PixlBit

If you missed Part 1, you can check it out here

The first half of the game is certainly good, but the second half is where things get amazing. So let's get right into it!

Episode 4: The Viewtiful Escape

This level takes place inside the submarine Joe jumped into at the end of the last episode. This one's kinda tricky as you'll be doing some backtracking and might get a little lost (or confused). As you move forward, you'll notice giant red missiles that are coming right at you! You'll want to avoid these, of course, as they will damage you if you make contact with them. You'll notice a map in the background that has a highlighted section in orange, indicating where you should go. This part's a pain because you have to use a remote to pull a floating platform behind you, but you can't let the platform get hit by a missile, otherwise you will have to go back and get another platform. Use the platform to get up a long shaft.

As you fight your way through the submarine, one enemy will give you a wheel. Take the wheel to the main control room and it will automatically fall into place, which will flip the entire submarine upside-down. Now you will need to work your way to where the giant missiles are stored and deactivate them. Along the way you'll be fighting enemies and dodging missiles. You'll fight a new enemy here, a yellow ape-like robot that will either do a long punch or will jump at you in a screw attack. You can only defeat this type of enemy by attacking his back.

After deactivating the missiles, now head back to the main control room and hit the wheel to flip the submarine right-side up. Now you can access a long shaft leading down (it was up before) that will lead to the boss. The boss here is called Another Joe (an evil doppleganger of Joe). Joe wants to prove he's a better fighter. He says that whoever loses has to wear a yellow costume. So the fight begins.

This fight can be tricky because evil Joe will split into multiple Joes that cannot be hurt (you have to attack the real one). After a brief time the duplicates will rush you, so you have to be ready to dodge them. Missiles will sometimes drop from the air. Also be careful not to fall onto the electric floors (you're fighting around some kind of generator). In order to hurt evil Joe, look for him to flash his V-watch, and that's when you want to pummel away at him. It's a cool fight. Once it's over, there's an escape sequence, but you'll have plenty of time to get out. You're moving straight up, but those pesky lasers will be the biggest problem here. Joe makes it out and moves on to the next stage of his adventure.

Episode 5: The Midnight Thunderboy

After that last level (which was very puzzly), the game gives you a very straightforward level that focuses more on action. Joe is back on the streets, but this time it's at night. You will fight a tank for the first time. It's simple: when you hear a certain sound, that means the tank is about to fire. Use Slow and then hit the giant bullet back at the tank. This is the ONLY way to defeat tanks as punching and kicking will do nothing. Next you'll go down into the sewers and do some platforming puzzles over lava (yikes). These are basically the same platform puzzles that we had earlier in the game. You'll fight Joker again, and after defeating him, you'll need to knock a bomb into a pipe in order to cause a lava geiser to shoot the slot machine (and Joe on top) up through a manhole and back into the city.

Now it's just a gauntlet of enemies as you fight your way forward. Along the way, you'll fight more tanks and jets, but by this point, you can handle them in style. You come to some train tracks, and you'll want to jump just as a train approaches. Joe will land on the train and you'll be taken into the next section. It's a runaway train! You have a time limit to get to the engine room and activate the emergency brakes. This can be a bit stressful. Basically you'll get into a car, fight a ton of enemies (the last of which has a key), and then you will use the key to unlock a hatch and move onto the next car. When you finish this part, Joe will jump outside and see that the train has stopped at some kind of temple.

This is where Joe meets Alastor, the guy who was imitating Joe in the last episode. I really like Alastor. He's basically an anti-Joe, but he also has a lot in common with him. "Finally, my rival!" Like Joe, he's arrogant and silly, and wants a challenge. In a bit of fourth wall breaking, he pulls out the Viewtiful Joe script and explains that Jadow wants to take over the real world, and they needed to capture Silvia to do that. Joe is not happy, of course, and so the fight begins between the two stylish rivals.

This can be a tough fight because there's a lot going on. There are blocks moving around the arena that shoot down lightning, so you will have to jump over them (some of them are pretty high up in the air). Meanwhile, Alastor will shoot lightning at you, vanish and reappear, and hurl swords at you (which can be knocked back at him for damage). It's tough to avoid all of these while also trying to locate Alastor to attack. After the fight is over, Alastor dies (supposedly--don't worry, he'll be back in the sequel). But before that he mentions that Joe is so viewtiful, and that's when Joe decides to call himself "Viewtiful Joe." It's just so perfect, dontch'a think?

Episode 6: The Magnificent Five

This episode is nothing more than a boss rush with a new boss at the end. I'm thinking either the developers ran out of time or they got a little bit lazy and wanted to pad out the game. I suppose it could be intentional, but it doesn't seem that way, especially since there are NO enemies to fight, just bosses. You will fight Charles the 3rd, Hulk Davidson, Gran Bruce, and Another Joe. These guys look the same, except that they're green (I guess they're clones). These fights are the exact same as before, but they can still be tough. You'll want to grab all the V-emblems sitting around because you'll need them for the last boss.

After beating the four bosses, Joe finds himself in a big lava arena. Silvia is right there in the middle trapped in a cage! She's not happy with Joe because she's been watching, and he's been so wrapped up with being a superhero that he hasn't even thought about her! Whoops! Suddenly a new villain jumps in. It's Fire Leo, a big lion monster who's on fire (that was obvious). He does the typical villain thing of saying "join us" to Joe, but Joe refuses. Joe just wants to kick his butt, save the girl, and go home. So with that, the fight begins.

This is the hardest boss in the game. You're fighting on a circular track. Fire Leo will run around the track shooting out rocks. He will then stop and starting shooting fireballs around the track. Use Mach Speed to hit the rocks and get a fire aura around Joe. While like this, you will be impervious to any fire attacks. However, the aura will fade pretty quickly, so you might want to use Mach Speed on more rocks as you head towards the boss. Now attack Fire Leo until his shield breaks. This is where it gets really tough. Fire Leo will do a spin attack and swipe at you five times. You have to successfully dodge all five of them, otherwise he will do it again. You WON'T be able to dodge them if you don't use Slow, so tap L just long enough to see if he's swiping high or low, then dodge, let go of L, and yeah, this is really hard. If you succeed, he'll get dizzy, and now you can do some damage. He'll jump into the lava and reappear somewhere on the track, and it all starts over again. This is a tedious fight (and a long one). What makes it even harder is the fireballs. While you're attacking Fire Leo to break his shield, Joe's aura will disappear (making you vulnerable to fireballs), so you have to be aware if a fireball is coming at you. If all of this is not hard enough, when the boss's life is finally in the red, he'll start moving crazy fast (whyyyyyyy). So beating this guy is a huge accomplishment.

When the fight is finally over, Joe jumps at Silvia to save her. It's all over, right? Wrong! Joe falls flat on the ground. What happened? A giant hand grabs Silvia. It's the same hand that grabbed her at the beginning. Joe summons Six Machine and flies off to save his girl. It's time to go to space and end this once and for all!

Episode 7: Joe & Silvia

Joe jumps out of Six Machine and lands inside the space base (no space suit needed). I really like this level as everything looks cool and feels like a last level. You’ll notice an army of biancies lined up in the background (a clear reference to the storm troopers from Star Wars). You’ll also see ROB lined up with them (although you won’t fight him). In this first room you have to activate three giant buttons by pushing down on them very hard. In order to do this, you will have to climb to the very top of the room, jump up and use Zoom and Slow at the same time to get enough force coming down to activate them. In the next room you’ll fight a couple of space tanks (like tanks, but they look more technological as if NASA had made them). 

In the next area you’ll fight a new enemy called Metal Leo (he looks like a robot). His attacks are the same as Fire Leo’s but his swipes are slower (thank God) so he’s much more manageable. In the next area you’ll get on a moving platform (an elevator of sorts), and as it moves forward, you’ll fight a gauntlet of enemies. Along the way, watch out for shooting flames and lasers. At the end you’ll fight Joker one last time. After beating him, you’ll notice that the slots are moving reeeeeaaaally slooooooow, so use Mach Speed to get them in place (a nice change-up). 

This next room is cool. You can see three spaceships in the background. There are missiles shooting straight up from three different locations in the room. Use Slow, hit a missile (which will redirect it toward a spaceship), and then use Slow just before it hits to do significant damage. Do this to destroy all three spaceships. Then a red and black spaceship appears. Do the same thing. Then a cube-like space base appears. Do it all again. There’s something satisfying about watching things blow up in the background that you had a hand in. Neat idea for sure. The rest of the level has you moving upward as you fight more enemies (with a time limit to make it more exciting). Joe finally makes it up to the control room and discovers…

spoilers!!!

…that Captain Blue is behind the whole thing! Yes, Joe’s hero and mentor is actually the villain! He calls himself King Blue. He’s the creator of Movie Land. He wants to take over the real world because they treat his movies like trash (they watch them but then discard them and forget about them). He says he’s also Silvia’s dad (gasp)! You’ll notice that he’s huge, so Joe summons his super massive robot, MegaBot. It’s time for an epic battle of cosmic proportions! 

This is a cool fight. MegaBot is on the earth while King Blue floats out in space. This fight is difficult because there are so many things to watch out for and you’ll only have certain opportunities to attack Blue. Blue will shoot down columns of lightning, summon tie fighters, use a tower to summon missiles, and have an orb come down that shoots out horizontal lightning. You can’t use Slow to dodge lightning, and you will definitely get hit sometimes. I found that the best way to hurt Blue was to wait for him to summon the tie fighters, then jump over them, use Zoom and Slow and do the spin kick on Blue. This will do a good amount of damage. Also use Mach Speed on the tower when it appears and multiple Joes will automatically attack Blue in the background. This is the second hardest fight in the game (Fire Leo is the hardest), but you can do it if you stick it out. It’s a pretty cool fight. 

After the fight, you might think it’s all over, but it’s not! Now Joe will have to fight Captain Blue mano-a-mano (and Captain Blue is young). This fight isn’t difficult, but it can still be tricky. Blue moves pretty fast, so laying a hit on him can be tough. He summons lightning, and again, you can’t use Slow to dodge it. Take your time with this fight, as rushing will have Joe get hit by lightning pretty easily. 

Finally, with Joe victorious, Captain Blue has come to his senses. He explains that he used to be a movie director, but one day he was somehow sucked into his movie and became a superhero. It slowly corrupted him until he wanted revenge on the real world. But it’s all over now. Silvia is so happy to have her dad back. She asks for her very own V-watch, and Blue can’t refuse his daughter. So Silvia dons the costume that she wears in the second game. Joe and Silvia jump up and pose for the camera. Credits. 

What a game! Viewtiful Joe is STILL unmatched in its style and presentation. It’s the perfect mix of puzzle solving and action. The levels are solid, but the bosses are the real standouts. I especially enjoyed the fights with Hulk Davidson, Gran Bruce, and Alastor. It’s a really short game, so replaying it is not a problem. I beat the game in just under six hours, but I’ve seen playthroughs that clock in around 3 1/2 hours. If you like this game, then don’t miss next week, because the sequel is even better! Until then, guys…

Stay Viewtiful!!!