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Viewtiful Joe Review
Chris Leyton
10/10/2003
Viewtiful Joe is a masterpiece of style and substance; every Cube owner needs to play this game...
We've been following the progress on 'Viewtiful Joe' with a careful eye ever since it was announced as one of the five key titles in the infamous Production 4 announcement.
The promise of Matrix style effects, cell-shaded visuals and old-school beat-em-up mechanics sounded like too good to be true, thankfully Capcom have delivered beyond all expectations and created one of the finest titles I've had the pleasure to play and certainly a candidate for game of the year.
'Viewtiful Joe' places players in the role of Joe - a normal character with a strong passion for the movies. Silvia his girlfriend loves to follow Joe anywhere he goes, especially to the movies; however this time looks to be slightly different to the rest.
Whilst watching the latest flick of Joe's idol Captain Blue in action and his untimely death, Joe can only watch on in amazement as Silvia is plucked from her seat and pulled into the movie. Joe soon finds himself falling towards the ground within the movie and having to replace Captain Blue as the hero...
Although the advent of 3D visuals virtually killed the side-scrolling beat-em-up genre, 'Viewtiful Joe' brings it right back up to date with next-generation visuals and special effects laid atop the classic gameplay dynamics.
Taking control of normal Joe to begin with, the game introduces you to one of the basic yet crucial mechanics at work and one that perfectly highlights the brilliance of 'VJ'. Instead of blocking attacks, 'VJ' challenges you to look cool when fighting, as such little icons show whether you're going to be hit from the top or from the bottom; correctly timing this with an opposite direction on the analogue stick allows you to swerve out of the way and gives you some time to lay in the punches (X) and kicks (Y) with a counter-attack. This sole mechanic is the technique to master if you want to rake the V-Points up and nab some high scores.
It's not long however before the spirit of Captain Blue appears and reveals how to awaken Joe's true powers. The first skill that Joe masters is the power of VFX Slow; simply by holding the Left Shoulder button down Joe can make everything slow down, allowing him to create some almighty combos. More importantly this move is crucial to destroying some opponents and building up good combos to secure big V-Points; it's also been brilliantly implemented into the various puzzles that scatter each level which make brilliant use of the environment, one such example sees a constant drip of water falling from a pipe onto a switch, slowing down time allows the drip to grow bigger before it drops and is enough weight to push the switch. At times these will certainly have you scratching your head for a few minutes, however it's nice to see this element to the game as beat-em-ups usually turn into mindless button bashers that tire too quickly or feature mundane key based puzzles.
As soon as you acquire the first power-up you'll be using it endlessly simply because it looks so amazing and has been brilliantly implemented, Joe can twirl around speeding bullets in spectacular fashion that's more impressive then the likes of 'Enter the Matrix' and 'Max Payne', whilst the combos that can be mustered by using it properly are quite frankly gob-smacking and very akin to classic Treasure titles. Whilst it would be nice to be able to use this power all the time, Joe is limited to how long he can use the power-up by his VFX Gauge. Using a power-up depletes from the gauge and when it is finally empty Joe will return to his weaker human form complete with grainy film filter effects; the gauge replenishes over time, however it certainly adds a sense of tactics to the proceedings and the ability to decide when to use power-ups and when not to becomes a crucial aspect to master if you want to progress through 'Viewtiful Joe'.
'Viewtiful Joe' certainly manages to keep in touch with its old-school origins by being tough, it's certainly been some time since we've enjoyed a challenge as much as the one posed in 'Viewtiful Joe'. If you're not too familiar with the type of game or perhaps missed out when the side-scrollers were kings of the industry, then do yourself a favour, swallow the pride and select the 'Kids' mode, because the 'Adult' mode will do nothing to boost your confidence.
Completing levels allows you to spend the V-Points you've acquire on a wide range of new moves and special items to help Joe on his travels; these range from extra lives to new moves such as the 'Shocking Pink' that allows Joe to play keepy-ups with a bomb and then kick it towards the enemy or the 'Boomerang' a new weapon in Joe's arsenal and very useful to keep those combos going. There's a large list of new moves and items that Joe can buy whilst it's also possible to upgrade some of them; this aspect adds a good degree of depth to the game and is very akin to games of old.
Progressing further into the game you'll unlock the remaining two VFX powers, namely 'VFX Max' and 'VFX Zoom'. 'VFX Max' is the opposite of 'VFX Slow' and allows Joe to speed up time by holding onto the Right shoulder button. Joe can dish out a serious amount of punches and kicks when 'VFX Max' is enabled and ultimately produce fireballs from his fingertips, whilst it's also possible to run at high speeds. As with 'VFX Slow' the power-up is also used in various environmental puzzles, one such example floods a room so you can progress to greater heights.
'Viewtiful Joe' marvelous combat system comes into the fore when you realise how to use the two 'VFX' powers in conjunction along with counter-attack method explained at the start; by timing these correctly you can whip out some unstoppable combos to gain some serious V-Points.
When you're left thinking that there's nothing else left to knock your jaw into next week, along comes the 'VFX Zoom'; by pressing up on the C-Stick or tapping the B button the camera zooms in close to Joe, allowing you to pull of new powerful punch, kick and jump moves, whilst certain special moves such as the 'Viewtiful Forever' requires you to dodge an enemy attack in slow-mo and then zoom in, successfully doing this will make Joe pull off a pose that destroys all the enemies on the screen.
The combat system in 'Viewtiful Joe' is one of the finest things we've seen to come out of the videogames industry, we just can't help lavishing superlatives on the technique. It's been superbly implemented and works like a joy on the GameCube controller; pulling off impressive combos gives a great sense of satisfaction far beyond what any button-basher could manage.
This level of distinction is carried through to every aspect of the game, none more so then the brilliant level designs. With the game being restricted to a 2D plane, it's hard for developers to create an exciting experience that isn't just running from one side to the other, however Capcom have implemented some brilliant puzzles based around the environment and Joe's super abilities that lift this game above the others. To top things off 'Viewtiful Joe' features some unforgettable boss encounters, a stalwart of older games and making a welcomed return in 'Viewtiful Joe'; there's nothing quite like pitching a huge boss at you when you're celebrating after just making it to the end of the level.
A large part of what impresses you about 'Viewtiful Joe' is just how cool everything looks, which is helped in no small part by the games wonderful visuals. Using a distinctive cell-shaded look that comes across as a blend of Japanese manga and 1950's American comics, the game oozes charm in the same way as Nintendo's 'The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker'. It's mainly because of the stunning animation that is highlighted whenever you slow down time; Joe twirls between bullets better then Keanu Reeves, the enemy robots come apart in a fashion that manga fans will appreciate whilst the sight of them quivering and shaking after seeing Joe dish out the dirt is brilliant.
Completing the game should take around 15hrs depending on your skill level, because 'Viewtiful Joe' is certainly about skill and you certainly won't just find your way to the end by luck. A range of unlockables reward completing the game with two harder difficulty settings and a couple of different characters.
