IGN.com’s Greg Miller was treated to a “hand’s on” preview of EA’s forthcoming “Rise of Cobra” movie tie-in game.

COOOOOOBRRRRRRRRA!

by Greg Miller

June 2, 2009 – Back in March, G.I. Joe superfan Hilary Goldstein sat down and cranked out a lengthy GDC preview all about G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Hil covered how many playable characters are in the game (12 with an additional four unlockable Cobra guys), when it’s set in the timeline (after the upcoming movie), and the fact that there’s two-player co-op (but it’s not online).

Now, three months later, you’ve got me — admitted G.I. Joe noob Greg Miller. The only thing I really have to add to this IGN goldmine of G.I. Joe knowledge is some hands-on impressions, so let’s get to it, eh?

Now, he won’t confuse his backpack with the other backpacks.

If you’re just joining us, go read Hil’s preview, but if you’re too lazy to do that, G.I. Joe is an arcadey action game in the vein of Wolf of the Battlefield: Commando 3 and Assault Heroes. Two Joes start a level and begin mowing everything down that is in their way. Hack and slash, run and gun, it’s whatever you want to call it. You can take cover, pick up power-ups, and more, but the whole point is to just kill everyone in your way and blow up any barrels you run into.

Now, there is a bit of strategy to it. For my demo — just like Hil’s — it was Storm Shadow and Heavy Duty leading the fight. Storm Shadow could attack a bad guy with his swords, kick the foe into the air, and let me (as Heavy Duty) blast the enemy with my gatling gun. The whole time we were wailing on the bad guys and strafing around the jungle scene, we were racking up massive points and multipliers. Getting the best score is the whole point of G.I. Joe, and getting the most out of your multiplier means you need to keep killing stuff and stay alive. Health is represented by a three-part triangle and will regenerate if you can get out of an enemy’s way.

Really, that’s all there is to say about Joe. You just go through the levels mowing everything down. If you’re playing by yourself, you can switch characters at anytime while tackling the game’s three difficulties; there are going to be 20 missions with about two to five sections in each mission; and dialogue pops up in text boxes with the speaking character’s image (there are no voices for the conversations).

Die, robot!

E3 2009: G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra Hands-on

Back when Hil wrote about Joe, he said the game wasn’t looking on track to becoming a game of the year contender. I agree with that sentiment and am willing to take it a step further and tell you I’m a bit worried about how the final product is going to shape up. The graphics look kind of rough, the gameplay seemed a bit repetitive, and it just didn’t strike me as all that much fun. However, this is a preview so there’s plenty of time for those issues to get amended and you need to remember I have no vested interest in the G.I. Joe franchise.