects like the wind rustling which is cool. And it's fairly easy to tell each character apart (one white guy, one black guy and one woman).

Essentially the game is solid. It's reasonably fun to play and doesn't add anything new to the genre. Then again, it doesn't do anything too badly either (I guess the fiddly controls take a bit of getting used to). Worth a punt if you like action games or GI Joe.