Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters [Review]

Set somewhere in the timeline of the upcoming Green Lantern blockbuster, Hal Jordan finds himself face to face with an intergalactic threat called the Manhunters. The Green Lanterns are a galactic police force whose members possess a special ring which manifests their willpower into the physical world with a green light. Hal Jordan, an ace fighter pilot becomes the new owner of one such ring after it is entrusted to him by a dying alien.

 

Where Wolverine was as bloody as it comes, Green Lantern has opted to make this game clean and green. Making it accessible and fun for all ages to kick some butt. The game itself is easy to get into, and quite simple for those who have and haven't played God of War. There’s your heavy attacks, and your light attacks and throw moves. Combine those in mashy combos and you can pound and pummel enemies to cosmic dust.

 

 

 

Hal Jordan’s moves are based on ring manifestations, so he attacks with giant fists, swords, hammers and sometimes jets... yep, fighter jets. There are portions of the game that go into the ever-so-familiar, done-to-death and never-get-bored-of active event controls. This is where you have to press certain buttons in the heat of battle to take down foes or perform feats. The bosses are huge but simple to kill, you keep hitting them to whittle their lifebars to zero. Standard stuff.

  

 

You can fight alone, or you can get a friend in on for some co-op lantern action. Also thrown in to break the monotony are flying levels, where you soar through space, blasting enemies into, er, cosmic dust.

 

Green Lantern has some really good graphics, which large characters. Hal Jordan and Sinistro in particular look stunning, with some Mass Effect like texture quality. The backgrounds are faithfully recreated, or lifted, from the movie. As a result they look fantastic. The voice acting is by the original movie cast, however it feels as if they were made to do it at gunpoint.

 

 

GL:ROTM does a great job of straddling the fence between everything. Its got good action, but just enough to make it interesting. It’s got just enough story, with lots of Green Lantern stuff thrown in to drive the fans gaga. Everything is just about done. It’s a fun game without getting technical, confusing or overtly simple. It’s clean, with no bugs, or glitches or gameplay holes. As straightforward as they come.

 

 

In closing, it's a half-decent movie game. Definitely not Chronicles of Riddick level, but thankfully not terrible like the first two Transformers games. A great buy if you loved the movie and want to step into the shoes of the Green Lantern himself. It’s definitely recommended for kids though.

 

 

 

 

Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters

 

Out: 10/6/2011

Publisher: Warner Bros.

Developer: Griptonite (3DS DS Wii)

Double Helix (PS3 X360)