There comes a certain point in one's video gaming life, if you stick with it long enough, where simply clearing a game isn't good enough. This is the point at which you wish for a Gaming Olympics, because you're playing with style. Maybe it's in trying to clear a Castlevania game without using anything but the standard whip. Maybe it's in taking care of the healer last in a battle in Final Fantasy Tactics. Maybe it's in using only the knife in Counter-Strike. You don't just want to win - you want to show off.
Capcom, to their credit, decided that more than just the Tony Hawk games should reward people for doing goofy stunts just to look cool. So to satisfy anyone with such an impulse, and to show off that the newest graphical trends can work with a classic 2D beat-em-up, Capcom decided to unfurl Viewtiful Joe. The only problem is, the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
The game begins in a movie theater. Our man Joe has decided to take his girlfriend Sylvia out for a date so they can watch his favorite kaiju (big monster, for those who don't swear by Gamera) movie hero, Captain Blue. At this point, things are already unbelievable. Sylvia, who's built like a brick outhouse, is trying to get all over Joe in an otherwise empty theater. Joe shrugs her off (even after she tackles him to kiss him) so he can watch the movie.
I'd like to point out that if you've got a woman who is in that situation with you, and you're paying attention to the movie, it's time to start asking yourself if heterosexuality really is right for you. I mean, plenty of people have fulfilling lives as homosexuals; I'm certain Joe could as well. Of course, before we can really ponder that, somehow the giant monster in the movie reaches out and captures Sylvia. Joe is confused about what to do when a giant robot is knocked out of the screen and gets back in - with Joe in tow.
Now stuck in Movieworld, Joe becomes the heir to Captain Blue, and it's up to him to save Sylvia. Unfortunately, he's too busy trying to decide on a superhero name (here's a big freaking hint, Joe: look on the title screen!), and messing around to actually get the job done. It's not that the very basic premise is that bad; Joe just doesn't strike me as the guy I want being the last hope for the mechanic who can never fix a car, let alone the entire world.
The game's controls are really simple, at first. Joe starts out being able to jump, punch, and kick. Fighting isn't that difficult, particularly because the basic enemies actually warn you about where they will strike. But once Joe unlocks the ability to transform (in theory, just by saying "henshin," but this quickly changes to either "henshin-a-go-go, baby," or "henshin around"), he can speed up or slow down time, and zoom in on himself. Of course, if he uses too much of these abilities at once, he drains himself and temporarily changes back into his normal form.
The first big problem is that Joe's moves really don't look all that spectacular, even when he's doing special effects to make them more impressive. Sure, he does more damage when he slows things down, and he bilocates when things speed up, but the moves still look ordinary. Now, I will give credit to the Zoom feature, which does change every attack and can also be used in conjunction with the other two. However, the game's attacks, even when you buy extra ones, are too dull for what the game is trying to do.
Moreover, it's often frustrating trying to progress in the game, in that there is only one way to get to the next area. There are many times when it's not necessarily instinctual, or even easy, to figure out which move you have to do. More often than not, you're put at a guess as to which of your three abilities you need to use. And since you only have a limited amount of time you can spend using them in one shot (though that does regenerate when not in use), you end up regularly stopping and waiting for your "viewtiful energy" to replenish. Thus, getting through quite a few parts in the game is less a question of skill and more a question of patience, which is no way to go through a game.
The controls themselves are quite responsive, but the game's hit detection system seems completely out of whack. This, I'm sure, is partly due to the bizarre graphical style, in which everything is always super-deformed. However, it seems that there is some sort of aura, which grows in proportion to the object or being in question, that can hit past the actual space taken up by the object. A big part of playing the game is figuring out where that aura lies so that you can hit others without being hit yourself. Personally, I find any game that requires me to guess where the invisible death traps are to be aggravating in the extreme.
Graphically, I think Capcom has managed to find the perfect game in which to use cel-shading. Designed to work like Klonoa, with backgrounds scrolling so that you believe a 2D game is really 3D, Viewtiful Joe moves smoothly and the cartoonish graphics highlight the fact that this game is essentially supposed to be light and silly. Each character's animations are complete and smooth, and Capcom deserves full credit for basically animating the game for three styles - fast, normal, and slow speeds.
One particularly nice touch is the game's graphical switch when Joe reverts to his normal form. When this happens, the game suddenly appears as if there is a thin sepia film on it, with occasional "scratches" and "blips" as if the game is on very old film. Once Joe says some variation of the word "henshin," though, it's like Ted Turner just went nuts on your Gamecube. The game is still quite clear, however, and I think this touch adds a neat, pulpy, four-color element to the entire game.
I do have to add one last thing, just because I find it neat. On the back of the box, they show a picture of Joe staring into a store with a Captain Blue figure in the window. Not that impressive... but wait, is that a Robot Operating Buddy in the background? Yes, I do believe so. First making a surprise appearance in Wario Ware, now sneaking in a cameo in Viewtiful Joe... are we about to see a revival of Nintendo's first mascot? Or is it just a nod to old-school gamers like myself who have actually played Gyromite? Either way, I like it.
Musically, the game is solid, although it isn't exactly mind-blowing. It never is bothersome, although it certainly could be much bolder. I mean, let's face it, a hero is partly defined by his theme music. Would Mighty Mouse be so memorable without that jaunty "Here I come to save the day!" I ask you? John Maclaine might be known for his "Yippie-Kai-Yay!" but he also takes on terrorists to a stirring rendition of "The Ants Go Marching." Nothing that Joe fights along to can even come close to being a memorable theme. For an action game that is really trying to promote its hero, this is a bad move.
One thing that is decent is the voice acting for the human characters. When Joe is refusing Sylvia, I really believe he's annoyed. I also really believe that he needs his hormone levels checked, but that's another story altogether. You can always clearly hear what the human characters are saying to each other, and the voice actors sell it well. Things slightly fall apart with the bosses, all of which are anthropomorphized animals. While you can tell that the voice actors did try some work here, Capcom's effects guys obviously felt that some digital editing was necessary, and the voices end up garbled. Next time, may I recommend that you let the trained professionals do what they do best?
The concept of Viewtiful Joe is excellent, and the graphics do their best to pull you in. But the weak control scheme, combined with parts of the game that are completely counter-intuitive, hamper the game tremendously to the point where a serious gamer will, at best, pick this up for a rental. I think Capcom became so blinded by the concept that they forgot that the execution is just as important, if not moreso, than the design. While I wouldn't mind seeing a sequel, let's hope that production is sharply improved, lest Joe age worse than all the old movies he loves.
