Thanks to games like Shredder’s Revenge, the side-scrolling beat ‘em up genre is seeing a revival. So when we had a chance to play GI Joe on the Pax East show floor, we were all about the opportunity.
Unfortunately, our limited hands-on time came away as a mixed bag. While it (mostly) nails the look and feel you’d expect, the game’s current state leaves a lot to be desired.
In our hands-on demo, we played Duke as he made his way through one of the game’s stages. As we progress, a horde of Cobra soldiers routinely spawn. Sadly, they’re nothing more than target dummies offering little to no resistance. While it’s nice to be able to chain combos together and annihilate opponents, a challenge would be nice.
Freedom Games.
One thing combat does have going for it is the ability to devastate enemies at the same time. You can chain that as you pick up downed enemies and throw them at other Cobra soldiers. It’s a satisfying experience, but this is the height of combat. There are far too many instances of characters bouncing off the side of the screen for me to fully take advantage.
While the presentation talks the talk, it certainly isn’t walking the walk. The visuals aren’t as crisp as their contemporaries in the genre, plus they were completely lacking in personality. Is it cool to see Duke punch a tank with his fists? Absolutely, but you could have also told me this was a generic IP if you removed the GI Joe name. I wanted to enjoy this game, but I couldn’t help shake the feeling that not only was I a little bored playing it, but I overheard several people mention the same concerns I had: this isn’t what we were hoping for.
Here’s to hoping some polish goes a long way to improve the experience. As it stands, this isn’t Shredder’s Revenge.
