Review: Viewtiful Joe 2
Viewtiful Joe 2 is a worthy follow-up to its seminal forerunner, but a lack of innovation keeps it from legendary status.
To say the original Viewtiful Joe was a good game is an understatement. A spellbinding fusion of challenging gameplay, innovative time-bending features, and glorious sketchbook graphics, it took the best elements of 2D games and recast it with cutting edge technology, resulting in one of the most aesthetically pleasing and rewarding games made in recent years.
To say it was a great game would suffice, but maybe classic says it a little better. So, obviously, expectations for its follow-up were lofty, and though Viewtiful Joe 2 is a total blast, the new features it introduces don't stack up against its reliance on rehashed ideas enough to keep you from feeling you've tread this path before.
Is it Time to be an Android Not a Man
The plot of VJ2 involves some snobby cyborg squid stealing magical Oscar awards in order to control the fabric of reality (or something like that). You must track down and recover the statues by jaunting through a baker's dozen of celluloid-inspired worlds that parody everything from old Shaw Brothers flicks to Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and Alien, and contend with a slew of new enemies, ranging from clockwork ninjas, kinky nurses, six-foot Oscar award androids, to poetry-spouting saber-toothed tigers, and rocket-ship Buddhas.
As appealing as different environments, more enemies, and a second playable character are, what got us the most excited was when Capcom announced a co-op mode that would enable two players to play through the game together. Unfortunately that feature never made it to the final product, but has instead been supplanted by on-the fly switching between the two characters--Joe, and his pom-pom wielding girlfriend, Silvia.
Fortunately, this is probably the sequel's coolest new feature since each character has different advantages (Silvia can attack from a distance with her space gun) and powers (Joe gets Mach Speed, Silvia gets Record, enabling you to record attacks and replay them for three times the damage).
What the game does really well is require you to juggle both characters, as some enemies are too difficult for Joe to beat solo, but vulnerable to Silvia's ranged attacks, while certain puzzles require you to switch between both characters. For example, confronted with a series of pillars that have to be set on fire to open a door, you need to combine Joe's Mach Speed abilities with Sylvia's Record power to immolate all of them. Figuring out ways to overcome obstacles by combining both characters' talents like this is the most rewarding part of the game.
We're All Blue From Projection Tubes
But other than the character swapping, most of the new elements in VJ2 are just window dressing, and what is disappointing is how Capcom has recycled ideas from the first game right down to making you re-fight a string of previously defeated bosses towards the end. The boss battles themselves are also hit or miss--some require clever exploitation of weaknesses and attack patterns, while others are painfully drawn-out battles of attrition.
The game is just as much a visual treat as the first, even surpassing it in terms of animation and particle effects, and everything is executed in the spirit of fun, something Viewtiful Joe 2 has by the baleful. Don't expect a re-invention of the wheel and you'll be provided for; otherwise here's hoping that the hinted-at third installment will be a bit more inventive.
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