Action Force is, strictly speaking, the European skin of G.I. Joe: Cobra Strike, the game Parker Brothers published in 1983 for the Atari 2600. The force's training camp is under siege from a cobra-shaped combat machine built by the villain Baron Ironblood, and the player has to defend it in solo, co-op, or competitive mode. In markets where G.I. Joe didn't have the same presence as its toy-line equivalent Action Man, the cartridge was renamed to fit that line instead.
Critical reception at the time was lukewarm — it's remembered more for its flashy surface than for the depth of its gameplay — but as a piece of merchandising trivia, it's a textbook case: same cartridge, same code, two different toy franchises depending on which side of the Atlantic you bought it on.
If you liked this one
