Viewtiful Joe 2 (GameCube) Review

Familiarity is, of course, the theme of the game. It all takes place in Movie Land, where films are created under the watchful eye of Captain Blue, greatest superhero ever.

The VFX powers form the basis of the combat system. The two main ones are Slow, which is bound to the L shoulder button and activates a Matrix-style bullet speed effect and Zoom In, which is bound to the B key and (surprise, surprise) zooms in on your current character of choice and changes the main attacks to more powerful super-attacks. Each character also has one unique VFX power, activated with R. Joe carries the super-speed inducing Mach Speed through from the original and Sylvia sports the only new power in the game, Replay. Replay is started by holding down R for the duration of an attack, which is then repeated three times to triple either the damage dealt out or the damage taken whilst holding R.

Replay isn't particularly useful in battle, and neither is Mach Speed or Zoom In, for that matter. Almost all of the robot enemies are beaten by holding down L and dodging the attack, which lets you lock on to the enemy and beat seven shades of oil of them.

The one part of this game that isn't afflicted with repetitiveness is the game's wonderful graphical style, quality and detail. Sure, it uses exactly the same engine as the original Viewtiful Joe, but the quality of the art direction is almost unsurpassed, and it fits in with the distinctive, chunky cel-shading of the engine perfectly. Every new area is full of decals and details that bring a smile to the face of players.

This is an immensely enjoyable game. It's fun, fast, action-packed, everything an action game needs to be, really. The graphics, while almost exactly the same as Viewtiful Joe's, are some of the most stylised and noticeable on any system at the moment. Any individual encounter can be seen as a pure slice of gaming action, fresh and invigorating compared to the majority of games out there. However, it's when you look at the game as a whole and think about what it could have been that the cracks start appearing. The sixth hour of gameplay (of which there should be at least ten) is very much similar to the first, but the enemies have more attacks and more health. The co-op mode is noticeable only by it's puzzling and disappointing absence. The cut-scenes are fun, but the story is inconsequential and pointless. It's an enjoyable game, but there could be so much more, and these complaints are amplified by the fact that they all apply to the first game as well. It's well worth buying, but it's no Resident Evil 4.