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Viewtiful Joe
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GameCube - Capcom - Action - T - 1 Player
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| When Viewtiful Joe was originally announced, it got little more than a passing glance from yours truly. Hell, I was stoked about Dead Phoenix because I didn't have an X Box and probably was never going to play Orta. As Joe's release date drew near, I caught some of the buzz off of internet message boards, but again, I didn't pay much attention. But the hype kept growing. It even got its own comic in Penny Arcade. I needed to see what the fuss was about. And I'm oh so very glad I did. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Joe starts off innocently enough. You assume the role of a rather geeky action movie fan out on a date with his girl Sylvia when something goes terribly wrong. To make a short story even shorter, you both get sucked into the movie, she gets kidnapped, and you need to kick some ass. Cliché? Yes. Functional? You're damn straight. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| You start off the game with few moves other than your basic punches, and kicks. Even still, you're capable of kicking a copious amount of ass. After you receive your VFX watch (It's Morphin' Time !) you're able to turn into the pink capped crusader, Viewtiful Joe himself. Early on you're given the abilities to either slow or speed up time, as well as the ability to zoom in on the action. All three are integral to the gameplay, and are not gimmicky in the least. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| By slowing down time, you're able to deflect bullets back at your enemies, enlarge explosions, and dodge things you'd have never thought possible. By first dizzying the enemy and initiating slow mo you're able to use them as projectile weapons, taking out anything or anyone standing in your way. When you speed up time, you move so fast as to occasionally burst into flame, and zooming in gives you access to a whole set of powerful new moves, as well as a surefire way to impress the chicks. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| While each is used to solve the games minor puzzles, their real purpose lies in the combat system itself. You'll never go more than 5 seconds or so without using at least one of these abilities. And more often than not you're using two in conjunction with each other. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In a conventional action game, what would you do if you came across a hoard of robotic ballerina? You'd probably kill them all with extreme prejudice. Not so in Viewtiful Joe. Here you'd get right in the middle of the action and wait for them to attack. You'd dodge each and every single thing thrown you're way, knocking one up into a chandelier, dragon kicking another in the face, and generally just causing a lot of hell and havoc. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| And that's pretty much the whole point of Viewtiful Joe. You're a hero in an action movie, so it would follow that you'd want to be a good one. By either collecting coins, items, or most commonly just doing something cool, you earn points, or Viewtifuls. Viewtifuls are used as a type of currency between levels, where you can shop for weapons, new moves, extra lives, and things of that nature. The amount of Viewtifuls you earn also has a direct impact on your ranking for any given level, so if you don't want to be subject to ridicule by your close friends and family, you'll want to do well. When playing Viewtiful Joe you're not necessarily trying to discern how to best overcome a situation, but rather you're trying to discern how to overcome it with style. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| One of the coolest things about Viewtiful Joe is that it allows you to develop your own style of play. While there aren't that many moves, there are just so many practical applications of them that no two people are going to play in exactly the same fashion. The game only gets as stale as you let it. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| One interesting thing about Viewtiful Joe is that in many ways, the game is a paradox. The whole premise, a cheesy Power Rangers style movie combined with special effects ripped straight from Matrix exemplifies this. This carries over into the gameplay as well. This game, while loaded with all the graphical effects and extras of a modern title, is decidedly "old school". For all intents and purposes, Viewtiful Joe is a beat ‘em up on crack. And acid. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| In 10 years, most of us will look back on games of this generation and wonder how we tolerated playing games with such "horrible" graphics. Not so with Viewtiful Joe. There's really nothing much I can say about the visuals except that few exceptions, this is the best looking game I've ever played. Everything from the backgrounds to the character designs, it's all amazing. This doesn't look as a videogame as much as it looks like a comic book brought to life. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Though I merely glazed over the plot in my introduction, I think it deserves a little more attention. Obviously it's not going to touch anyone down deep, but the plot of Viewtiful Joe is genuinely entertaining. The best analogy I can make would be to think of the old live action Batman TV show. Each level in Viewtiful Joe would be equivalent to a single episode, complete with the guy at the end telling you to tune in next week, same Bat time, same Bat channel. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| The one thing that I feel isn't adequately addressed in many reviews of Viewtiful Joe is the games difficulty. You will die. And you'll continue to do so until you learn the skills necessary to survive. And really, would you have it any other way? | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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