The G.I. Joe movie is probably going to suck. That's something we can just get out of the way right now. It might be entertaining, but early reports are calling the film one of the great duds of the century, and no amount of Marlon Wayons can save that. That doesn't mean the game tie-in has to suffer a similar fate, though, as recently proved with X-Men Origins: Wolverine. After seeing the game in action a few months ago I wasn't really blown away with the path EA decided to take with the franchise, but I understood it. There wasn't really any reason to take the game too seriously when a fun, action-oriented shooter would do, right? The result is a very kid friendly, casual experience... but is it fun?

I'm still not sure yet. During the demo I had a chance to play the game in ideal conditions, sitting next to HeyKidNiceRobot and being guided by the game's developers. I played as Roadblock Heavy Duty, and Kid jumped on as Snake Eyes. As Heavy Duty, I spent most of the time hiding behind cover and laying down cover with a massive chain gun, which made quick work of enemies. Controlling the character was done with the left stick, while the right allowed me to switch enemies. It has mandatory auto-aim, which takes a little bit of time to get used to, but ends up being fairly intuitive. Changing between enemies isn't as smooth as it should be - something that will hopefully be cleaned up for release.



After some time we switched characters and I tried my hand at the Scout/Ninja character. While still a fully functional ranged character, he had more acrobatic moves and melee attacks. The different classes of characters play differently, each having a unique flavor and special abilities. Heavy Duty's power-up move simply turned up the heat and blasted ammo into enemies, and Snake Eyes' launch them into the air, where they can be juggled or just left for dead. After enough points are earned, the god-awful Enhancement Suits from the movie are unlocked, functioning like Mario's stars and allowing limited invulnerability.

Speaking of points... that's really the whole point of the game. The players don't share a score, and are in a "coopetition" with each other, trying to get the most points while fighting against enemies together. While lacking online cooperative play, G.I. Joe felt like a game that was meant to be played with a friend, father, son, daughter, mother, or anyone else. It's due to launch alongside the movie in a few weeks, so we'll see if it has legs beyond that very soon. The developers promise it's a perfect game to play on a Saturday afternoon, and we'll let you know how soon exactly how true that is.