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Wednesday 5 March, 2008
GAMEPLAY
This time around I unlocked another VFX move, instead of changing the speed of the game, it makes the camera zoom in on the character. In this mode, you can do cool movie martial arts moves like backflip kicks (which attack enemies in front, above, and behind you) and punches with different, stylish camera angles (which maybe do more damage, I don’t know). You can also use this in conjunction with the slow-mo or match speed VFX, which has allowed for some more interesting combat.
I did get a bit frustrated at one point though. I had gotten quite a bit into the second episode (the main sections of the game’s story) before I got a game over for the first time. When I had died before, I had begun at the last checkpoint (usually where the player enters a room, or new section of the level). However, unexpectedly, when you get a game over, you must start from the begging of the episode again. This makes sense, but I wasn’t expecting it and lead to a bit of frustration when I had to do everything over again (including unlocking the new VFX move). Maybe the game could use more save points, I’m not sure as this hasn’t really been that big of a problem so far. It does raise the stakes a bit though.
DESIGN
So far, Viewtiful Joe has been one of the most entertaining games I’ve played, which I would have to credit to its game design. In particular, the way combat is set up keeps the game interesting at all times. You effectively have 4 different modes of combat with the different VFX moves, allowing for different play styles and strategies. In addition there are many combos, each VFX having different ones and others unlockable in a store after levels. The combat is set up to be quick and simple, like a proper beat ‘em up should be, but by using the VFX moves, the gameplay never gets dull.
The reward system is also quite good. There are multiple types of rewards throughout each level. There are points, which can be spent between stages at the power-up shop. There are items in chests throughout that can boost your health, give you an extra life, or replenish some of your VFX meter (a meter depletes as you use VFX and regenerates when you don’t use it). There are also items, which can temporarily increase the size of your VFX meter, allowing for more damage to be done.
I also think that the VFX system is really useful not only in the way it affects combat, but how it is used in level design. The VFX effects don’t affect your character, but the actual gameworld. Your character doesn’t just speed up or or slow down, the entire world does. This allows for some interesting puzzles to stop you from tearing through a level in a few minutes. There can be puzzles where you have to speed up the world so fans blow harder or so that water can flow faster (admittedly these are the only real examples I have so far). This is a sort of unique take on the traditional system of power ups, which usually only affect the player character, not the way their world works.
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