I was shocked to hear the producer of the new "G.I. Joe" game compare EA's movie tie-in to "Ikaruga" of all games. And that was just one of the surprises he had for me yesterday.
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I was given a brief demo of the newly announced "G.I. Joe" the video game yesterday at an EA event in New York City. And while I didn't get to play it, I picked up a bunch of details:
1. It's a third-person co-op action game that essentially plays like a character-based shoot-em-up. You could compare it to the likes of "Ikaruga" and "1943" but a comparison to the top-down portions of old "Contra" games and "Commando" would be just as apt. It's arcade-y.
2. The game is not quite based on the movie. "We're not a play-the-movie game," the game's producer. Matteo Marsala, told me."We're doing our own story."
3. It features at least six movie-based Joes: Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Rip Cord, Duke and Heavy Duty. Other characters -- including some from the '80s cartoon series -- can also be unlocked. Characters are grouped in one of three classes, specializing in melee, range-combat or a mix.It sounds like Cobra characters might also be unlockable.
4. The game's controls are simple enough to be classified, at their most basic, as mom-friendly. Use one control stick to move. Shoot with the trigger. Let auto-aim move from the best target to the next. Better players can access more complex controls.
5. Doing well in the game doesn't just unlock new characters. It unlocks vintage educational clips from "G.I. Joe." These are the ones that involve kids doing foolish things, only to be interrupted by G.I. Joe personnel, who teach them some life lessons and remind them that "knowing is half the battle."
6. At least one action sequence -- the one I saw -- involved an advance down a valley of orange rock. Picture Snake Eyes advancing through emplacements of Cobra enemies with a fellow Joe at his side. The sequence I saw was one-fourth of one of the game's 20 levels.
7. "G.I. Joe" includes vehicles, including some I'm told that will be familiar to cartoon-watchers. The vehicles are all co-op-friendly, allowing for a driver and a gunner. No, the giant aircraft carrier from back in the day is not one of the vehicles. (So much for finally getting to play with that thing!)
8. The version described above is made by Double Helix and is coming out this summer for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2, Wii and PSP.
9. The game's producer showed me the DS version briefly. It's played from a top-down 2D view and supports up to four players over short-range wireless.
10. The game looked like light, simple fun. Some fellow reporters I talked to about the game were appalled by what they saw as a quickly-developed license cash-in. I'm an optimist, so I saw it, instead, as a mindless arcade riff on a cherished bit of childhood entertainment.