Viewtiful Joe

PlayStation 2 (Capcom 2004)

The big G-S-G-S-G

General opinion: Rather entertaining oldschool action
Story: Not its strong point
Graphics: Great
Sound: Ok, apart from speech level problems
Gameplay: Fast and furious

Total:

The Review

There aren't many decent traditional 2D platform action games for modern consoles. There's Castlevania: Symphony of the night for the first PlayStation and... that's about it. So, enter Viewtiful Joe. The graphics in this game are actually 3D, but gameplay is strictly traditional 2D sidescrolling action. Viewtiful Joe combines oldschool gameplay with modern technology and some very innovative ideas. The end result is an interesting and entertaining game.

Joe is a regular guy. One day he's watching a superhero movie with his girlfriend Silvia, when all of a sudden a hand reaches out of the silver screen and snatches her into the movie. Joe follows and is granted superpowers by the film's hero, Captain Blue. Your job is to save Silvia and figure out what's going on in Movieland. Yeah, it's a silly story, with hardly any substance or originality. While it does pick up a bit towards the end with a fun twist or two, it's mostly an excuse for the action. And gameplay is where this game shines. And, well, it's still got more story than Castlevania...

The setup is familiar from most traditional sidescrollers. Get through stages, beat up the enemies (and there's plenty of them). You can jump, punch and kick. You can also dodge up or down. In addition to your basic moves, Joe has three "VFX" powers: Slow, Mach Speed and Zoom. Slow, for example, well, slows time, allowing you to dodge bullets and do other fun stuff. Matrix, anyone? Totally. But it's very cool. The other powers let you do similar cool stuff. The powers also play an important part in solving puzzles.

This game is tough. Playing on Easy difficulty most of the enemies weren't actually a huge problem (though some of the bosses did take a little trying). Some puzzles and platforming sequences, however, could get frustrating at times. Though the puzzles in the game a basically quite simple, the solution wasn't always easy to spot. I had to resort to looking solutions up in walkthroughs more than once, which is something I don't like to do. But, of course, this type of game is supposed to be challenging. And beating that stage can feel very satisfying. If you're looking for a smooth, relaxing ride, this game might not be for you. Be prepared to spend a little time sweating over those stages...

The graphics in this game are quite good. Everything is done in beautiful, very cartoonish cel-shaded 3D graphics that fit the mood of the game perfectly. Originally I was a little put off by the silly look of the game, though. It grows on you, I guess. Some of the cover art looks much sillier than the actual game graphics, I must say. Music is mostly techno-oriented, nothing really original and not really my style, though there are some good moments.

The one real technical issue is the voice acting. The acting it self isn'g exactly bad (though it's far from brilliant), but there are some serious issues with voice levels and special effects. Maybe it's my TV's crappy speakers, but in many scenes I honestly can't make out a word that's being said. And on top of that there are no subtitles either. Ok, so the plot is very simplistic and there's not much to miss, but on the other hand, the plot being so simplistic, missing much of what little dialogue there is is even more annoying.

The game's hardly long, but of decent length for its kind. There are seven stages, most of them fairly long, with fun and varying boss battles at the end. It took me some seven hours first time round to beat it. And there's lots of replay value. First, the game's just fun and addictive, and really mastering it takes some practice. Second, you can unlock other characters to play with. They've all got their own storylines, too (though they're pretty much just simple adaptations of the original story). The PlayStation 2 version has a bonus character as well: Dante from Capcom's Devil May Cry. Now just how cool is that?

Viewtiful Joe isn't perfect. The difficulty can be a little frustrating at times, and there are those sound level issues I mentioned. But all in all it's a lot of fun. For fans of oldschool sidescrollers this game is a must, of course, but it's more than just an oldschool sidescroller. Viewtiful Joe is a unique game. I really can't think of anything quite like it, in mood or in gameplay. It's quite difficult to describe in words, actually. Sort of, Cartoon Network meets Castlevania meets Matrix... Certainly not a game for everyone. You'll either love or hate this game. For quite I while I thought I'd hate it, if only for the silly looking cover art. But it turned out to be worth trying.

Ben B. Bainton, 24 December 2007