Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters has been announced. It's set for a Summer of 2011 release to coincide with the movie. I'm reservedly optimistic about this. I feel like a GL game could be awesome, but also very hard to pull off. I'm looking forward to more details coming out.
G4TV.com has a tiny bit more on the game:
As for the game itself, little is known at this point other than it will let players “utilize over a dozen constructs and take flight across the deepest parts of the Universe to restore intergalactic order by wielding the ultimate weapon: the Green Lantern power ring.”
Using "over a dozen" constructs if I'm playing as Green Lantern feels kind of weaksauce.
I honestly can't think of how a Green Lantern game would work.
Kevin Smith actually illustrates the problem with doing a Green Lantern pretty much anything on one of the recent SModcasts (124, I think). He's basically a genie. He can do pretty much anything he wants as long as it's green. His weakness is yellow. It's almost as bad as The Flash. How do you confine that in a set of rules that still feels consistent with the powers as people familiar with him would understand them?
Now, if they do something in the vein of BAA that starts with a story first and builds its setting really well and focuses on the character, they could have something here, but I don't envy them their position. Batman's abilities are SUPPOSED to be limited, because he's just a dude with a bunch of crap. Green Lantern's power is technically only limited by his imagination, his current battery level, and the decor. It's an interesting challenge.
Green Lantern Kinect game where you can draw anything on a sheet of paper and hold it up and then make it with your ring!
Yeah, and he was completely wrong. I get that Smith is well known for having written one of the worst Green Arrow stories in recent memory along with one of the worst Black Cat stories ever, but that doesn't make him an expert on the subject of writing for all comics characters.Originally Posted by Brian Seiler
That said, just about any attempt at a GL game is going to be too limited.
They have to limit what you can do, obviously. I mean, it would be great if the game could read your mind and create any construct you want, but that's just not gonna happen. I just hope the constructs they build into it are somewhat varied and fun to use. Hell, I remember in the old Justice League cartoon John Stewart was essentially limited to lasers and shields. BO-RING! Compared to that, "over a dozen" constructs sounds good to me.
I'd rather have a somewhat limited Green Lantern game than no Green Lantern game at all. Of course, if it turns out to be dreadful, then I'll probably be scrambling to take that back.
The constructs use represent the Green Lantern using them. John Stewart was a very simple, no-bullshit lasers and shields kind of guy.
Saved forever!
Apparently. It makes me all the more glad that Hal Jordan is the featured GL in the movie and, most likely, the game.
Ha! I've eaten worse words than those!
Well I'm not citing him for his writing prowess (ha HA - murkin!), but more just because he phrased the problem pretty well. Green Lantern isn't a limited hero. He's got the Superman problem, only worse, because his weakness isn't even a physical thing. You could paralyze him with a roll of police tape and a reasonable head start.
It doesn't help that this is coming from the same studio that made Silent Hill: Homecoming and GI effin Joe: The Rise of Cobra. Color me a little uneasy. I hope it turns out well, but I get the vague feeling that I might not be entirely satisfied by this property.
Sure. I still see no reason why a modern video game can't have you making more than 12-15 different things if it's going to push constructs as a big gimmick, though. Well, unless it's a DS game or something.
I didn't realize this. Forget about being able to invert the camera!
I wish it were Alan Scott. Ryan Reynolds would look great in this costume.
I dunno, having played Bayonetta, I could see this working just fine. you don't need access to limitless imagination as long as what constructs you do have feel a) awesome, and b)surprising.
It's a question of "what would Hal imagine in this situation" more than "what am I imagining right now?". By using a Lantern with a well defined personality and character, the first question isn't that hard to answer for the player in a way that's satisfying.
Still "a dozen" does seem low, unless a "construct" is more akin to a weapon loadout, and each construct can act differently in different circumstances, like a "giant hand" construct that can punch, or poke, or slap, or smash into the ground depending on what the situation is.
I'm concerned that they'll pull some bullshit like making one of the "constructs" be "key", which just opens doors in order to pad the numbers.
My thought is that the constructs will have combat uses as well as puzzle solving/world traversal uses. Like the power of the ring itself, the possibilities for the game are limited only by the imaginations of the developers...and their budget. Hey, I think I just wrote a lede for someone to steal!
I'd love to see that basic 'dozen' of constructs have many functionally identical variations (or different constructs depending on ring power level/willpower levels).
E.g., let's say there's a need for flight powers. Let's have a bubble, a plane, a jet, a jetpack, a dragon to ride, and a beanie cap with a propeller on it. Or if we need ranged attack it shoots lasers, fire, crystal shards, bubbles, rubber duckies, or tiny copies of him.
Make a few skins/geometries, but use the same physics.
Do the Green Lanterns still even have vulnerability to yellow? I thought they'd gotten over it in the comics some time back.
No. If you want to descend into the deep dark pit of rainbow lanterns be my guest though, I've just crawled up out of it.
Sort of.
Without the yellow weakness, though, you're basically dealing with Superman with a battery, so I'm not sure that helps the game or not. It's less cheesy, but it also removes the only real limitation you could impose on the character directly in the rules system without diverging from the comic character.
Maybe if you're a new Lantern who doesn't know how to do anything with his ring. Maybe. And has an anxiety disorder. That might work for the first game.
It would be pretty cool to play as a new Lantern recruit that you could create and outfit from some options. I'm sure you'll just be playing as Hal Jordan, but create-a-Lantern is a cool idea.
One word: Scribblenauts. That's what the perfect Green Lantern game would be.
I've seen a couple of previews lately that make me believe this game might be all right. The prospect of co-op with my brother, along with his undying love for all things Green Lantern, has secured my pre-order, but this game might actually be pretty good.
I was under the impression that the co-op was online, but apparently it's local only. I don't think it's too much to expect online co-op in a game releasing in 2011.
I'm sure this isn't the superhero game that most folks are looking forward to playing today, but I'm definitely excited. So far there are no reviews up on Metacritic. I wonder if this title is going to go most unreviewed with E3 going on.
It's a little early in the day - 7:00 AM PDT - so I would expect reviews to come out later. That's what I've noticed with every damn title I've been interested in recently (though, in their defense, a lot were downloadable). I'm sure the big sites will have SOMEBODY turn something in. Every person at IGN cannot possibly be at E3.
Unless, of course, they never sent out "screeners" for critics. That would be a bad sign.
I wouldn't be that surprised if they didn't send out review copies of the game. Given that it's E3 week and comic book/movie games tend to find an audience without review scores being factored in, the publisher could easily have decided that it wasn't worth it.
Holy crap. Between E3 and iNFaMouS 2 there's STILL no reviews for this listed on Metacritic, aside from one user (and, in all fairness, I didn't even know frigging INfaMoUs was releasing on Tuesday, let alone another superhero game with a brand).
Odds on the entire development team being against this release date, but the film studio forcing it on them?
I'm not really sure why they got Green Lantern out on June 7th, given that the movie doesn't release until the 17th. They could've easily pushed it to next week and still been out ahead of the movie itself.
Anyway, I got my copy of the game yesterday and it's a very capable God of War-style action game with Green Lantern accouterments. You've got a fast attack and a strong attack, mapped to X and Y respectively. I haven't seen any explicit reference to combos of the two resulting in particular moves, but the tried and true Fast, Fast, Strong does just what you'd expect. The attacks are ring constructs, with fast attacks taking the form of a sword and strong attacks looking like big fists. It's a cool touch. You can dodge with the right stick and do an attack dash with the right bumper. I'm not sure why there needed to be two different types of dashes, but whatever. The left bumper brings up a shield bubble that acts to block most regular types of attacks.
Pressing the B button shoots a hand out of your ring that grabs and throws enemies. The grab and throw is actually a pretty powerful tool, as most of the environments I've been in are ledges over deep precipices which enemies can be thrown into. Some enemies are too big to grab and throw, but the ranged guys and normal melee attackers can be quickly cleared out this way. Enemies can also be thrown into each other. The grab is also great for when the Manhunters send floating mines after you. Grab and toss them into other mines or groups of enemies for quick destruction.
Along with the third person melee action, there are dedicated on rails flight levels. You have a basic laser blast attack along with a painting missile attack a la Panzer Dragoon or Rez. It's straightforward, but pretty to look at and a welcome break from the regular fighting.
When your willpower bar is completely full you can press LB and RB together to go into a super powered mode (I think it's called Ring Surge), where GL takes less damage, deals out more damage and has unlimited use of his ring constructs. In the flight levels going into this super mode forms a complete fighter plane construct around Green Lantern. It's pretty neat.
Regular button combos are supplemented by ring constructs that drain willpower energy, represented by a bar at the top of the screen. The bar seems to refill on its own, at least to a point, but there are also green energy pickups that refill it. As you unlock constructs you assign them to the face buttons, using the right and left triggers to modify. So you have up to eight constructs available for use at any one time. I'm two levels in and have unlocked a total of five constructs. The constructs themselves act as special attacks with various special applications. For example, one is a big hammer that does area of effect damage and pops surrounding enemies off of their feet. Another is a simple laser-like blast that can be charged up by holding down the button. Another is a mine that can be dropped for chasing enemies to run into or picked up and thrown into groups. The most useful so far has Green Lantern swinging a huge ball and chain spiked mace around him, clearing out surrounding enemies. All of the constructs make sense for certain combat situations and some even have non-combat applications. The hammer, for example, is used to hit pressure plates and detach Manhunter anchors. The mine blows holes in certain walls, opening the paths and even revealing secrets.
As you play Green Lantern gains experience that can be spent to purchase new constructs, upgrade the various effects when in Ring Surge mode, and even add additional attacks to both strong and fast regular attack combos. It's a nice carrot on a stick to keep playing and seems necessary as the enemies are getting more numerous as the game goes on.
I should also mention that there are urns of various colors strewn about Oa. Break them and get their goodies. Blue refills health, green gives willpower and white grants additional XP points. Hidden in the levels there are also green meteors which you destroy to absorb their energy. Collect three and your Willpower bar is extended.
So now that I've spent a lot of time explaining the game, how is it? I'll say that if you like these sorts of character action games, you'll like Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters. Go ahead and wait until it hits $40 or less if you have no affinity for the source material. I'm not usually a big fan of the GoW/DMC/Dante's Inferno character action games, but I am enjoying GL as a fan of the character and of DC Comics in general.
That's not to say that I don't have gripes. Particularly irritating to me is that the RB attack dash is interrupted by ranged attacks. I feel like it should ignore that, but it doesn't. As a result, the Manhunters that stand back and take potshots while you deal with their bigger, tougher brothers can really screw things up, interrupting attacks and constructs and leaving you open for additional hits by surrounding enemies. I'm sure some of my frustration would be cured by my learning to use the shield block more effectively, but my first instinct is always to jam on RB to attack dash out of the way. The game has three difficulty levels and I'm playing on the medium/normal equivalent.
The game does mix up the different types of enemies that you face, forcing you to take into account their various strengths and weaknesses in your approach to dispatching them. It introduces types one at a time, but quickly proceeds to mix them up. So it's not long before you're facing off against guys with shields, guys on hoverboards, ranged attackers, mini-boss sized brutes, and regular generic trash melee attackers. On top of that, sometimes there are portals through which the enemies emerge. Those are powered by at least one adjacent tower, which must be damaged until its shield falls, allowing you to then grab the ball at the top and toss it away, finally destroying the tower and closing the gate. Sometimes there are two or three such towers powering a gate, so you have to manage destroying those along with keeping the enemies at bay. It certainly demands more than simple button mashing, but overall it hasn't been so tough that I couldn't prevail.
The game does keep track of your consecutive hit counter. It looks like it rewards bonus XP if the hit counter stays above a certain level. I've noticed it giving me a 10% bonus, but I'm not sure if you can get even higher or not.
The game looks pretty great. Green Lantern is appropriately detailed and Ryan Reynolds does a serviceable job voicing him. Kilowog and Sinestro sound even better. It can be played in 3D, either with the included 3D glasses or by supporting your 3DTV's ability to display such images. I haven't tried either yet, and won't try the later as I don't have a 3DTV. It's neat that they at least included the Anaglyph option.
Damn, Steve, that review was more useful than 85% of what I read on professional review sites. Nicely done.
I've played the game for about 5 minutes -- buried in E3 mode -- but I tried the analgyph glasses and the work surprisingly well.
I'm glad someone got through that wall of text. There's not a ton of info on the game out there, so I thought it'd be worthwhile to take some time to explain it. Like I said, I'm only a couple of levels in, up to the point where I discovered a secret in the lower levels of Oa, so my feelings could definitely change.
I'll have to check out the Anaglyph 3D. I'm glad to hear that it works decently.
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