My pick of the month: Viewtiful Joe (GameCube)
TORONTO (djc) There are things that just don’t seem to belong together, but if you take a chance and mix them, you come up with something great. Like peanut butter and chocolate. Grapefruit juice and vodka. Cornflakes and lettuce. Ok, maybe not that last one, but you get my point.
Viewtiful Joe mixes traditional platform game action with a Bullet Time-like action mode. As ordinary guy Joe sucked into a B-grade Japanese film, you become a superhero who can enter into a John Woo-like slow motion state to deliver powerful and cool attacks, clobbering your enemies across the screen, out the side of your TV, and across the living room. It’s an unusual thing to add to a sidescroller that’s a little Mario, a little Final Fight, but it works. It also has a distinct graphical look, using cell-shaded style art for its 3D characters.
It’s got action, it’s got clever puzzles, and at times it approaches an almost Teletubbies level of surrealness, but it never loses its sense of humor. You may have seen some of these elements before, but never together like this.
For breathing new life into a tired old genre, Viewtiful Joe is our pick of the month.
Just Out:
- Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (PC)
- Star Wars: Rebel Strike (GameCube)
- Hidden & Dangerous 2 (PC)
- Crimson Skies: High Road to Danger (Xbox)
- Grabbed by the Ghoulies (Xbox)
- Railroad Tycoon 3 (PC)
- Jetfighter V (PC)
- Jak II (PlayStation 2)
- SSX 3 (GameCube, PlayStation 2)
- Bionicle: The Game (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox)
- Conflict Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad (Xbox)
- Kirby Air Ride (GameCube)
- MTV’s Celebrity Deathmatch (PlaysStation 2, Xbox)
- Castlevania: Lament of Innocence (PlayStation 2)
Coming Soon:
- Morrowind: Game of the Year Edition (Xbox) 10/27/2003
- Tony Hawk’s Underground (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube) 10/27/2003
- WWE Smackdown! Here Comes the Pain (PlayStation 2) 10/27/2003
- Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six 3: Athena Sword (PC) 10/28/2003
- Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox) 10/28/2003
- Final Fantasy XI (PC) 10/28/2003
- Amped 2 (Xbox) 10/28/2003
- Deer Hunter: Trophy Collection (PC) 11/3/2003
- Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (PC) 11/3/2003
- Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube) 11/5/2003
- SOCOM: US Navy Seals II (PlayStation 2) 11/4/2003
- True Crime: Streets of LA (GameCube, PlayStation 2, Xbox) 11/4/2003
- Grand Theft Auto Doublepack (Xbox) 11/4/2003
- Bloody Roar 4 (PlayStation 2) 11/4/2003
- FIFA Soccer 2004 (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox) 11/4/2003
- XIII (PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox) 11/6/2003
- XIII (Xbox) 11/18/2003
- Final Fantasy X2 11/18/2003 (PlayStation 2)
Jason MacIsaac is Digital Journals expert video game reviewer. Check back each week to read more from our gaming guru.
