A tribute to its time, Viewtiful Joe takes an old school concept and brings it to the present flawlessly.
User Rating: 9.3 | Viewtiful Joe (Pink Version) GC
Remember those old beat um ups we all came to love back in the 2D era? Many of us can remember countless hours spent playing double dragon, streets of rage, or one of the many batman games released into this genre. Well, Viewtiful Joe takes that concept with a new a spin and some very new graphics to deliver a very pleasing package, on that is both aesthetically pleasing and entertaining. Viewtiful Joe takes the “beat um up” genre to new heights. It still retains the basic old school concept most of you are looking for, move sideways on a screen and fight guys using a punch button, and a kick button. Two attacking buttons, that’s all. not too hard to grab the concept of. But this is where Viewtiful Joe separates its self from the pack with the new VFX powers. Considering the whole game is supposed to be a movie, these powers are just controlling the camera, but it doesn’t feel like at all. VFX powers consist of the ability to slow time, speed up time, and zoom in on your character, each with their own respective advantages. Slowing time down gives more better power and reaction time, where as speeding up will cause you to go “red hot” making you much more effective at taking out grunts. You don’t start out with these powers immediately, but it doesn’t take much time at all to unlock them. They also contribute the puzzles thrown through out the game. The only catch is that you only have a limited amount of VFX, so you can’t just run through the whole game in slow-mo. All in all it does make for quite the pleasing set up. The plot in Viewtiful Joe is good for this genre, and the light hearted jabs they take at the movie concept in a whole makes for a very relaxed feel. Essentially, you (Joe) and your girlfriend (Silvia) are at a movie when you both get sucked in and are separated. Joe meets his long time movie idol, Captain Blue, and is given super powers. He must then journey through movie world in order to find Silvia and save her, much like a hero would. The controls are superb in Viewtiful Joe. With X and Y as your only attacking buttons you won’t flustered in the midst of combat. Slowing time and speeding it up are assigned to L and R respectively and quickly become like second nature, as does using B to zoom in. Aside from that, and A as jump, there really isn’t much to tell. It might take you 30 minutes to feel like a master at these controls, because they just feel right from the start. This is the way to use a GameCube controller, and other companies would be wise to pay attention to it. The sounds of this game are wonderful. The music has a very playful almost techno feel to it, and usually fits in with the levels it’s presented in. The sound effects are also presented beautifully and spot on with the actions. My only small gripe would be that some of your sound effects are repeated often, almost too often. I hope you all get used to hearing “Henshin A Go Go” quite a bit, or just learn to play flawlessly with out ever running out of VFX power. The sound effects really are entertaining, so this isn’t THAT big a deal, but still it deserves noting. Its hard to describe the replay value of a game like this as it differs from person to person, but ill try my best. Essentially, most will find the game entertaining for what its worth, and unlocking a new character at the end may strive some to replay it. Really, you are only going to replay this game if you are in the mood for more of this kind of combat. Many of you might also be discouraged your second time through, as the second half of this game the bosses get hard, fast. But, there enough unlockables and the drive to get perfect rankings on all the levels may be enough for many of you. The graphics are in a word, stunning. They take cel shading above and beyond to present you with a spectacular picture. The colors are vivid and present the feel of the game nicely. The frame rate never slowed down, or if it did barely enough to notice and in no way enough to hinder your gameplay in any way. All the enemies were done well and each attack is as, well, as viewtiful as the next. All in all a very pleasing package. While Viewtiful Joe might not seem for you, I can promise you that this game has a little something to offer just about everyone. I strongly recommend you pick up a copy ASAP. 
