Sequels. Love 'em or hate 'em, they won't go away anytime soon. For some reason they never seem to get better scores than their predecessors. Even if they outdo the game they follow up in every aspect, you're still bound to get the feeling you've done it all before which gets boring easily. You can also look at it in another way though; if you liked the original game in a series, why complain when part two is a lot like part one? Shouldn't you be glad you're getting more of a good thing? Because it can swing both ways for any gamer that picks up a sequel to a game they really like, it's hard to review a sequel. But we at Cube-Europe are brave young men, so we do it anyway! Read the results below.

Ruling the world

The story to this Joe adventure is easily as clichéd as the first one. An evil villain called Black Emperor is planning to take over the world by collecting the seven Oscar statues. His minions are collecting them in seven different movies, ranging from Japanese action flicks to science fiction. Of course there's only one guy in the world who can save the day, or one guy and his girl in this case. So Joe and Sylvia dust off their V-watches and get ready to beat up everything that crosses their path. Viewtiful Joe 2 uses the same tongue-in-cheek humor to tell it's very cheesy story, but it doesn't work as well as before. The story and the jokes are a lot like the first game, but they feel a bit more forced, like Joe and Sylvia are trying too hard to be funny. That said though, the themes Team Viewtiful came up with for the levels are great; You've probably all seen the screenshots in the Jurassic Park-like first level, the rest is easily as funny and well executed.

Back in action. Literally.

Great controls... again!

And now for some good news: Viewtiful Joe 2 controls exactly as great as part one. The engine feels completely the same, if you've played part one you'll have no trouble getting used to this one. You still move and dodge with the Control Stick, kick with X, punch with Y and jump with A. L is still used to slow time and B or the C-Stick still Zoom in. R still speeds up time if you're Joe (can now be used together with L) and activates Replay if you're Sylvia. Z (the only button you didn't need in the first game) switches between Joe and Sylvia. Sylvia sports a gun to pick off enemies from a distance and her Replay power can record one of her moves and play it back twice. You can use this to kick an enemy three times for the price of one, but you also risk getting hit three times in the process. Unfortunately, Sylvia isn't really any useful outside of puzzles. In a battle her weaker moves make things more difficult than necessary, and her long distance attacks don't combine well with the dodge-counter strategy that makes Viewtiful Joe great to play. Her Replay also charges her with electricity, but outside of puzzles you'll rarely use it. The idea of two playable characters was nice, but combining Joe and Sylvia should've been far more rewarding.

Frustration

The GameCube has a nice collection of games that are so hard in places you need to have amazing self-control not to ram your controllers through the wall. Ikaruga and F-Zero GX are good examples, as well as the first Viewtiful Joe. Remember the first time you fought against a helicopter boss? You probably got hit by the first bullets it sent your way. And if you finally beat it, it wasn't even the final boss of the level. Viewtiful Joe 2 is far from a walk in the park, but it is a bit less tough than the first game. It still seems to rain enemies from time to time, but you get more savepoints so you never have to go through entire levels anymore just because you've lost all your lives. If you liked the first game, you'd better pick the Hard difficulty level, because Normal doesn't nearly challenge you enough. The lower combat difficulty may be a bit of a downer, but luckily the puzzles got cranked up a few notches. You'll have to use both Joe's and Sylvia's VFX powers creatively to solve all of the puzzles. Joe's ability to catch fire and Sylvia's electricity are also used often. Expect to scratch your head regularly.

Viewtiful girlfriend, kicking butt. Wish mine did that. Not to me mind.

To be Viewtiful

One aspect of the game that luckily does not feel slightly disappointing when compared to the first game is the presentation. The music is still as over-the-top as it can be, for some reason only Japanese musicians can come up with this kind of speedy guitar pulp. The sound effects are top-notch again; if you listen well enough you can anticipate every attack bosses throw at you, even when they're off-screen. The original visual style of the first game also makes a welcome comeback. Even though it isn't really original anymore (second game, remember?), the 2D/3D cardboard style still looks amazing, and the levels are packed with even more little details than last time around. Like in the first game, most new enemies you encounter are just variations of the ones you've already beaten up, but they sure look nice. The bosses especially are full of detail and most of them are brand new. The only thing that gets the presentation down a bit is the voice acting; especially the scenes before bosses are drawn out a bit too long, they tend to take the speed out of the game a bit.

Final Say

Viewtiful Joe 2 is a true sequel; playing it feels more like playing new Viewtiful Joe levels than playing a new game. There are a few nice extras, a level select and a challenge mode, which stretch the lifespan a bit. In the end though it's the score system that'll get you playing the game again. All in all it's pretty easy to determine if Viewtiful Joe 2 is a game you'll want to buy: Did the first one left you wanting more? If so then run to your local software store now, Viewtiful Joe 2 may not be as good as the first one, it's still a great action game that deserves to be played!