G. I. Joe: Strike is a Free-To-Play Mobile Game (known as a Freemium Game) developed by Hasbro-owned Backflip Studios. The game was first revealed at the JoeCon 2015 followed by the Soft Launch on the Android Platform, a month later. We’ve decided to dig into the game prior to it’s official release to see how it is. You can check out our review (which is the first review for the game, on the Internet), after the jump.
Have you been playing? Leave a thought on the thread associated with this Review.
Overview
Mobile Game Development Company Backflip Studios became famous with their simple yet addictive Paper Toss game back in 2009. Over the years they have produced small mobile games for the Andorid and iOS markets. In 2013, the studio was acquired by Hasbro. Since then, the studio developed several small mobile games based on multiple Hasbro properties. With the absence of G. I. Joe Battleground, Backflip Studios quickly stepped forward to fill the void left by the said game as a G. I. Joe property based official mobile app. And thus, G. I. Joe: Strike was born.
Gameplay
The developers have tried to create a new game without resorting to reskinning their NinJump games; which is both good and a bad thing since NinjaJump games have a loyal following with high praises.
The player controls Snake Eyes and must reach a target depending on the stage. It can be defeating a certain number of Arashikage Ninjas, reaching a certain score or just reaching a destination. The primary controls are Tap and Hold. Enemies will come from both sides (left and right) and if an enemy enters any of the two white lines on either side, a Tap on the screen on the corresponding side will initiate an attack. If an enemy is outside the lines, the attack will be considered as a miss. If the player taps on the wrong side of the screen, it will also be considered as a miss even if the enemy is within the white lines. Each enemy will have a specific number of attacks the player must do in order to defeat them. Holding the screen will result in Snake Eyes running towards that direction.
The above paragraph is all that you will get in the game’s Tutorial. There is a noticeable lack of a Help Menu. The game is not that difficult to figure out, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a help menu.
The game has three areas: Jungle, Ship and Temple. Each area will have several levels. Each level will have several stages. Player must win each stage to unlock the next. By completing all the stages in one level will unlock the other level. By completing all levels will unlock the next stage (you get the general idea). To complete a stage, the player will be given 3 lives and 3 continues. One hit will remove one life. Three hits will prompt a continue screen. Once all 3 continues are over, the stage will be considered as lost. The player must complete the assigned target before all 3 continues are exhausted. Until the player reach the Experience Level 5, the continues are free. But after that, the continues must be purchased by the In-Game Currency.
The game is currently Single Player only with no Multiplayer Support. The only Playable Character is Snake Eyes with several NPC characters including Enemies, Bosses and Storm Shadow. The game lacks any Cloud Save feature and does not contain any Achievements. Since the official release has not happened yet, we can’t rule the features out for now.
The player has the option to upgrade Snake Eyes with more than 100 types (as advertised) of upgrade cards titled as Ability Cards. There are two types of Ability Cards: Skills and Airdrops. Skill Cards are used to enhance Snake Eyes abilities. Playing the game for 10 consecutive days will result in Ability Card rewards.
The player can also grab some help in the form of Airdrops. Items selected beforehand (prior to the start of the level) to be air dropped will assist the players for a brief period of time. Items the player may require will depend on the nature of the situation. Some items will be more useful than others depending on the level. Some items can be used once per stage and can be used again on the other. But there are items which are One-time Use only and can only be used once on a selected stage and cannot be used again and will have to be re-purchased. There is a possibility to waste the item. If the player accidentally uses the item by facing the wrong direction or when an enemy is not there, the item will get wasted. This is something to look out for especially since there are items which should be purchased and can only be used once. We will talk more about these, on the Micro-transactions (yes, that dreaded word) part of this review.
The gameplay is fast but can’t really say that it’s addictive. For the most parts Rovio’s Angry Birds: Transformers (another Hasbro property game for the same game genre) has grasped the formula much better since it is fun and addictive. G. I. Joe: Strike on the other hand, gets too old too fast. The gameplay is extremely monotonous with no verity whatsoever. To make matters worse, the incentives received for successfully completing a stage lacks motivation to keep on playing. After the first couple of Levels, the player must really spend real cash just to power up and keep on playing; since the difficulty sky rockets by the time the player reaches Level 3.
The gameplay difficulty can be a bit frustrating. This is not a game which someone new to the genre can just pick up and play. Adding to the difficulty is the Performance.
Performance
We’ve tested the game on a current mid-ranged Android Mobile Device since those devices are the most widely available devices around the world. The game performance was not that good and we did experience lag quite a lot. A good look at the feedback from other players indicate that even high-end devices experience the same lag. Another bit of a negative aspect is the fact that the response rate is poor than expected. For a game which depends on split-second responses, having a poor response time is a deal-breaker. However, their previous game NinJump has a better response time than G. I. Joe: Strike. Since both games are from the same developer, we can expect improvements as the game reaches its launch.
Graphics and Sound
The graphics are 2.5D. The characters, objects and the background are 3D but the playing plane is presented in 2D. This is very much like the recent Mortal Kombat games. For some reason the graphics reminded us of the canceled cartoon series G. I. Joe: Renegades. The game is colorful and eye-catching much like other games they develop. The levels are based on various locations from the G. I. Joe Franchise. So, there’s something for all of us.
When it comes to sound, there is nothing to praise and nothing that is bad.
Micro-transactions
The heart of all Freemium games is the Micro-transaction Scheme. This game is no different. Multiple Power-ups known as Ability Cards (mentioned above) can be purchased through the store with various In-Game Currencies. Purchases range from $1.99 all the way upto $99.99. The value the player will get in return from purchasing is rather low. The transactions are extremely expensive for the items you will receive. Especially for the cases where the item can be used only once.
There are several types of In-Game Currencies:
- Energy: This item dictates how many times the player can play the game until it is recharged. One Energy = One Try. A one-time purchase will give the player unlimited tries to play.
- Gold: Is used to purchase certain items and to level up the character. Can be purchased with real money or obtained by completing stages.
- Medals: Used to purchase Ability Cards. Can be purchased with real money or obtained [very rarely] by completing stages.
- XP: Used to level up characters. Cannot be purchased with real currency but must be obtained by completing stages.
- Ability Cards: Gives the players Skill and Airdrop Items. Can be purchased with Gold and Medals. Some cards can only be used once. There are Epic, Rare, Uncommon, Common and Burner Cards. Epic Cards will cost you approximately $12 each. Rare Cards will cost you approximately $5 each. Uncommon Cards will cost you approximately $2 each. Common Cards are free each day you log onto the game. And finally the Burner Cards which can only be used once will cost you approximately $2 for 8 cards.
Final Verdict
G. I. Joe: Strike has the potential to be a good game. But right now, there is still a lot room for improvement. It may not be the best G. I. Joe game we’ve ever played (well it’s not like we had a lot of games anyway) and it may not be one of the best mobile games around but it’s the only one we got right now. So it’s up to Backflip Studios to improve what they have started and deliver a good G. I. Joe mobile game for both Fans and the General Public.
SilverOptimus says
News Post: HISSTANK Reviews G. I. Joe: Strike Mobile Game App
titanate says
How many people want to play a game JUST as Snake Eyes?
Acathla says
Steevy Maximus says
I'm still awaiting the domestic release of this on iOS. I'm interested to see how well this compares to Angry Birds Transformers (which I've yet to drop a single dollar on as well), and it will be nice to see a solid Joe title on mobile.
As is, it continues to baffle me this even exists, and with new character designs to boot.
46 Zone says
Hey OP. Is this game better than the mobile version of Limbo? That's pretty muck the only "action" mobile game I have.
firefox91 says
I can't tell you how I like this game because I can't play it. I have 2 android devices, one of them the 2nd gen Google Nexus 7 tablet and either one of them are compatible with the game. That's ridiculous.
SilverOptimus says
I'm still awaiting the domestic release of this on iOS. I'm interested to see how well this compares to Angry Birds Transformers (which I've yet to drop a single dollar on as well), and it will be nice to see a solid Joe title on mobile.
As is, it continues to baffle me this even exists, and with new character designs to boot.
It’s true that you don’t need to spend money if you don’t want to but the game’s difficulty is so high after the first couple of levels, it’s impossible to win without purchasing powerups. That is unless you are really good at it. For casual players such as myself, I found it extremely difficult to win after 2 stages.
I’ll put it this way, to reach score target for certain stages in order to complete the stage, you need to level up your character. For Snake Eyes to go from 3rd XP Level to 4th, you need about 22000 gold coins. 15 to 30 minutes of gameplay (playing stages you already completed since you can’t go forward) will give you about 4400 gold coins. So it’s about 2.5 hours of gaming time just to level up a character. The required Gold coins increases each XP Level.
It has the potential to be a good game. Wish they’d reduce the difficulty a bit. I’m new to these kind of games and it’s hard for a player like me to enjoy the game when we can’t win. The opinions at the Google Play Store are same as mine.
Full Thread: HISSTANK Reviews G. I. Joe: Strike Mobile Game App
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