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Viewtiful Joe Review
10/20/2003
By: ZeroTolerance
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In a world where looks are everything, and critics all have peanuts shoved up their asses from too much exposure to our wonderful medium, Capcom really pulled out a wild card when they brought Viewtiful Joe to the table.
In essence, it is a complete, 2D platforming nut’s dream. The responsive gameplay, over-the-top antics, and high production values make this game a king among platforming games. Trust me—this, my friends, is the absolute pinnacle of 2D platforming. Oh, did I forget to mention that all the graphics are in three dimensions and is cel shaded? Oops, sorry about that.
In what can be seen as a somewhat cheesy storyline, Joe and his girlfriend Silvia are at a Captain Blue marathon in an empty theater. Joe is a huge Captain Blue fan (probably the only one) and therefore is totally into the cinema and not into the snuggling that Silvia wants to give him. Well, wouldn’t you know it, but in the movie, Captain Blue is defeated, which causes the enemy to pop out of the movie screen, capture Silvia, and bring Joe into Movieland! The spirit of Captain Blue bequeaths his V-Watch to Joe, which lets him transform into our beloved hero. I personally love the dialogue in the game. Some may think it’s cheesy, but I think that was done purposefully. The acting is actually quite good and it all helps bring a great amount of life and vibrance to these already outlandish and funky characters. Joe is also extremely cocky, knowing full well that these bad guys don’t have any chance by messing with him. This kind of humor is like the icing on the cake for the game. The music is also pretty good, keeping the pace in the normal levels and then speeding up at boss fights. I can’t quite say you’ll be humming some of the tunes while shopping at K-Mart, but it’s fine for the game and I had no qualms with it.
To all those who don’t know, “henshin” in Japanese means “transform.” This is the magic word that turns our normal Joe, into the superhero, Viewtiful “Looking Good is Everything” Joe. When Joe transforms, something happens not only to him, but also to you, in the real world. Your brain instantly goes at ease, because once you transform, you know that you can kick the absolute shit out of anything that comes close to you—AND look good doing it. The game features a blue meter at the top of the screen that limits how long you can use your Viewtiful powers called “VFX.” Scattered throughout the game are “Viewtifuls” which are movie reels with pink “V’s” on them. The more Viewtifuls you collect, the longer your meter will be, and the more time you have to just fucking ROCK! The rocking you do is some of the most fun I’ve had in years. Slowing down the action, zooming in on Joe, and combo-ing one enemy after the other just never seems to get old. They have also designed the levels so that you can put your powers to uses other than fighting. Slowing down time causes the propeller on a floating platform to slow down, and thus it falls. Speed up time and the platform will skyrocket upward. Many of the bosses have a trick that you need to discover which usually consists of using your superpowers to gain the upper hand. In this sense, it’s very much like another famous Capcom franchise you may have heard of: Megaman.
The game sports an incredibly distinct graphical style that highly mimics a comic book or anime. It is cel shaded, but with incredibly thick black lines which give it that hand-drawn look. When you are regular Joe, the color is somewhat darker and duller, and there is a filter on the screen that puts little dust specs and lines on the screen that make it look like an old-time reel-to-reel movie. This perfect balance of visual communication really helps in the game when you have to do some heavy focusing on dodging enemies rather than watching Joe. Your eyes will jump around the screen so much and so many things will be flying at you all at once that you will sometimes think, “How in the hell did I just survive that?” As I previously stated, looking good is top priority in this game, and it really accomplishes that goal in a spectacular fashion.
VJ is something that I have been waiting a long time for and now that it has finally happened, I can only hope that people with support it so that we can get more of them! In fact, the second I saw the first screenshot of VJ the hype meter in my brain hit full and I have never stopped thinking about it ever since. Some say 2D is dying, but when you play something like this, it makes you wonder what the hell those people are smoking. 2D is not only alive and well, but rightfully beating the shit out of you as we speak—IN SLOW MOTION!!! The future of 2D is here, and all I can say is GIVE ME MORE!
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GameDiscovery.com : GameCube : Viewtiful Joe
Review : Action 
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