The hero of Movieland is back! Capcom has brought Viewtiful Joe back for another adventure in the fittingly-titled Viewtiful Joe 2. This time around Joe teams up with his girlfriend Sylvia who, like our hero, has snagged herself a V-Watch which allows her to perform some of the same flashy and stylish attacks as Joe. Together they embark on a quest to rescue the abducted Captain Blue and save Movieland from the dreaded Black Emperor. Sure, it’s not the most original story, but Viewtiful Joe 2 relishes in clichés by handling familiar elements with a sly wink and a nod. Capcom’s done itself proud with this one, crafting another memorable game franchise in which to create sequel after sequel.

Features

• The sequel to last year’s surprise hit Viewtiful Joe
  
• Joe teams up with Sylvia who has some new moves of her own
  
• Combines puzzle elements with classic brawling
  
• Journey through familiar cinema settings
  
• Various difficulty levels keep the challenges coming
  
• Power up our heroes by purchasing new moves and attacks
  

Who Me? No, Us
Viewtiful Joe 2 is an old-school-style 2D side-scrolling beat-em-up game in an era where most game designers and players are focusing on expansive 3D worlds. Joe is a pure platform game at heart, and although the game's environments are cast in three dimensions, the camera stays fixed only a 2D viewpoint. As our heroes move through levels that takes turns down various paths, the camera reorients into a new position (if you missed the original Joe, think of the hallways of the Glitz Pit in Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door which uses a similar camera effect). The camera will also tilt vertically at times when Joe or Sylvia move out of the central view from time to time. Camera control is automated, so sit back and let the GameCube do the work for you.

While Viewtiful Joe 2 is a side-scroller, it is not a hop 'n bop in the vein of Super Mario Bros. or Donkey Kong Country and actually has more in common with another Capcom franchise from years ago, Final Fight. Joe and Sylvia know how to throw a punch and execute a swift kick, and it is by attacking enemies and dodging incoming attacks with a crouch or slight leap that our heroes save the day. Initially Joe and Sylvia are their own streetwise selves, but after taking out a few foes and powering up an energy meter, our heroes can become Viewtiful and gain new abilties. Normally Joe and Sylvia cannot perform a double jump, but while Viewtiful they can. Becoming Viewtiful also opens up the world of VFX Powers: the unique special effects that are the gimmick of the series. All of Joe's powers from the first game - Slow, Mach Speed, and Zoom - are back and behave just as before. The Slow power causes the action to slow to a crawl, allowing Joe to land some well-placed kicks and punches in crucial moments. Mach Speed is just the opposite – it speeds Joe up to fantastic velocities, allowing him to dodge certain attacks and trigger certain events as well as extinguishing nearby fires. Zoom is used to focus in on a close-up view of the action, allowing Joe to pull off some stylistic and fantastic attacks that audiences crave these days. Sylvia is the wild card this time around, as she gains her own unique powers. She can pull off the Slow and Zoom maneuvers, but her signature ability is Replay in which she can perform the same punch or kick three times in a row to deal triple damage to the poor unfortunate enemy that stands in her way. There's a catch to this, of course: if Sylvia is knocked down during a Replay move, then she takes triple damage herself. Nobody ever said it's easy to be a superhero.


Meet Sylvia.

As for the innate differences in the two heroes themselves, Joe plays approximately the same as he did in his previous outing, but Sylvia is gifted with a slightly faster walking speed and is armed with a blaster, allowing her to attack enemies from a distance whereas Joe must march right up to the baddies to land a blow. As the game goes on players get the chance to purchase new moves and upgrades for our heroes, allowing Joe to pull off some powerful acrobatic moves typically left to Hollywood stuntmen while Sylvia can load up on blasters allowing her to shoot first and second and third before asking questions later. Like any game with multiple playable characters, being able to switch between heroes at a moment’s notice is one of the most important skills to learn. Fortunately, switching characters is as easy as pressing the Z button (a technique the game refers to as the Viewtiful Touch for some reason). The hero at rest will leap in and relieve the hero in the middle of the action. Some enemies can resist Sylvia’s blaster, but just about everyone takes damage from Joe’s jabs and kicks. Being able to master the elements is something else to keep in mind: only Joe can extinguish fires, whereas only Sylvia can blast through electric hazards. And somewhere in the middle of all of this action is Joe’s custom vehicle, the Six Machine, which adds a taste of classic shooter gameplay to the adventure. If this all sounds overwhelming at first glace then keep in mind that our heroes begin with limited abilities and learn new ones steadily as the game progresses. The game also stops the action for a moment to teach players new moves and allows for some practice before the game resumes.