GameCube NintendoSpin.com / Reviews / Viewtiful Joe 2

Posted on December 7th, 2004 - 3160 Reads

Rated Teen Viewtiful Joe 2 GameCube Review Silver Award

-- Written by Karl Castaneda



 For a moment, pretend you're a movie-goer just looking for a good time with your girlfriend. All you want is to enjoy the re-release of one of your favorite movies, starring your favorite action hero, Captain Blue. Now imagine that, in the middle of the movie, you and your girlfriend are sucked inside the film. Through the help of Captain Blue, though, you'll have to use your newfound VFX powers to traverse the world of movies and save your girlfriend. Seems like a heck of a journey, huh? Well, that's what our not-so-average Joe had to accomplish in his first outing last October in his GameCube debut. Thirteen months and a PS2 port later, he's back for his all new adventure that's sure to keep you hooked for days at a time.

Viewtiful Joe 2 starts out replaying the end of its predecessor where, after defeating Captain Blue (he was a double-agent; who'd-a-thunk-it), you not only save your lady-love Sylvia, but actually restore Blue to his former glory. Now, free of the evil that plagued his heart, your one-time mentor reveals that the story isn't over yet, and that you'll still have to save Earth from peril two more times. Do not fear, though, as Sylvia's gotten her hands on a V-Watch, the magical device that allows Joe to transform into his super-hero persona. It would seem that even though trouble would be coming, Joe and Sylvia would be able to thwart it. Or would it...

Without a moments rest, our new antagonist shows his face. It is the evil Black Emperor, and he's after Captain Blue, transforming the aging hero into a blue statue. Yes, the man once thought of to be the savior of Movie Land has been turned into an Oscar. Proclaiming that he's off to gather the other six Rainbow Oscars, The Back Emperor goes on to throw Joe and Sylvia into a trans-dimensional portal. Now, with their V-Watches broken (rendering them powerless) and their friend imprisoned in sapphire, they must traverse through new lands. What will this new setting bring? An action title that can only be described as "Viewtiful."

The gameplay hasn't changed much since the original Viewtiful Joe, as you'll still be using three VFX powers to solve puzzles and fight enemies on 2-D side-scrolling platforming levels. All of your favorite powers are returning. You'll be able to slow down time and make your attacks more potent with VFX-Slow, run at high speeds and split into multiple forms (allowing you to open boxes in the background) with VFX-Mach Speed, and create strings of punching combos and 360-degree kicks with VFX-Zoom. The only major difference is this only applies to Joe. From the beginning of the game, you'll have the option to switch over to Sylvia, and thus use her new techniques. Not only does she have pistol attacks, allowing her to damage enemies from far away, but she's got her own exclusive VFX power, which Capcom refers to as "replay," a method used in place of Mach Speed.

In order to use replay, you simply hold down the R button. Once in this state, any damage you do to an opponent is multiplied by three. Be wary of dependency though, as any damage you take during the use of replay will be inflicted upon you an additional two times. Also, this technique can be used during puzzles. For example, you'll eventually find yourself in a pit, unable to reach the top. You'll have to hit a switch on the wall to make a platform fall. However, only one falls at a time and platforms are destroyed after a certain period of time. You'll need three to fall at once. Using replay, such a feet is simple.

Switching from Joe to Sylvia and vice versa is fairly easy. By tapping Z, you'll instantly swap characters. However, by holding down Z and sacrificing part of your VFX power meter, you can execute a combo attack, a technique called Viewtiful Touch. The attack doesn't do a significant amount of damage, but it can injure all surrounding enemies.

What was great about the original Joe was the horde of un-lockable characters and difficulties, adding to the replay value. I'm happy to report that this has returned in the sequel, assuring for multiple play-throughs. Fortunately, though, that's not all developer Clover gave us. A new feature, called The 36 Chambers of Viewtiful, offers up various stages of beat-em-up levels, where your only objective is to obliterate your foes and nab up V-Points with lavish and flamboyant attacks. It's quite challenging and should take even the most seasoned fan a while to completely finish.

The only faults in the gameplay come from the slow-down that occurs during frantically action-oriented segments. Due to this iteration being multi-platform, the GameCube and PS2 version were developed to be exactly the same. As the PS2 operates under less powerful hardware, the GameCube version takes a small blow. Such occurrences are rare, though, and don't hamper the experience to a noticeable degree. Unfortunately, Sylvia being mandatory in certain areas was a bit of a pain. Because she's a bit weaker and slower, I hardly ever kept her on the field unless I required Replay or needed to hit something far away with her pistol. These are the only vices in the game, though, which is pretty impressive.

When I purchased the original title, I was blown away by Capcom's mastery of cel-shading, the graphical style that makes everything on-screen resemble animated cells. Completely shocked, I witnessed visuals that surpassed the predecessor. Flawless animations, fantastic effects, colorful and diverse environments, and perfect character models make this one of the best-looking games ever created.

The audio portion of Viewtiful Joe 2, while still very good, is probably something you won't pay much attention to. The themes are high-quality with various rock and techno tracks (especially the Frost Tiger theme, which is truly exemplary), but you'll often be too busy showing off to notice the background music. Voice-overs, like the original, are great, and do a grand job of bringing the characters to life.

In the end, I had extremely high hopes for this game, and I couldn't be happier with the results. This is my favorite title of the year, and you owe it to yourself to pick up a copy. A lot of games talk the talk, but this game walks the walk, giving you an experience rivaled by few and surpassed by none.

Recent Reviews

Page generated in 0.02718 seconds; 6 queries executed. Copyright © 1999 - 2007 Jesse MacVicar - All Rights Reserved.

Partners - Creative Uncut - Codename Revolution - Nintendo Wii News - PlayStation 3 - Nintendo Gamenet