"g.i. joe" is arcade video game old skool/stop the hater-ation from spoiled brats!!
that's why "g.i. joe: the rise of cobra" brings me back to a time when you could go into an arcade on some cheesy boardwalk, dump in 50 cents, and see how far you could get through a colorful video game extension of your favorite cartoon. i am 38 now, and i have not been able to get a true arcade fix since the late eighties/maybe early nineties. are there any true arcades left anymore? at least any ones with updated games? (i am not talking about the crappy games that have been relegated to chucky cheese or some other adult establishment where child patrons were an afterthought).
but "why should anyone bother to run an arcade when all the best and most intricate games are in the home, not in public anymore?" it's a case of "video killed the radio star," for those who are old enough to get the reference. still, i do miss that magic of playing a game that was designed to be played in an arcade and not on a console in your bedroom. "g.i. joe" brings back a little of that...if only for a while.
"g.i. joe" gives me what i need in the form of a bunch of different playable characters, few buttons to remember, and enemy fire that is dodge-able. dodge-able! when was the last game you could simply run in-between the very visible gunfire to take out your opponent? the tunes are catchy and nostalgic. the graphics are okay enough to give some neat explosions. the enemies are arcade level bosses, not some psycho child gamer from the other side of the world. no, joe doesn't have the multiplayer, which for me is good because who wants to get pwned by some 12-year-old who can't pee straight but has mastered every way of cornering you and blasting your face to a bloody pulp so he can teabag you in front of a bunch of unforgiving strangers. you don't have to lose any "ego points" playing joe.
the game is by no means great. let me say that the game has serious problems as my colleagues have stated about the faulty camera (and no discernable way to adjust it) and the pathetic targeting system. don't even get me started about driving the vehicles (horrid). but, notwithstanding those faults, the game offers a little bit of mindless fun from making stuff go boom. and the deaths are bloodless; don't we have enough gore in real life? earnestly, where joe succeeds is by letting the "older" player remember what it was like to step out of the ocean, shake the salt water off and put in a few comfortable minutes zapping things before grabbing a slice of boardwalk pizza.
"g.i. joe" is the type of game that back in my days you would have started playing and some kid you did not know would just jump into co-op with you. (and you should, too, play joe with a "reachable" pal). that is how you made a summer friend back in the olden days. plus, you couldn't save those arcade games so you had to have a steady supply of quarters ready if you wanted to see what the next level held. (there were no save points, but instead, plenty of health ups and power ups in the levels). and if you were really good, you might get a few kids watching over your shoulder...you might even garner the attention of a cute girl your age who just got her braces off. how lucky!
ps. i cannot wait to see the movie. crap or not, it is part of my childhood.