ViewtifulJoe was an incredible and amazing game that didn’t get the justice it
deserved. It must have done well enough to warrant a sequel but this time
it’s no longer an exclusive to the GameCube. Now for the PS2 gamers there is
no reason not to pick this game up. In fact Capcom will be releasing the
first Virtual Joe on PS2 later this year for anyone that missed out on the
first game.
For
those not familiar with Viewtiful Joe, the basic premise revolves Joe, an
average guy that has the ability to perform some craziest and unusual moves in
video games. Imagine playing in a comic book style movie with amazing and
innovative visuals you’ve ever seen. But it’s not the visuals and moves; it’s
how the moves are performed. You have the ability to slow down the game to
perform your moves and make the moves look spectacular. This is just the
beginning to describe how wonderful Viewtiful Joe is. The first game seemed
to come out of nowhere and blew everyone away.
In Viewtiful Joe 2, Joe
is back for even more action this time. The second game starts out with both
Joe and Silvia (Joe’s girlfriend) in what appears to be a prehistoric
setting. This game will allow both Silvia and Joe to fight side by side in
the game. In addition to the moves in the last game a cool new move was added
to the sequel called “Replay.” The replay move is similar to an old kung fu
movie you might have seen where the actors perform a rapid succession punch to
an enemy. You have the ability to replay a punch or move to perform triple
the attributes. Replay a punch three times for triple the damage, or replay a
health item to triple your health.
The game will also
include 40 different enemies to defeat and new stages to complete.
Graphically the sequel looks very similar to the first game. In fact if it
wasn’t for the new Replay move you might think this is the same game as
Viewtiful Joe 1. Now this is not a bad thing since the graphics are simply
amazing. It really is a cartoon being played out on your PS2 or GC because of
the toon-shading. If something doesn’t need to be fixed then leave it alone
and there wasn’t anything wrong with the graphics in the first game.
Besides Viewtiful Joe 2,
Capcom also announced Viewtiful Joe 1 on PS2. Now originally this was one of
the exclusive games announced for the GameCube along with Resident Evil 4. I
asked the Capcom representative Carrie Rooth why the game was being moved to
the PS2 platform. She mentioned that even though the first game did well on
the GameCube it probably would have performed better on the PS2. So now PS2
owners have the opportunity to play the first game but with extras. The
biggest extra is Capcom’s newest flagship character, Dante from Devil May Cry,
is a playable character in Viewtiful Joe.
If you never played
Viewtiful Joe then you just don’t know what you’re missing. This is an
incredible game and gamers are fortunate that Capcom has decided to make a
sequel and release the first Viewtiful Joe on PS2. Viewtiful Joe 1 will be
released later this year with Viewtiful Joe 2 sometime in 2005. Capcom will
make sure the first game is released on PS2 before releasing the sequel to
ensure PS2 gamers get the opportunity to try the game out before the sequels
release. Don’t miss out when something Viewtiful comes your way very soon.
