Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters

  • Couch Co-Op: 2 Players
  • + Co-Op Campaign

Green Lantern Rise of the Manhunters Co-Op Review - Page 2

The sheer imagination on display for these special attacks is a comic fan's dream come true.  Giant hammers, spinning swords, huge whirling spiked maces that knock enemies senseless... the list goes on, and using these abilities is quite enjoyable.  I particularly liked the giant robot armor, which turns your Lantern into a slow moving but impervious colossus of destruction for a short time.  You can even team up for combinations; laying a screen full of mines just before your partner uses a chaingun to blow them all apart is a good time, indeed.  But perhaps the most fun is ring-grabbing a Manhunter and pitching him so your teammate can smack him off a ledge with a giant glowing green baseball bat.  You really feel as if you are wielding the coolest weapon in the universe.

Adding to the feeling of heroism are some cinematic touches here are there.  When Green Lantern leaps from one area to the next, the camera zooms in, time slows, and he shoots out like an emerald arrow.  When he lands, the ground and your speakers shake, leaving behind a glowing green crater.  When you finish off the last enemy in a group, the effects are quite similar, adding a visceral quality to whichever attack you finished off the poor foe with.  Larger enemies can be taken down via short quick time events, similar to God of War.  These animations typically feature crowbars, huge pistons, and giant anvils.  Are all these little effects cheesy?  Probably, but they make you feel like a superhero, that's for sure.

Co-op is limited to two local players.  Player two can drop in and out anytime to play as Sinestro.  For the most part, the co-op works quite well, but there are a few hiccups.  For one, Sinestro's upgrades and experience do not carry over from session to session.  Anytime Sinestro pops in, he has the same stats as Hal.  Of course, further experience earned can be spent however player two likes.  Another minor quibble is the fact that the cut scenes and other story elements ignore the fact that Sinestro is present; it can be disconcerting when Sinestro contacts Hal from across the planet, even though he is standing right next to him.  These are really minor nitpicks, though.

Overall, Green Lantern Rise of the Manhunters isn't too far off what you would expect.  It's a standard action game movie tie-in.  The only things that set it apart from the rest are the inclusion of co-op and the grin-inducing fun of wielding a ring to power all those crazy special attacks.  It's also too short for a full-priced game.  If you can recite the Green Lantern oath by heart, you might want to pick this one up; everyone else can probably settle for a rental.

Verdict

Co-Op Score
3/5
Overall
3/5

The Co-Op Experience: Stand Together: Join forces with a friend to play as Hal Jordan or Sinestro to battle the Manhunters, with the ability to drop in or out at will.

Co-Optimus game reviews focus on the cooperative experience of a game, our final score graphic represents this experience along with an average score for the game overall. For an explanation of our scores please check our Review Score Explanation Guide.




 

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