User Reviews

Take a cheesy superhero movie and a dorky fanboy. Add a damsel in distress, some cool costumes and superpowers, and you've got Viewtiful Joe.

Basically, it is a return to the glory of cel-shaded side-scrollers.

The hero, Joe, is the average idiot. He originally becomes a hero to save his girl, Silvia. By the time you finally find Silvia, Joe is having so much fun showing off his superpowers that he forgot about her. At any rate, he'll keep you amused.

Gameplay is beautiful, or shall I say, viewtiful. You can slow things down, speed things up, or go for the close up and show off. Combining these abilities leads to impressive results. There are small, relatively simple puzzles, and plenty of baddies to bash The bosses can be difficult, and are generally amusing. Unlike many bosses in video games, each of them has an odd personality. I particularly like Gran Bruce, a shark who is stupidity incarnate, and Alastor, the demon swordsman who begs to be in the game just a little bit longer.

Once you beat the easy mode, kick it up a notch to Adult mode. After that, there's a few more difficulty levels and playable characters to unlock. And watch the music video. It is amusing. But I recommend going to the Capcom site and watching the alternate version. Its even better A little thing to try: whenever you reach a new level, pause the game. The announcer makes stupid comments that are quite hilarious, generally assuming you pause the game only because the porcelain god summons. Anyway, listen to it. You'll fall over laughing.