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GameCube Previews
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Viewtiful Joe Preview
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Viewtiful Joe Preview
Japanese developer Capcom, much to the surprise of a lot of people, has been one of the staunchest supporters of Nintendo's GameCube in its home country. When other major Japanese developers like Konami have only given what appears to be token support to Nintendo, Capcom bucked the trend with the announcement of what has become known as the "Capcom Five". And despite recent revelations that not all of the "five" will be as exclusive as first thought, the importance of these five games - Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, PN03, Killer 7 and Dead Phoenix - cannot be underestimated.
While it's certain that other games, namely Resident Evil 4, will get more high-profile coverage, there's a strong possibility that Viewtiful Joe could well turn out to be the fan favourite of the whole lot.
Key Features
·Go from regular Joe to Superhero!
·Slow down and speed up time at the touch of a button.
·Zoom in and hit some killer poses.
·Old-school horizontally scrolling beat-em-up action.
·And do it all to save your girl!
Gameplay
If you're like me, and you've always wanted to be an action-movie star (and let's face it... who hasn't?) then Viewtiful Joe may well be the game to fulfill your wildest desires. You play a regular Joe who is propelled into a stunt-filled action movie universe to save your best girl from the clutches of what appears to be a vampire bat wearing a ruffle-shirt!
The horizontal-scrolling action seems simple at first when you do a lot of running to the left or right, and with punching and kicking, but soon our Joe's potential is unlocked and several movie-style special effects become at his disposal. Speed-up, slow-down and zoom-in (amongst others) are all achieved at the touch of a button, allowing Joe to navigate his peculiar 2.5 dimensional world, perform death-defying dodges, and beat down any number of odd opponents. Also introduced are number of puzzles designed to make use of those special effects, like the slot-machine style treasure chest which can only be opened by using the slow-down feature to perform a task. Add to this lots of old-school stuff like collectible film canisters and cash, as well as mini-bosses and stage-end bosses and you've got yourself something that appeals to the aged gamer in all of us.
Controls
Control simplicity is the name of the game here. The Control Stick makes Joe's left and right movement with the A-Button allowing Joe to jump (and, in the air, double jump). The X-Button and Y-Button are reserved for punches and kicks. Attacking moves done in mid-air cause Joe to hover, allowing fans of those mid-air wire-fights in Hong Kong movies to play out all of their gravity-defying fantasies.
While that in itself is an extremely cool prospect, the L-Button unleashes all those cool special effects. During gameplay Joe picks up icons that cause your VFX meter to fill. Once it's full enough, a press of the L-Button allows Joe to use a special effect. Slow-down slows time to allow Joe to attack foes who are usually too fast to catch, speed-up makes it easy to shoot through dangerous environments while zoom-in causes Joe to strike such an uber-cool pose that his opponents are struck dumb in admiration. Once the meter has drained completely Joe goes back to his non-superhero self, but not for long as the meter is constantly refilling. Controls are very responsive and tight, and it all travels along at such an insane pace that it's almost impossible not to be sucked in by the sheer fun of it.
Visuals
While other developers seem to be rushing headlong towards the Holy Grail of photorealism, it's good to see something this distinctive being produced in these conservative times. Everything about the look of Viewtiful Joe is different. From its high-contrast hand-drawn look to its use of film-style borders when the special effects are in use are unique, and the whole thing is displayed in a crazy 2.5 dimensional environment, and at a constant 60 fps. Think a hand-drawn Luigi Mansion with fighting and you're... well, nowhere near, actually.
Prospects
This one really has the potential to be a sleeper-hit. Its unique graphical style has won over many fans and its mix of old and new ideas, all implemented at such a mad pace, has produced a title that may well be considerably more than the sum of its parts. Its inclusion on the current GameCube Preview Disc suggests that Nintendo has a lot of faith in it and, especially to older gamers like myself, it's one of the most refreshing titles to come along in many a year. 2003 could be a Viewtiful year!
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