Viewtiful Joe 2 - GameCube

Late 2002 saw Capcom announce that it was going to release Resident Evil 4 and four other all-new (and apparently exclusive) games on the Nintendo Gamecube. The announcement did a lot for the credibility of a console that was still being eyed merely speculatively in many quarters. Resident Evil 4 came out in Europe recently, but one of the games in the four is now in its second iteration. ‘Super-hero sim’ Viewtiful Joe was a colourful 2D romp in which a video shop worker dons a red suit and indulges in comic book style fisticuffs. It was possible to both slow down and speed up play and perform dramatic combos in the resulting confusion.

So successful was Joe on the 'Cube that it was decided to release the game on the PS2 as well. Now Joe returns to both consoles in Viewtiful Joe 2. Joe’s girlfriend Silvia – who you had to rescue in the first game, is now a playable character with deadly pompoms and projectiles. Joe has new skills too, including the replay, which allows him to re-enact a move three extra times. As before he can speed up and slow down time, and also the camera can be zoomed in so that Joe can perform flashy, close-up moves Players must swap between the two characters to solve puzzles, as they harness the power of the movies to come through their adventure victorious.

Having escaped from Captain Blue’s Movieland, their troubles have only just begun – they must fight through Movieworld now, and find and stop the evil Black Emperor, who wants nothing less than to take over the world! Each of the games many levels is a pastiche of a film, from Indiana Jones to Jurassic Park. With the same fast-paced, colourful gameplay and stylish fusion of 2D gameplay with 3D graphics, Viewtiful Joe on PS2 and Gamecube will delight fans of the original. more