G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra review – America’s daring, highly trained, special mission force

What better way to review a game about a team of super soldiers than bringing in two super editors? Nicholas Aguilera and Richard Allen both played through G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra and debriefed their thoughts in this review.

Nicholas

G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra makes me reminisce on my childhood. Loud noises and flashing lights, soldiers shooting miniguns and swinging swords, androids and ninjas surrounding me on all sides; just like it was yesterday, man. Wrath of Cobra has these things in spades, essentially placing you right in the middle of one of the G.I. Joe cartoon episodes. This is a fast and fun, albeit extremely short (and a bit buggy) retro single-player or co-op romp that G.I. Joe enthusiasts are sure to get a quick kick out of.

Developed by Maple Powered Games, it is clear that they made G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra with two main goals in mind: capture the spirit of the Real American Hero line of G.I. Joe, and create a fast-paced side-scrolling beat-em-up. After playing a few hours of the game, I can safely say the development team achieved these goals with flying colors. Wrath of Cobra leaks nostalgia. Character movesets, stages, art, and music all fully encapsulate the 1980’s cartoon and action figures. You can tell that this game is nothing short of a passion project developed by real fans of America’s favorite action figures, and it elevates the experience knowing it was created out of love.

That being said, you can’t call the story mode of Wrath of Cobra a story. An opening cutscene details the premise: Cobra Commander has created an army of autonomous clone soldiers and deployed them all over the globe. Like thunder after lightning, it’s up to G.I. Joe to suit up and stop Cobra’s latest scheme. Each location the team travels to is introduced in a few sentences during the stage loading screen, and sometimes the bosses taunt you. That’s pretty much it for the story. Honestly, if you are coming into this expecting to be enthralled by narrative, you’re here for the wrong reasons. This is, however, still better than the story told in the Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins movie. I think I’m the only living human that remembers that one.

The gameplay on offer in G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra is pure dumb-fun. This is a side-scrolling beat-em-up reminiscent of recent games like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. You choose one of four characters, Duke, Scarlett, Roadblock, or Snake Eyes, to start. Each Joe has their own unique stats, attacks, and special ability. For example, Snake Eyes, the Joe I played through my first go-around with, boasts quick side-to-side movement, a katana-based light and heavy attack, and Timber, his pet wolf. Duke uses hard-hitting punches, flying kicks, and a devastating AOE airstrike.

Three of the Joes on offer fit perfectly into the team dynamic the game is going for, each offering their own strengths and unique abilities while complimenting the different playstyles. I say three because for whatever reason, it feels like Scarlett is just a weaker version of Snake Eyes. Both are quick-moving stamina-based characters, the same in almost every way, except Scarlett has weaker base stats. It just seems like an odd design choice, but I digress.

The game is split into 12 stages, each of which only has one objective: push towards the right side of the screen and clear the area of each and every enemy. In the story and arcade modes all stages are composed of around 10 minutes of beat-em-up gameplay followed by a short boss fight against one of Cobra’s rogues. It’s pretty simple stuff; there are very few environmental hazards in each stage, and they’re all relatively blank with the exception of their distinct settings and music. 

While playing I found myself wishing for just a little more meat in the gameplay loop rather than solely just kicking the crap out of Cobra’s goons. A few more stage-specific encounters or weapons would have gone a long way. A single beeline playthrough of the story mode is also incredibly short, clocking in under two hours. Though you’re clearly meant to play through the game multiple times with each character, I found replay value pretty scant.

There are some unlockable bonus modes available through the collection of “floppies”, Wrath of Cobra’s in-game currency collected through the levels. The extra modes include a boss-rush gauntlet mode, a one-hit low-health high-damage mode, and a few others. There are also four difficulty options for some added challenge. These all serve as nice ways to switch up the loop once you’re more experienced as some of them can be quite difficult. None of the bonuses add new enemies or meaningful mechanics, so while I appreciate their inclusion, I wonder if they justify new runs. 

By far my favorite part of Wrath of Cobra is its commitment to the source material. Every character encapsulates their action figure or cartoon counterpart to a T. Playable hero and enemy models look just like they do in the Real American Hero line. Enemy variety is dense, as Cobra deploys everything from the standard blue-clad masked grunts and robotic B.A.T. troopers to S.N.A.K.E. suits and H.I.S.S. tanks. I felt like a kid again, smashing my action figures together, and it was fantastic. 

Stage-specific art is also a highlight. The game features settings everywhere from Cobra’s flying fortress to an arctic base, and then to the streets of urban Egypt. My favorite stage was a Cobra victory-day themed downtown district, where Cobra Commander is throwing a parade in his own honor featuring floats, balloons, and confetti. What a psycho.

Though there is a lot to like about this game, Wrath of Cobra has its share of weaknesses. As I mentioned before, the main story mode is very short and could benefit from a few bonus levels. There is room for many more stages from all throughout G.I. Joe’s history, and I would love to see more added in future updates. 

Additionally, I noticed some bugs and missing features in my short time with the game. Enemy hitboxes can be finicky, causing some attacks to only register in extremely specific spots or not at all. Enemies can also sometimes inexplicably turn invisible or remain off-screen, which prevents progress. I also had two instances where my character would freeze mid attack and force me to restart the level. I noticed there are some audio cues missing as well; certain buttons do not make sounds when pressed, and sometimes enemies would fight with no sound effects. However, the game ran very smoothly on my PC, and I did not have any crashes. At the moment this is a PC only release with console releases coming in the future.

I really liked G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra. Although some bugs and a short first playthrough held this one back, I can see myself returning to the battleground in the future for some more fun. I should note that I did not try out the co-op mode, so I will leave that part of the review to Richard, who did give it a go.

Richard

I’ve always been a fan of beat ’em ups, dating back to the TMNT: The Arcade Game, and despite all the technical advancement video games have made in the 30+ years since those early titles, there’s still not much that can compare to a good retro inspired beat ’em up, especially when played with a friend.

G.I. Joe Wrath of Cobra scratches that itch and is overall a pretty good time for the two or so hours that it lasts. There are 12 levels filled with a decent variety of enemies and locations to traverse through, along with a few fun boss fights. Helping with replayability is the addition of unlockable bonuses, which can up the challenge by doubling the enemies, provide access to both a boss rush and arcade mode, unlock new playable characters, and even a mode which makes you go down with only one hit. The bonuses are a great addition and had me replaying levels multiple times to earn more diskettes in hopes of unlocking even more.

There are some unfortunate bugs, particularly during co-op which can turn enemies invisible or even halt progression. In true retro fashion, there are a few frustrating enemies (I’m looking at you, ATV guy and Flying missile guy) but they pop up rarely enough to not dampen the experience. Overall, while nothing raises Wrath of the Cobra above those early TMNT beat ’em ups, it’s still a good time and worth checking out.

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