We’re talking about the 2011 film tie-in here, the first video game based on DC Comics’ Green Lantern, so before I get into this, I need to lie down. Forever.

Not the typical fare you’d see on my game shelf, but I have a friend who buys a lot of games for his 7 year old, and at some point, they tend to find themselves on my shelf after game nights.

I was able to get a break from the other games I’m currently plugging away at (Assassins Creed III, Defiance, Remember Me) and was able to blast through this game in 4 hours, but suffice to say, the game wasn’t very memorable, so nor shall this review be.

The game follows the events of the movie Green Lantern, and finds the hero, Hal Jordan, back on the planet OA defending the Galaxy, and not Earth. Galaxy Guardians have bigger things to worry about it seems. The Green Lantern Corps has to face off against the previous enforcers of the Galaxy, the Manhunters, an android race created by the Guardians.

The androids felt over-worked and under-paid, and just over-all feelings of under-appreciativeness (not really), so they started focusing on administering punishment instead of serving justice. The Guardians were forced to dissolve the union and fire their workers, and then outsource their workforce to save on manufacturing costs. With no purpose now, the Manhunters strive for revenge. Enter Hal Jordan, brash, and out spoken, decides to shirk authority and do the Galaxy saving his way. I get the impression that the Guardians of the Galaxy don’t much like Hal and his attitude, but if they didn’t like him, they shouldn’t have put a ring on him.

The game is very generic. Enter a level, fight some bad guys, queue animation of progressing to the next portion of the level, fight some more bad guys, queue same animation of advancing, and fight a big bad guy. The level designs are decent in length, but there are some unsophisticated puzzles, and a few flying segments for variety. Why Hal Jordan doesn’t just fly or hover around all the time is beyond me.

The combat is regulation, with normal attacks being sword and cleavers, and the strong attacks being hammers, but the constructs are worth mentioning. There are a number of imaginative power attacks that you’ll unlock through progression, ranging from over-sized throwing stars to a full sized jet fighter to use at your disposal. Some are used as gameplay mechanics as well, like the sledge hammer and spiked mines. My question is: where are the non-lethal constructs? Machines have souls too.

Playing in co-op allowed me to breeze through the game, even on the harder difficulty, and it allows both participants to level up simultaneously. It also provided some of the game’s brief surprising moments. One in particular had my character grabbing an enemy with the hook and throwing it at my co-op partner and baseball bat in waiting; totally unintentional, but still fascinating.

The co-op player plays as Sinestro, which makes sense (Killawog would have been preferred). But Sinestro’s constructs are the same as Hal’s, which is baffling, from an authenticity perspective. Sinestro wouldn’t create Earth’s weapons from his imagination. Secondly, Sinestro is also Hal’s main contact through the levels, as Hal is chasing the Manhunters without the guidance of the Guardians. So it’s strange to have Sinestro provide the mission’s objectives and then show up anyways as the second player to assist.

Never mind that the co-op was a tacked on effort. Co-op is always appreciated.

Visually the game is common place. Being a movie tie in, expectations are already lowered; there’s not much more to say. Not a lot of budget, and not a lot of development time. They got Ryan Reynolds appearance down. But the game is limited in scope. You traverse through a couple worlds, with inside and outside environments, each unique to their own. The Manhunter’s planet itself reminding me a lot of Cybertron from the recent Transformer games: very alien, but yet very machine.

The game is befitting as a movie tie-in (with it’s easy achievements in-tow), and has some nice ideas with the constructs and combat, however it does suffer from some repetition in its enemy types (quantity over quality I suppose), linear level design, and reliance on QTE gameplay for its boss fights. The game is technically and graphically sound when it comes to the art and design, but I lack the will power or imagination to say much else positive about this game.

Oh dear, I wish I hadn’t cried so much….

“In brightest day, in blackest night,
achievement shall escape my sight.
Let those who’d rather sleep every night,
Beware my dedication…
Rogan’s Plight”               

Notable Achievements:

Shut Your Mouth (Performed a 99 hit combo) – 60G
Get Dizzy Y’all! (Made Green Lantern dizzy 10 times) – 20G