Long Twitchy Nights
What makes this sequel stand out in today's gaming environment is its difficulty level - this game is one of the hardest you'll play this year. This is meant as a compliment. Even the early levels of Viewtiful Joe 2 evoke a feeling not experienced since the days of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System when games could be downright demanding of players. Remember all those lost evenings trying to complete a difficult level "just one more time"? Viewtiful Joe 2 captures that sensation in spades. Initially our heroes begin with a short life bar and limited abilities. Between levels the game offers up new moves for sale, but smart players will purchase life bar upgrades before anything else to try and even the odds somewhat. For example, the boss of the first world, Big John, is a militaristic dinosaur loose in a Jurassic Park-style museum. Aside from trying to crush our heroes and set them on fire with his flame breath, he'll call for air support from time to time to drop bombs and other explosives from unseen aircraft above. Big John's attacks are based on patterns like all the great gaming bosses of our time, but just because it's easy to figure out his pattern doesn't mean it's easy to strike back against him before being flattened or burned. Difficulty levels span from a Kids mode up to Adults and beyond into the unlockable V-Rated and Ultra V-Rated modes.

When Joe and Sylvia aren’t kicking dinosaur tail they’re most likely trying to solve a puzzle. The common progression of a level revolves around flattening enemies in between unlocking the path to the next set of enemies, resulting in a pummel/puzzle/pummel/puzzle sequence. Typically these puzzles require a specific VFX Power to solve. For instance, early in the game a certain bridge is locked in a vertical position, making passage across a chasm impossible. There’s a button on the ground that will lower the bridge if pressed, but Joe simply isn’t heavy enough to provide enough pressure. By using the VFX Slow ability Joe can cause a volcano in the background to build up pressure, resulting in a volcanic eruption that spews boulders down into the foreground. One of those boulders lands right on the button, pushing it and lowering the bridge. Since both characters have a unique VFX Power, it’s important to learn when it’s necessary to swap characters. At another point in the game our heroes encounter a massive hamster exercise wheel that is attached to the switch that unlocks a door. Running at normal speed on the wheel does not create enough force to trigger the switch; only Joe armed with his VFX Mach Speed ability can run fast enough to do the job. Since Sylvia lacks this ability, she cannot open the door. Just as switching characters is important during battle, knowing when to swap characters is the key to solving the game’s tricks.

Take note that while Capcom had announced a two-player cooperative mode early in the game’s development, the development team quietly dropped that aspect of the game some time ago. There are no multiplayer modes in Viewtiful Joe 2 of any type, and that is a real shame. Considering the powers and limitations of both Joe and Sylvia and the easily learned gameplay, this is one game in which a cooperative mode would have been greatly appreciated by both gaming enthusiasts and novice players. Dropping this aspect of the game is such a missed opportunity and although it doesn’t hurt the released game one iota, it does sting somewhat wondering just what could have been. Alas, maybe next time.

VFX 1138
Cel-shaded graphics are all the rage this generation, and it would seem that Capcom is becoming the visual style’s greatest fan. The original Viewtiful Joe turned heads with its smooth comicesque graphics and just this year the company released a cel-shaded Mega Man X RPG, Mega Man X: Command Mission. There are some neat touches mixed in with the shading, however – watch for the screen to take on a washed-out film grain appearance whenever our heroes power down from Viewtiful mode, for example. The entire game is wrapped in cinema conventions, most often parodying film genres or just exploiting clichés; watch for levels based on (but legally dissimilar from) Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Alien among others. Soundwise Viewtiful Joe 2 does just about everything on a grand scale: explosions are loud, kicks sound painful ,and voice acting is just about everywhere (and actually sounds convincing for a change). Aside from interstitial cinema scenes that feature Joe and Sylvia bantering back and forth, our heroes occasionally shout out in pain or celebrate finding power-ups during gameplay. However, let it be known that the game’s soundtrack tends to follow its own beat rather than crib from established film scores (most likely for licensing reasons, although this is just speculation).


Multiplayer is out, but Big John is still around.
Closing Comments
Viewtiful Joe 2 represents a genre of home console gaming that desperately needs a shot in the arm. It’s refreshing to see a major third-party providing just such a shot, bringing a new generation of gamers fresh side-scrolling challenges with a difficulty level that makes one want to throw controllers at the wall in frustration (just like in the good ‘ol days). While fans of the original game may complain there’s just more of the same here, that formula certainly worked for Mega Man for the first eight years of his life or so, so knowing Capcom this is just the beginning of the Viewtiful Joe saga (a Nintendo DS version of the game has already been announced). From the white-knuckled action to the tongue-in-cheek humor to the stylish visuals, Viewtiful Joe 2 is well worth your time. Just don’t expect to blast through the game in under a few days. Challenge is viewtiful.