Reenee
Sep 12, 2003, 05:37 PM
Plot:
Movie-obsessed Joe likes movies, especially those starring his favorite hero, Captain Blue.
Joe also has a hot girlfriend, named Sylvia. Regardless of the fact she looks like one of those bossy secretaries, Sylvia is forced to tag along Joe to the cinema.
In one movie, Joe is cheering on his favorite hero, Captain Blue. But wait! Captain Blue is defeated! A mysterious force is at work, and they take away Joe's girlfriend into the big screen. Joe enters the movie to save Sylvia.
No matter what you think of it, VJ JUST KICKS MAJOR ASS. Jebus, I've never played something so friggin' fantastic which plays so perfectly.
Joe will quickly acquire his powers, dubbed Visual Effects, from none other than Captain Blue himself. As the game progresses, Joe will earn more VFX, such as Mach Speed and Zoom In.
The demo of the game is pretty wacky. Jump into the air and you can pull off more air combos than any Street Fighter and take 10 seconds to reach the ground. And this is without using Viewtiful Joe's double-jump. Even as regular Joe, you are still potent.
The baddies are these gray robots that eerily resemble those gray "cock-a-doodling" henchmen from the early Power Rangers days, only they know how to fight...kinda. Before they attack (and by before, I mean a 2-second warning), a red icon will tell you to either crouch or leap to avoid their attack (I should've mentioned this before: pushing Down on the Analog Stick makes Joe crouch [yep, more combo possibilities here] and pushing Up makes Joe "leap"; this leap is different from Joe's jump and should only be considered a way to truly evade enemy attacks). After dodging the attack, the enemy is dizzy (noted by spinny stars), and you can hit them. This is one way to earn points, as simply running up and start punching will not earn you a higher score.
After a brief training session with Captain Blue (it looks like Joe gets hurt, but none of his life "petals" are depleted...ah, yes! Joe's life meter is represented by cherry blossom petals), Joe turns into Viewtiful Joe, enabling Joe to double-jump (always handy), use Slow and Mach Speed.
Slow basically slows you down, but it has other various effects. Before you fought Cap'n Blue, you fought a variation of the gray robot, which attacks as a sort of ballerina. This enemy will spin rapidly in place, preparing its attack. You can't disrupt it this way, but VJ's Slow will slow time down so you can punch or kick the grunt.
As I said, Slow had its effects: Slow makes your attacks MUCH stronger. A mini-boss you fight throws a coin into a slot machine (go play the demo), and bombs come out of this machine. If the boss is in the proximity of the bombs before they explode, you can actually make the blast even more damaging to the boss!
Slow also had environmental effects. There is this cylindrical platform that was hovering with a propeller. Activating Slow caused the propeller to slow, so that the platform was reachable! Yet another variation of the gray baddie was flying with a propeller and was also affected by Slow.
The coolest effect and use of Slow can be seen by yet ANOTHER variation of the gray baddie: a "cowboy" version wielded six-shooters to try and shoot at you. When he shot the pistols, you can either:
-Dodge the bullet (simply by activating slow, but this depletes your VFX meter, which I'll explain later), Matrix style.
-HIT the bullet, so that it goes straight back to the enemy!
Mach Speed makes you hella fast, but only if you use it right. Defeating that Cowboy mini-boss makes 4 gray baddies appear, and using Mach Speed can take them all out within five seconds. I saw this as a great way to rack up combos to get a higher score. Keep Mach Speed activated long enough, and you'll be on fire! Literally!
VJ isn't all that powerful. The VFX that he wields are powered by a VFX meter, that can deplete slowly (using Slow) or quickly (using Mach Speed). When the meter runs out, Viewtiful Joe becomes plain Joe. The meter regenerates quickly, and at the perfect pace. The meter contains little energy at first, but you'll collect Film Canisters to add another segment of energy.
Let's take note of something: Joe literally enters the movie, so the audience is watching you! Rack up combos to increase your score and rank! The game rates on your Combos, Defense, and Time Taken to defeat enemies, and you will be awarded a BIG bonus if you take no damage whatsoever (this applies to both damage received from an enemy or the surrounding environment). Take pain, no gain. The grades go from D, C, B, A, and V, V being the highest grade you can receive.
I've typed a lot. This was from personal experience too! Now I offer a few tips on the demo:
"Magician" Mini-Boss: Wait till you can dodge an attack (you know, using the red icon to help you), and you can take him out in about 10 seconds...literally.
"Cowboy" Mini-Boss: When he's about to shoot, activate Slow and punch the bullet right back to him so that he's dizzy. At this point, run up to him, uppercut him (crouch and Punch), then activate Slow and follow him up. He should be destroyed in 2 kicks and punch. Seriously. The baddies that appear should be taken out with Mach Speed.
Helicopter Boss: Quickly skip the intro and double jump. Time it so that you'll be at the 'copter's altitude and then use Slow. Hit it enough, and you'll disable it for awhile. The deal here is to never transform back into plain Joe. As long as you double jump and deactivate Slow before you are reverted, you can at least get a Viewtiful rating right here.
That's a lot of typing!
Movie-obsessed Joe likes movies, especially those starring his favorite hero, Captain Blue.
Joe also has a hot girlfriend, named Sylvia. Regardless of the fact she looks like one of those bossy secretaries, Sylvia is forced to tag along Joe to the cinema.
In one movie, Joe is cheering on his favorite hero, Captain Blue. But wait! Captain Blue is defeated! A mysterious force is at work, and they take away Joe's girlfriend into the big screen. Joe enters the movie to save Sylvia.
No matter what you think of it, VJ JUST KICKS MAJOR ASS. Jebus, I've never played something so friggin' fantastic which plays so perfectly.
Joe will quickly acquire his powers, dubbed Visual Effects, from none other than Captain Blue himself. As the game progresses, Joe will earn more VFX, such as Mach Speed and Zoom In.
The demo of the game is pretty wacky. Jump into the air and you can pull off more air combos than any Street Fighter and take 10 seconds to reach the ground. And this is without using Viewtiful Joe's double-jump. Even as regular Joe, you are still potent.
The baddies are these gray robots that eerily resemble those gray "cock-a-doodling" henchmen from the early Power Rangers days, only they know how to fight...kinda. Before they attack (and by before, I mean a 2-second warning), a red icon will tell you to either crouch or leap to avoid their attack (I should've mentioned this before: pushing Down on the Analog Stick makes Joe crouch [yep, more combo possibilities here] and pushing Up makes Joe "leap"; this leap is different from Joe's jump and should only be considered a way to truly evade enemy attacks). After dodging the attack, the enemy is dizzy (noted by spinny stars), and you can hit them. This is one way to earn points, as simply running up and start punching will not earn you a higher score.
After a brief training session with Captain Blue (it looks like Joe gets hurt, but none of his life "petals" are depleted...ah, yes! Joe's life meter is represented by cherry blossom petals), Joe turns into Viewtiful Joe, enabling Joe to double-jump (always handy), use Slow and Mach Speed.
Slow basically slows you down, but it has other various effects. Before you fought Cap'n Blue, you fought a variation of the gray robot, which attacks as a sort of ballerina. This enemy will spin rapidly in place, preparing its attack. You can't disrupt it this way, but VJ's Slow will slow time down so you can punch or kick the grunt.
As I said, Slow had its effects: Slow makes your attacks MUCH stronger. A mini-boss you fight throws a coin into a slot machine (go play the demo), and bombs come out of this machine. If the boss is in the proximity of the bombs before they explode, you can actually make the blast even more damaging to the boss!
Slow also had environmental effects. There is this cylindrical platform that was hovering with a propeller. Activating Slow caused the propeller to slow, so that the platform was reachable! Yet another variation of the gray baddie was flying with a propeller and was also affected by Slow.
The coolest effect and use of Slow can be seen by yet ANOTHER variation of the gray baddie: a "cowboy" version wielded six-shooters to try and shoot at you. When he shot the pistols, you can either:
-Dodge the bullet (simply by activating slow, but this depletes your VFX meter, which I'll explain later), Matrix style.
-HIT the bullet, so that it goes straight back to the enemy!
Mach Speed makes you hella fast, but only if you use it right. Defeating that Cowboy mini-boss makes 4 gray baddies appear, and using Mach Speed can take them all out within five seconds. I saw this as a great way to rack up combos to get a higher score. Keep Mach Speed activated long enough, and you'll be on fire! Literally!
VJ isn't all that powerful. The VFX that he wields are powered by a VFX meter, that can deplete slowly (using Slow) or quickly (using Mach Speed). When the meter runs out, Viewtiful Joe becomes plain Joe. The meter regenerates quickly, and at the perfect pace. The meter contains little energy at first, but you'll collect Film Canisters to add another segment of energy.
Let's take note of something: Joe literally enters the movie, so the audience is watching you! Rack up combos to increase your score and rank! The game rates on your Combos, Defense, and Time Taken to defeat enemies, and you will be awarded a BIG bonus if you take no damage whatsoever (this applies to both damage received from an enemy or the surrounding environment). Take pain, no gain. The grades go from D, C, B, A, and V, V being the highest grade you can receive.
I've typed a lot. This was from personal experience too! Now I offer a few tips on the demo:
"Magician" Mini-Boss: Wait till you can dodge an attack (you know, using the red icon to help you), and you can take him out in about 10 seconds...literally.
"Cowboy" Mini-Boss: When he's about to shoot, activate Slow and punch the bullet right back to him so that he's dizzy. At this point, run up to him, uppercut him (crouch and Punch), then activate Slow and follow him up. He should be destroyed in 2 kicks and punch. Seriously. The baddies that appear should be taken out with Mach Speed.
Helicopter Boss: Quickly skip the intro and double jump. Time it so that you'll be at the 'copter's altitude and then use Slow. Hit it enough, and you'll disable it for awhile. The deal here is to never transform back into plain Joe. As long as you double jump and deactivate Slow before you are reverted, you can at least get a Viewtiful rating right here.
That's a lot of typing!