Tag Archives: Hal Jordan

Green Lantern – Rise of the Manhunters: Game Review

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Hey, who turned out the light?

My first thoughts when I got this game were not overly positive. I mean, movie tie-in games tend to be pants and synonymous with rushed deadlines, repetitive game play and pointless plots that neither push the console’s hardware, or push the player on the end of the controller to anything other than utter suicide. And lets face it, there are enough useless games out there without the need to resort to such attempts that are no more than cash-ins on an audience looking to ‘vividly’ re-enact their favourite moments from a flick that will inevitably end up on DVD in a bargain basket somewhere.

Rise of the Manhunters tries desperately to reverse this trend. Gosh, it tries so, so hard. But try as it might, it never comes to the point where it is truly spectacular or ‘an essential purchase’.

Developed by Double Helix – the developers behind Front Mission Evolved, G.I Joe, (yes, I see you laughing at the back), Rise of the Manhunters takes place shortly after the events in the movie. Hal Jordan (voiced almost persuasively by Ryan Reynolds) is the Green Lantern and the story takes place at the centre of the universe on the Green Lantern homeworld, Oa.

For the uninitiated, the Green Lantern Corps is an ‘elite police force’ created by the ancient guardians of the universe in order to protect it from evil. Each Green Lantern carries a ring which can channel and manifest their willpower into any object or mechanism they can think of.

You play as Hal Jordan, the most recent Green Lantern recruit and immediately find yourself tasked with stopping the Manhunters – an ancient race who are sworn enemies of the Guardians – from stealing their powers.

It is sad to see that the plot line from the movie has been thrown out of the window along with any back story. Yes, well, we all knew the big bucks cash-in cow would make some sacrifices didn’t we? What we have here is no back story, no continuation from the film and no ending. So what DO we have?

Well, gameplay-wise, what we have is basically no more than a basic hack ‘n’ slash, button-basher in the majority of the green palette. Yes, you have to time your combos. Yes, you have button combinations. Yes, you get to use your green ring, and yes, you have upgrades, But inevitably, it is wave after wave of the same thing.

The developers failed to work more variety into the missions and as a result, far too many of your ‘duties’ end up as systematically taking down robots or shutting down teleportation gates, and shamefully, besides the odd palette change, the majority of your enemies look continually similar.

There are some nice set pieces though. For example, the boss battles are quite nice, as are the flying sections which really make good use of the 3D effect. You also have the ability to collect XP from your fallen enemies which you can use to upgrade your powers and construct new weapons such as a massive baseball bat to send enemy projectiles back at them, a huge buzzsaw that can give multiple hits on your enemies or even turn yourself into a massive jet in the flying sections.

Another thing that this title brings to the table is drop in, drop out co-op play. So if you have a friend, you can both partake in some ring-blasting action (pun intended). Although the game only supports it offline, I found it really good to see. So many developers go for online play, but nothing quite beats that ‘Streets of Rage’ feeling you get with a friend when you are taking on the best of what the enemy has to offer.

I found the controls and movement to be a little dated. There is no sprint option for instance and even worse, no camera control, so this means there are set angles of play with no way of rotating the camera to see behind you. You do have a dodge button and quick attacks, but the enemies tend to circle round you and if you are caught in a corner, you have no choice but to fight your way out or watch as your life force gets blasted away.

Although it is fair to say you won’t be blown away by the graphics, as mentioned before, the game features 3D visuals and it is pleasing to see that this applies to all formats – the Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360’s 3D can be accessed in two forms, TriOviz Inficolor 3D – which is usable on any standard TV with the game’s included 3D glasses – and stereoscopic 3D for ‘proper’ 3DTVs. While the 3D effects are not as dramatic as say Black Ops, there is evidently more depth and some nice explosions too. This is something I think that more games should do.

Although I have slated the sheer expense of 3D in the past, the fact is the cost of them is dropping. More movies (including Green Lantern) are coming out in 3D, so they’re bound to be out by Christmas on 3D Blu-Ray. Therefore the only thing lacking is the number of games, which can really make or break the market.

To sum up: How does this game compare to others in its genre?

It is here that I feel a little bit sorry for Hal Jordan and his green ring…

Equal to: Marvel Super Hero Squad: Infinity Gauntlet, Thor.

Better than: Lego star wars the clone wars, Fantastic 4 – Rise of the Silver Surfer.

Worse than: God of War, Castlevania – Lords of shadow, Bayonetta.

My Final Verdict –

For a movie tie-in, Rise of the Manhunters doesn’t do as badly as expected, but is still not worth the money – even on a reduced price tag. There are just so many games out there which do the job better. Granted it is not bad – it is just not that good either.

5.5/ 10

 

Six Things You Didn’t Know About Green Lantern

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1) There have been six Green Lanterns in total.

Although most people have come to know the Green Lantern as being Hal Jordan, there were five others. In the Cartoon Network’s Justice League cartoons, he is John Stewart – an African-American man. But the very first Green Lantern was the World War II-era superhero, Alan Scott, an army engineer who found a magic green lantern and made a ring that allowed him to tap its powers.

The other Lanterns are all members of the Green Lantern Corps. Obviously. you have Hal Jordan who received his from Abin Sur, who was hurt and later died from injuries when his spaceship crashed. Guy Gardner was second as a backup should anything ‘happen’ to Hal, until Stewart replaced Gardner on the sub’s bench. Kyle Rayner became the ‘last’ Green Lantern when Jordan became infected with the Parallax and went on a murderous rampage. And the last member of the Corps who became a Green Lantern for Earth is Jade, the daughter of Alan Scott, who was given one of the spare Power Rings.

2) Superman was going to be in the film at one point making a cameo appearance.

Following on from Marvel’s success at having cameos in movies, DC and the director were intent at having Clark Kent/Superman in the script. Originally, he had a cameo as one of the candidates considered to receive a power ring, but was cut out because the filmmakers didn’t want to depend on another superhero for a success. So much for The Man of Steel’s invulnerability.

3) There is a hidden scene at the end of the credits. Sorry, but I just wouldn’t be a man if I told you what happens.

4) Quentin Tarantino was considered to direct the film.

This is absolutely true and was scheduled as his big comeback film. Question is, could you imagine a Green Lantern film directed by him? A cross between guns, green lights, John Travolta and Samuel L Jackson and let’s not forget blood, exploding heads etc. Hmm. Can Green Lantern dance?

5) There are different-coloured Lanterns.

The Green Lantern’s background has been greatly expanded in recent years, to the point that there are now seven different Lantern Corps. Each is driven by a particular emotion — the Green Lanterns are powered by willpower, the Blue Lanterns is hope, the Red Lanterns represent rage, and so on. Sinestro, a character in the movie and comic books, inherits a yellow ring – driven by fear. Incredibly, in the comics, Blake Lively’s character, Carol Ferris, goes on to inherit a violet ring, powered by love, and later becomes Star Sapphire.

6) The movie could have been completely different.

There are loads of different scripts that they came up with for Green Lantern.. Out of all those, perhaps the one most interesting is the one which contained a cameo by Alan Scott, the first Green Lantern in history (whose powers were magical rather than cosmic). Scott was going to be the United States President, and near the end would reveal his own past as a Green Lantern to Jordan, and give him his blessing. He was later revised to become an agent of the Checkmate agency (the Checkmate membership stayed true to the comics), who would approach and offer Jordan membership. Later drafts finally wrote him out of the film, and replaced him with Amanda Waller. Shame? Yeah that’s what I said…