It can't be easy for a fledgling superhero to be taken seriously with the names they are given. I mean, before they have proven themselves, why would any self-respecting evil baddie be scared of them. The baddies get all the good names. Doctor Doom!!! Juggernaut!!!!! The Green Goblin!! These names strike fear into all who hear them. What have the evil maniacs got to fear!? Spider-man?? "I'll just trap him in a giant bath-tub", says the Sand-Man. And I know Super-man is nails, but he doesn't sound it! He might as well be called Spiffing-man!! And here we have the latest Super-hero to be commited to celluloid and Polygon, the mighty Green Lantern!!!! A man named after a spinach coloured portable lighting appliance!!



This is a game based on the popular comic book series and also the recent movie release. The game however follows it's own storyline and does not follow the film, but does provide references to the backstory of the comic books for hardcore Lantern fans. The basic backstory of the Green Lantern is that the Guardians of the Universe once created a race of robots called "Manhunters" to keep the peace and protect good from evil. Eventually however, Manhunters fell out of favour with the Guardians who employed the "Green Lanterns" of the title instead. They are each equipped with power rings which give them powerful abilities and allow them to conjour any manner of item of solid green energy they can imagine, to use as weapon or tool.

This console game is the story of the Manhunters' revenge attack!! Let's see if it's any good!

The Green Lantern conjouring a fighter Jet of green energy!!

Now, we all know the problems behind movie tie-in games. Short development times, tight deadlines, not to mention, a myriad of other restrictions for the developers; usually mean that games based on movies are decidedly average. That's just the way it is, and I can't see it changing, so I always try to be subjective about such games.

The game takes the form of a linear combat action game, with puzzles interspersed between fights to break up the action. It plays in a very similar vein to Dante's Inferno and God Of War and even Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. Esteemed company indeed, and, as those games are, this one too is based around it's combat system. "How does this combat system hold up when compared to those games", I hear you cry. Well, surprisingly, it holds up pretty well!!

You've seen it all before. You have your light attack button, your heavy attack button, your block button, and the right stick is for dashing away from foes, in a similar way to force Dash in The Force Unleased. Your ring's green energy bar determines how much energy you can use for special attacks called constructs. You learn new constructs throughout the game and these are the aforementioned item construction abilities. They range from the Jet fighter seen above to a baseball bat, mines, a gatling gun and huge pistons that you can rain down on your foes. These construct powers form the basis of the combat system and while they vary in effectiveness, they are fun to use! The controls are surprisingly responsive and fair, and it becomes a doddle to throw combos together, switching through various attacks with ease. It's rather fun to fling yourself into the air, lob a load of mines at your foes, then effortlessly switch to a gatling gun, shoot all your mines in the Manhunters' faces then pull down a load of giant pistons to finish them off. I'm sure any fan of the aforementioned games will get some enjoyment out of this game.

I'm afraid though, that is where the accolades end. The rest of the game is pretty average fare. The graphics are fairly pretty in places, but the environments are fairly generic and often a bit flat. The range of enemies is lacking a bit, the story is also very generic, and despite the decent voice acting and the use of Ryan Reynolds reprising his titular role from the movie, it lacks any real excitement. There are no nice meaty set pieces, the type of which would set an average game apart from a classic. The puzzle sections are also very predictable insert fuse, hit pressure switch type affairs. The soundtrack is reasonably atmospheric and movie esque to be fair.

Two player local, single screen co-op is also included. I found this to be a bit broken though as you can often lose the camera as the two players go in opposite directions.

Interspersed between the hack and slash levels are a few on-rails flying shooter levels, which are also pretty dull, and thankfully quite short.


It really is such a shame that this is a movie tie-in, and probably suffered from the constraints that brings, because with a longer development time and some spit and polish, this could have been a really decent game. The rest of the game lets down what is a very good, solid combat mechanic. As it stands, I will still recommend this game to hack and slash fans and still give it a reasonable score. You will get some enjoyment from it, and the action does get better towards the end, both because of enemy numbers and the empowering feeling of your combat upgrades. Definitely worth a cut price purchase or rental.

For achievement fans, this game is a dream. Only one play through is needed, although it may take you longer to max all powers. I did two playthroughs in order to level up before tackling the hardest difficulty. It only takes five hours per playthrough. The rest of the cheevs are mostly based on level completion and 'X' number of kills with various abilities. There are a couple of collectibles achievements, but these are easy to spot!



Summary:
A predictably average movie tie-in which is elevated by a surprisingly good gameplay mechanic, which makes it well worth a bargain bin purchase. It's also an achievement hunter's dream!

Overall score: 7 out of 10