GI Joe: Rise of Cobra on the 360 surprised me. Gameplay is somewhat similar to Konami’s old arcade title that has players running and gunning against dozens of Cobra foes. One major point about the game is that it’s actually quite different from the movie. EA was given permission from Hasbro to be liberal with their license, and EA has done exactly that. About a dozen characters are available in the game, including Firefly, Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Duke, Gung Ho, Heavy Duty, Agent Helix, Sgt. Flash, and a few others. Each character has something unique about them in how they can fight against Cobra.
Players are able to take on Cobra themselves, or with a friend via same-screen play. Players can also drop in and out during a mission, too. Different combinations of characters can team up to create different attacks; during the demo play, we used Sgt. Flash’s shockwave stun attack along with Kamakura’s blades to quickly kill several enemies.
Controls are basic, but great for quick play and accessibility. You can change your targeted enemy by flicking the right thumbstick. Characters also have (grenade throw for Duke, stun attack for Flash, etc) and can also earn a powerful team power up ability that is unlocked when both players perform well; a meter in the center of the screen keeps track of this progress.
In sum, while this GI Joe game isn’t going to necessarily be a must have title, I think it will surprise a lot of people.
