Viewtiful Joe 2 (Gamecube) Review
Introduction
The sequel to Viewtiful Joe, Viewtiful Joe 2 sees Joe teaming up with his girlfriend Silvia to take down the Black Emperor. Not an overly inspired storyline, but hey, it is a sequel. The game itself is not much different from Viewtiful Joe, so fans of the original will be in love. That being said, the game isnt quite as good as the first.
Graphics
Practically the same as the original game, only with a few minor adjustments. The character models look slightly different, the main difference being that Silvia has changed her clothing. There are all new attack effects for Silvia, and some new animations for the new moves. Overall nice, but they should have been a bit more different from the prequel.
Sound
A bit better than the prequel. The classic Viewtiful Joe first level music has had a remix, which sounds pretty good. Most of the other tracks are great, my favourite being the one for Level 4. All of the levels have new music, which is to be expected. However if you play for extended periods of time you will find that some of the sound effects will grate.
Gameplay
Gameplay is like the prequel with minor adjustments. Wow, Im starting to repeat myself a bit. Well I suppose it is a sequel. The main difference in gameplay is that there is a new VFX power replay. Replay is only for Silvia, and it allows you to repeat an attack on an enemy 3 times, and on the 3rd hit lightning surrounds Silvia. The other main difference is the inclusion of new moves Yamaarashi for Joe, and Desperado for Silvia. Yamaarashi allows Joe to throw enemies, and Desperado let Silvia fire rapidly at many foes.
Value/Lastability
There are many new things to unlock. As with Viewtiful Joe, you can unlock 2 extra difficulties, V-Rated and Ultra V-Rated. These difficulties are essentially hard and very hard. The bulk of the unlockables comes with the new mode the 36 Chambers of Viewtiful. You can unlock 37 chambers here that set you challenges. All of the chambers are ranked, so getting a rainbow V on each will take lots of time. Getting all the ranks as rainbow Vs will also unlock unlimited VFX, so this game will definantly last you a long time.
Overall
I have thoroughly enjoyed this game. It extends the Viewtiful Joe storyline well, and there are several twists along the way. However, I just didnt have as much fun as I did playing this as I did playing the original. The game is great on all merits but in my opinion, Viewtiful Joe was more fun, and it had better unlockables. If you liked the first one get this, but if faced with a decision between the 2 buy Viewtiful Joe.
