I think it's kind of nice that a fairly recent game has been released from G.I. Joe, despite the well-known characters, typical action scenes and the entertaining animations, I didn't immediately get the nostalgic feeling I hoped to get from a game of this franchise, but the animations compensate the gameplay well in this area.

Watch a snippet of gameplay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYkEAYDZvfE

Time to confess: most people who grew up between 1980 and 2000 look for ways to relive our youth as they age, like Saturday mornings watching cartoons in our pajamas.
In the category 'crazy cartoons that almost made our eyes bleed on a Saturday morning', we loved the cartoon by G.I. JOE. which hereby makes a return in the form of Operation Blackout.
In the campaign you go with two of your favorite G.I. JOE heroes or Cobra baddies at work.
The game is made for co-op, but can also be played alone.

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout didn't elicit a wow reaction from me, but like most video games made from a franchise, you're faced with repetitive missions with endless use of the same attacks and combos, not ideal controls, but good graphics.

Now I can finally be....


A REAL AMERICAN HERO!

Just like every other game made on a licence of a famous cartoon, movie or comic book series, it's super mediocre. This is just a basic third person shooter with mild RPG features and some minor customization options. It reminds me of Agents of Mayhem gameplay wise, minus the open world, you play as different characters who each carry different weapons and have different skills(active skill and different kind of utility) with which you fight robots that either fall down in a pod or spawn in from a teleporter, just like in Agents of Mayhem. I have to note that this is one of the better budget movie/cartoon/comic series licensed games I've played recently(Jumanji and Zombieland were objectively worse and more of a cash grab) because this game has fan service and decent mechanics.

With that aside, the game has a campaign, which is mixed between good guys and bad guys, their missions intertwine and you'll see every area twice with different objectives or sometimes from a different side. There are also a couple of driving missions but you don't drive, you just steer, it's pretty much on-rail shooter at that point. As you go through missions you'll be able to find weapon skins which will then unlock character skins once you have them all, they're super obviously placed if you've played games for a while you'll know exactly where to look. Just like cosmetics you'll also find comic book covers, which are super cool and finally, once you get all of the collectibles, you unlock some G.I. Joe cartoon educational clips, which are not that great(low resolution and super short) but they're still a fun addition.

It features local COOP of the campaign as well as versus mode with no online option, besides remote play, which is a bummer. You might want to play with a friend because AI is braindead and will block your shots while doing absolutely nothing combat wise, enemies also ignore it to only shoot at you. Overall a fun little afternoon experience, grab only when discounted because there's not that much to do and unless you're a fan of G.I. Joe you'll not find that much value in it.

Overview
The extra-wide dresser drawer packed full of my collection of G.I. Joe action figures is one of the most memorable parts of my childhood. If there was a Joe or Cobra out on the market, it’s likely that it was in there as I can only recall a small handful of them that hadn’t made it in. While my brother and I were at school, my dad would set up these massive battles that took up the entire room with bases, vehicles, supply stockpiles, and so on. We knew as soon as we walked in the door that it was time to go to war.

So yes, I’d say that G.I. Joe carries quite a bit of nostalgia for me. I decided that G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout was going to be one of the next games that I’d review before I’d even really taken much of a look at the store page. It was the kind of spontaneous decision that could’ve ended in a disaster. Fortunately for me, the legendary heroes and villains came through for me once again and offered me an enjoyable experience, even if it was clear that there had been some changes over the years.

Cooperative Shooting in a Classic Universe
There’s a lot that’s familiar here for those who know the G.I. Joe setting and it’s adapted quite well into an action-shooter format. Each character has one of six primary weapons, a secondary weapon, grenades, a melee attack, and an ultimate ability. A good amount of variety in weaponry makes each feel different than the next, with the classics like assault rifles, SMGs, and sniper rifles showing their faces, but also with electrical cannons and rocket launchers thrown into the mix. Grenades pack some AoE punch for when the enemy makes the mistake of huddling up and they come in a few different shades as well with some dealing immediate damage and others applying damage-over-time effects. Melee is either mediocre or absolutely exceptional depending on your character, it’s more of than not an emergency back-up, but you’d do well to not underestimate its use in the hands of those like Storm Shadow and Snake-Eyes. Finally, ultimates stand out from some of the others in the genre by both charging more quickly and being noticeably weaker than in something like Overwatch. They can certainly turn the tide of a close battle, but they won’t turn an utter rout into a victory either.

The campaign itself is designed well and offers something that I would call a modernized old-school experience. It feels less like a modern shooter, with less bells and whistles, but more like those we used to play through an era or two back. Missions tend to mostly be clearing zones of enemies and completing simple objectives, though defending locations from enemies while a timer runs out isn’t rare either. Every once in awhile, you’ll even be able to pilot one of the vehicles and use their heavy firepower to your advantage as you race through a level, blowing up enemies and defenses that stand in your way. The on-foot shooter portion follows a straightforward path for you to complete it though there’s room to run around and explore to find collectibles, while the vehicle portions railroad you as there is only ever one way forward. That said, the simplicity here is a strength rather than a weakness, and I found it to be something of a walk down memory lane to something akin to the old Star Wars Battlefront games.

Narratively speaking, missions bounce around between G. I. Joe and Cobra allowing you to choose between at least two of the roster to take into the fray. I always look forward to being able to play both sides of a conflict, particularly when it’s asymmetrical and I don’t have any complaints here. The story feels like classic G.I. Joe with Cobra finally pulling off a successful enough maneuver that they drag the world in a Wolfenstein-esque scenario where Cobra Commander has established his organization as the uncontested leaders. The Joes fight back and do what they can to restore peace and order to the world.

The only real issue that I found with this title was that that the unnamed enemy fodder that you spend eliminating throughout most of the game is used for both sides. The justification that’s provided for this is that the Cobra B.A.T. technology was adapted by the Joes to field their own army of robot soldiers, although I would’ve liked to see unique-looking enemies even if each type still filled the same role. Instead, the relatively small variety of enemies that you face has little more than a palette swap when you change sides. The gameplay surrounding these encounters isn’t bad though, so it didn’t tarnish the experience too much, I just found that it would’ve helped add to the setting overall.

The Boys Are Back in Town
It’s clear that G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout put heroes front-and-center and there are a handful of familiar faces here even if I would’ve liked to see more. Each side has six characters available, each of which mirrors the class of one on the other side. This means that both sides play relatively similar, though there are small differences between them that do manage to keep them feeling slightly different.

Snake-Eyes and Storm Shadow represent the ninja class. They wield SMGs, move quickly, and have brutal melee attacks, though they’re fragile and drop quickly if they’re focused on by the enemy. Duke and Baroness are soldiers that carry rifles and have relatively balanced stats that let them perform admirably in any given situation, even if they may not excel; they’re the jack-of-all-trades sort. Lady Jaye and Cobra Commander are supports that bring solid firepower to a team but take longer to reload, making them ideal for backing up others but not for going one-on-one with a foe in a duel. Sci-Fi and Firefly are havocs, and as that name would suggest, they carry heavy explosive weapons that have a penchant for blowing things up with heavy damage and area of effect. Scarlett and Zartan are skirmishers, specializing in long-range attacks at pinpoint accuracy, though you want to keep them out of harm’s reach as they’re extra squishy. Finally, Roadblock and Destro roll up as your heavy strikers, locking down enemies with their close-range electrical cannons and excelling at eating damage that would murder the rest of their team. I enjoyed playing every class available and they felt balanced enough that I bounced around between them as I progressed through the missions. I would love to see the roster doubled, or even tripled though; even if the heroes’ characteristics are mostly decided by their class, it would be fun to see more of the legendary icons show up to fight.

Verdict
G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout is a surprisingly good third-person shooter that plays like a smoothly designed title of years past. I was willing to take the plunge and risk wasting some of my time on a G.I. Joe game to give it a chance, but I was surprised to find out how enjoyable it actually is. That goes doubly when you drag some friends along for the ride, either tearing through the campaign as a duo or duking it out with up to four. It doesn’t reinvent the genre or push it forward, but it’s an excellent experience to add to your digital shelf if you’re looking for some good old-fashioned run-and-gun in a good old-fashioned setting.

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I ONLY recommend this to absolute zealot fanatics of the franchise and for children under the age of 13. This is a lazy, copy paste, repetitive, thoughtless slog. It is fun to play as Snake Eyes (and Storm Shadow since he is basically just a reskin, the same way Roadblock and Destro are the same character too) The enemies are dumb, your friendly AI is dumb, the story is dumb. Feels rushed or under funded.

WHen I was a KID, I loved to watch GI Joe Cartoon on TV. On Brazil was called by "Comandos em Ação". The game is light, run fluid, change all the time the missions, the character you will use, war vehicles, I really liked.

Finished the game, APPROVED!

This is a nice simple game if you like G.I. Joe animated series, or comics, or the movies. For those who were born in the 80`s like me, this game gives back some of my childhood, when everyone had G.I. Joe action toy figures, or owned comics, or watched a lots of G.I. Joe animated series, and some animated movies too, there were a few if I remember good.

I bought the Deluxe Edition, this includes the Digital Artbook and the Sountrack too. It was worth it for me. There are lots of comics covers too, mainly from the newer G.I. Joe Comic Books, not the old ones. They look so cool! Some tracks also can be found from the 80`s, this is nice!

Knowing Is Half The Battle Videos are so educational! Respect towards the Developers of this game, for implementing these videos in their game. I wish more modern video games could make useful videos like these videos in this game for kids, for their safety!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PORkDUfVBqg

IT'S GREAT! i am having a blast with it.

you get to play as both sides during the campaign. looks great. runs great. just a lotta fun.

Will get removed from sale on december 31st.
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G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

G.I. Joe Operation Blackout, based on one of the most popular and commercially successful franchises of all time, features some of the most popular characters from the franchise in a fun, intensive arena shooter environment.

As soon as I heard about this new G.I. Joe title, I was biting down on my hand to get a hold of it! Growing up in the early 2000s, TV series, Franchise and Toys such as G.I. Joe played a major role in my life.

As soon as I started the game and hearing that classic ‘’ Yo Joe ‘’ from one of my favorite characters from the game, ‘’ Duke”, put me on a nostalgia overdrive. The first few minutes while playing is kinda blurry to me Not Gonna Lie; it kinda shocked me how many characteristics they managed to bring in from the actual characters. I won’t say they did a great job, but they did a great job!

Plot: Seems to be another normal day at sea, onboard The Aircraft Carrier USS Flagg, when a sudden burst of radio chatter catches everyone’s attention. It’s another Cobra attack, but it’s not a single attack at a single outpost; no!

It’s something big! Cobra and its forces have attacked all G.I. Joe assets at the same time on a simultaneous attack. While trying to get hold of his men, G.I. Joe commander Duke notices something odd in the sky; it’s a Cobra attack lead by Storm Shadow and Cobra Commander himself!

They manage to take down all defenses and get a hold of Duke and other Joes from around the world. The Cobra unleashes a new form of weaponized device, called – The Blackout Sphere.

At the push of a button, the world plunges into darkness; blackouts start occurring around the world. One by one, countries and governments fall into Cobra’s hands.

With a handful of Joes still at large, they must regroup and fight back, finding and freeing their team in order to push back on Cobra’s plans. Only Joes now can stand up to the Cobra and his allies.

Gameplay: G.I. Joe Operation Blackout features a fun, arena-shooter style gameplay, with solo and co-op game modes. In both cases, you will be allowed to choose between one of many characters from either G.I. Joes or from the Cobra.

During each mission, you will be going for a specific target. Each mission will be guided by multiple main objectives, as well as side objectives as an added bonus.

You get to unlock and choose between 12 iconic characters from the franchise, 8 from each side of the fold. You’ll have the opportunity to play as Duke, Roadblock, Shake Eyes, Lady Jaye, Sci-fi, and Scarlett from the G.I. Joe team, and from the Cobra side, such Iconic characters as Zartan, Baroness, Destro, Firefly, Storm Shadow, and The Cobra Commander himself.

The gameplay is fun, simple and effective (apart from the run and jump machines), utilizing a great third-person perspective while implementing a simplified WASD movement: Space jump, shift run, and L-ctrl for crouch.

Something that did catch my attention in a distracting manner was its run and jump machines. From the animations to implementing the movement speed of each character, it felt oddly unmatched with the gameplay and out of place.

Although I faced no issues while running and jumping, the speed of each character and its one-size-fit-all jump animations kinda ruined my immersion. I was expecting something grander, at the very least from the two ninjas! I should have been allowed to be much much faster than the rest with these two ninjas, and with better jumping and vaulting animations!

Each of these iconic characters has something unique about them in terms of their movement, how they act, their body language, etc which makes them special. This was clearly missing, and I would have loved to see something like that being implemented. (Although there are these Taunts; okay, beggars can’t be choosers!)

The game also features two iconic tanks from each side, which I am kinda upset about. The game features Persuader from the Joe side and H.I.S.S from the cobra side, both of which look nothing like the real thing! Having owned versions of both these iconic tanks, I was heartbroken to see these designs.

Combat: The game features a simple yet effective gunplay system with its Left mouse to shoot and Right to aim. It’s a simple point and shoot that, added to its inaccurate fire, adds a fun element to the game.

In addition to its fun gameplay with 18 unique weapons and 36 skins, each character gets their own unique Ultimate attack by hitting Q.

Ultimate attack varies from character to character; some are effective in ranges, while some are only effective while an enemy is nearby.

Same goes for tank combat; the difference is you will only be doing one thing, which is running . . . in similar settings.

World design: Unique and stylish, in a toned-down manner from the intense G.I. Joe-type world design and scenarios. For the most part, the world looked and played out greatly.

Being an arena shooter, you will be playing on a limited area in each stage of the mission, but having multiple stages gives an illusion of it being a larger world.

Music and sound effects: Well-selected background music. It’s simple, it’s motivating and it’s catchy - I love it! Dialling it down a bit early on stopped it from getting repetitive.

Absolutely enjoyed the sound effects, which were over the top and unique in a way; just how a G.I. Joe game should be.

Dialogues: Cheesy and always over the top. Hey, the game did justice to the franchise; G.I. Joe dialogues are always like that and that’s the charm of it.

Positives:

+ Decent plot
+ Iconic 12 characters from my childhood
+ Decent world design
+ Those Iconic cheesy dialogues
+ Great music selection
+ Appropriate sound effects for a G.I. Joe game
+ Well designed characters
+ Fun, simplified arena shooter combat

Negatives:

- Poor Run and jump animations
- Poor weapon animations
- Minor performance hiccups here and there
- Not implementing the iconic tank designs
- No trading cards yet

Stand up and regroup, Joes; it’s time to take the fight to Cobra! 12 Iconic characters from the franchise will go head-to-head for either world domination or peace. ‘’ Yo Joe ‘’.

8/10


Key provided by the developer/publisher for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

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