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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great sequel to a brilliant game, 30 April 2005
Viewtiful Joe is one of the most outlandishly fun games of recent years, so it's great news that Capcom decided to follow it up. Not a lot has changed... the graphics are still colourful and striking in their comic-book stylings, and the order of the day is still manipulating film special effects (like slow motion, mach speed and zoom in) to kick seven shades out of everything you see and to solve puzzles. The story is pretty similar too, with Captain Blue managing to get himself kidnapped again and a rather random twist at the end.Changes come in the form of Joe's girlfriend, Silvia, who you get to play as this time around. If, like me, you were hoping this would lead to two-player cooperative modes then you'll be rather disappointed that such features are absent. Which is a shame, really, because it could have led to a more creative use of the two characters. As it is, you can switch between the two at any point during the game and make use of Silvia's extra abilities such as her guns that allow you to attack from long-range and the replay VFX power she has instead of mach speed, which simply repeats an attack 3 times for added damage and is used to solve rather obvious puzzles. It's a double-edged sword though, in that if you have the replay power on when YOU'RE hit you'll take 3 times the damage, so watch out for that! The other differences are merely tweaks to improve the old game. Saves are now much more frequent than before, reducing the frustration from the first game a lot. The difficulty has been reduced as well, so there's less cushion-eating madness moments to be had, although Hard mode is still quite a challenge. Most of the challenge is in the optional 36 Chambers mode, for the hardcore, where you have to defeat enemies in an arena according to certain conditions. It's a good addition that should keep you playing once the game is over, but it gets pretty tough. VJ2 didn't need to be massively different, so it's no great disaster that it isn't. Anyone who enjoyed the first game should find the same satisfaction in stylish fighting here.
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