Viewtiful Joe 2 is different than anything else I've played, thanks to its offbeat visual style and innovative gameplay. Joe and Silvia are back and so are the baddies, in many different shapes and forms. I dive back into the cinematic world of our heroes. It's a world full of eye-candy, imaginative superpowers and fast-paced brawling, but it's also full of frustration and trickiness. And a lot of Henshin a Go-Go, baby!
In Viewtiful Joe 2, you can switch between two characters, Joe and his girlfriend Silvia. Joe is our red-bearded main hero with attitude and awesome superpowers. Joe can slow time and make his attacks much more effective that way. He can also fast forward time to set things ablaze or just kick ass super-fast! Silvia can also slow time, but the reason to use her is her gun. She can fire from long range so that makes her a good character to choose if you want to stay out of your enemy's reach. You can upgrade your characters by collecting all kinds of things during the levels. You can buy new attack moves, extra life points and more.
VJ2 can be described as a side-scrolling beat 'em up adventure. The adventuring is fun with smooth jumps and because it's side-scrolling 2D, there's no fear of getting lost. The controls are really easy to learn. You can kick and punch and combine them to form powerful attacks. The cinematic superpowers alone make VJ2 stand out. It's just so satisfying to punch the enemy robots in slow-motion and hear the bolts hit the ground. Superpowers are a must, since Joe's a pretty weak superhero without his powers. Be careful not to drain your power-meters out, since that turns our hero into a regular joe (no pun intended) and makes him very vulnerable.
The game isn't all about dashing forward and punching everything in your sight, though. VJ2 also loves tricky puzzles. The puzzles can usually be solved by using the right superpowers the right way. Early on, the puzzles are quite logical and easy to solve, but later they get really tricky and frustrating, sometimes even illogical. I admit, I used Youtube to get through certain parts. The game also loves to torment the player with long and frequent boss battles. You'll even have to face the same boss enemy several times. Some boss enemies even have up to five health bars. It's usually easy to find out the weaknesses of the boss baddie, so you'll just have repeat the same attacks over and over again, until the enemy is defeated, which really isn't my cup of tea. The feeling after winning a long battle is very rewarding, though.
Viewtiful Joe 2 looks absolutely great. It's pure eye-candy. The graphical style is something very unusual. It makes the game look like a classy, vintage cartoon movie. The characters are detailed and the scenery looks very lively. You travel through jungles, snow mountains and ancient temples, for example, and they all have the same visual flair. VJ2 even makes a grey factory look exciting! VJ2 also sounds good. The background music is usually fast-paced techno that sets the rhythm of the action just right. Voice acting is a bit cheesy. They could've made Joe a bit less irritating. Joe's and Silvia's flirting is funny, though, and the dialog is usually fine.
Viewtiful Joe 2 offers enough bang for your buck in terms of length, if you're prepared and determined to push through the illogical puzzles and long boss fights. I'll say this: it's easy to see through the bad sides when you get to experience VJ2 in action. The tempting visual style, the fast-paced side-scrolling action, the awesome superpowers... it got me hooked. If the developers had loosened up on the difficulty a little, I would probably give this an even higher rating. I still highly recommend it, though, if you're not scared to play the same sequences over and over again.
The Good: Offbeat visual style, innovative gameplay, good sounds
The Bad: Frustrating difficulty, illogical puzzles, long boss battles
REAL SCORE: 8.7