Green Lantern: Rise of the Manhunters is a tie-in to the 2011 movie Green Lantern, based on the DC comic. The main character is the cocky test pilot Hal Jordan. An alien called Abin Sur, member of the Green Lantern Corps intergalactic police force, crashed his spaceship on Earth after being attacked by Parallax, a being he previously imprisoned. The ring chooses Jordan as its new bearer and provides him enormous powers. When he uses the ring during an attack by employees laid off from Ferris Aircraft, he is transported to Oa, home planet of the Green Lantern corps where he meets Kilowog and Sinestro. After meeting Abin's father Amon Sur, Oa is attacked by the Manhunters, an android race that originally served as the first intergalactic police force before the Guardians of the Universe dissolved it when they became too hungry for power. The game centers around the struggle between the two forces, as the Manhunters attempt to reclaim their position and want to destroy the Guardians as well.

It is an action game where Jordan needs to fight the Manhunter forces using his powers. He wields green power that can take many forms, such as a laser sword that weaves fast and strong attacks into combos. He also has a number of drill attacks, can claw grab enemies to hurl them away and later upgrades provide means to shoot projectiles by morphing the energy into a gun. Incoming attacks can be blocked or evaded and destroyed enemies leave behind orbs, used to gain experience points and level up. Orbs are also found in vases and blue crates contain health. The new abilities Jordan acquires are called constructs. They usually provide new means of attack that are much more powerful, but using them drains a green energy meter. They are stored into a separate menu and up to eight can be assigned to buttons at a single time. At any moment however it is possible to return and assign new constructs based on the situation faced. During the journey green meteorites can be located. Each time the energy of three of them has been absorbed, the ring energy meter extends by one level. There are ten main missions and each one usually end with a boss fight that also involved quick-time events.

The main action sequences are played out on the ground, moving from one area to the next after all opponents are destroyed, but some missions also introduce gameplay in flight. Jordan moves through the air in a single direction in Space Harrier style and needs to evade objects while fighting enemies. These sequences take place in open space as well as in giant spaceships.

The game can be played cooperatively with another player joining as Sinestro. Certain attacks can only be performed through cooperative actions. The game has 3D visuals, both on standard TVs with the TriOviz Inficolor 3D technology combined with 3D glasses as well as stereoscopic 3D on proper 3DTVs.