Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI Review

Pictures will be from both versions.
Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI is the most recent member of the ROTK family to be released in the United States. It is the eleventh installment in this series, and is a return to the pure turn based strategy element the series was founded on after the tenth games foray into RPG territory. Two versions of this game were released, one for the PS2 and another for the PC, each version has subtle differences but nothings major; the biggest difference is the menu layout and the ability to request reinforcements from your allies. Of the series of ROTK games this one offers the most in historical events as you can see a plethora of the more important events from the book series in this game so long as you meet certain requirements such as having certain characters in a certain city or being Cao Cao and conquering all of Huabei (hint hint).
For those who are only hearing of this game for the first time let me explain a bit about what its based off of and its particular timeline. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a novel which chronicles what transpires during the later days of the Han dynasty up to its eventual collapse and China’s reunification under the Jin Dynasty. The novel itself was written by Luo Guanzhong who was a traveling scholar collecting various regional stories and historical records to write this novel. Upon completion of the book (which at the time was just a pile of manuscripts) Luo Guanzhong disappeared. The novel became insanely popular over the course of a short time and to this day its widely read in Asian countries and has spawned numerous games, movies, television shows, stage dramas, and even animes.

I die a little every time I look at this.

You have the capacity to play as any historical warlord in this game, but unlike in the tenth and eighth games you are only able to play as the Ruler of any particular force. The game takes place on a giant cel-shaded map of China (a really pretty one at that)  where you will at any point in time control some amount of cities which will act as your bases. The map is covered in a grid of squares and it is on these squares that units move/battle and facilities are built. This allows for freedom of movement and battles and streamlines the gameplay allowing for actions to be done by simply moving to the point of the map where you want to perform said action, such as knocking boulders down a hill and onto some enemy units.

I wonder how much xp they’ll get for slaying that boulder.

Aside from battling you also build up your economy from this map; this is done by building markets and farm on special plots set aside for each city. To defend yourself you will need to build a recruitment center and build smiths and ranch's to create the equipment you need to start an army, otherwise you’ll be left with nothing to defend yourself from bandits and other warlords. Finding a balance between defense and revenue is incredibly important and can play an important role in how well you’ll succeed. There are certain cities which have very little room for economic growth and if you don’t expand early on will make it impossible to keep up with more prestigious warlords. These special squares are dirt colored and on them your empire stands, as what you build upon them will generally determine how well you will do.
Now for a brief overview of what you can build on these plots and their effects on your city:

• Market: increases revenue (amount varies based on location)
• Farm: Increases Harvest (amount varies based on location)
• Barracks: Recruits Soldiers
• Smith: Creates Weapons
• Ranch: Rustles up some horses
• Workshop: Builds siege weapons
• Shipyard: Builds Warships
• Granary: Increases productivity of all Farms in a 1 square radius by 1.5
• Mint:Increases productivity of all Markets in a 1 square radius by 1.5

So as you can see when provided with a set number of squares to build your cities economy upon you need to really think about the placement of these considering the average amount of plots you get for building are about 10-12. Placement is very important in this game, also the order in which you prioritize the building of these is important; if for instance you are surrounded by other warlords and you choose to build up your money and food without paying heed to your defense you may wind up being attacked from all sides by warlords looking to suck up your resources and officers. So its generally important to build a barrack first.

This might happen if you don’t.

Now aside from just building domestic things like markets and barracks you have the ability to build independent facilities to aid you in the defense of your territories. These facilities are the corner stone for defending yourself when you are faced with enemies that are numerous and stronger than you (as they may often be). These facilities range from stone walls to morale boosting drum platforms. These can only be placed as close as three squares from each other so strategy is key with these as well. A very common strategy is to try to bottleneck your opponent with archer turrets and place a camp in on the end to force your opponent to fight a battle against your defense boosted unit while being shot at every turn by your turrets.

A good example of forcing your opponents to take a route where they will be either hindered or shot at.
Now lets look at these military facilities:

• Archer Turret: Fires at opponents up to three spaces away every turn
• Wall: A wall, it blocks paths.
• Camp: Defense multiplied by 2 and units use less food when they are around it.
• Embers: Sets all squares with 1 space of it on fire.
• Fireball: Rolls a six square line of fire.
• Drum Platform: Increases attack power of all units within 2 squares by 2x
• Band platform: Increases will (varies)

Utilization of these is quite important.
Building things isn’t the only part of this game with a lot of depth, the battle system also has a great deal of depth to it; however before we get to that we need to explain how characters work. All characters in this game have stats, these stats determine how good a character is at a certain action, they also dictate how well they will function when performing said action. Each characters stats are broken down into; Leadership, War, Intelligence, Politics, and Charisma. Proficiency in certain stats will usually determine what the character will be doing, a high War character will fight a lot, a high politics character will perform diplomacy, and a high charisma character will recruit lots of soldiers. Along with these stats are Aptitudes which dictate how well that officer is with certain types of armaments ranging from spears to ships. The level of Aptitude is shown through a scale of S through C with S being the highest and C being the lowest. Finally a majority of characters have “Skills” there are to many of them to talk about but they provide beneficial effects to whatever area it is they specialize in.
Now for some pictorial examples: (Click to make larger)


As you can see stats are different for different characters and this directly correlates to their overall ability.
Now for the battle system, seeing as battles all take place on the large map it allows for a great deal of strategic freedom. You can set up ambushes, build traps, and easily manage both your fights and your domestics with ease. There are quite a few different types of units there are regular units which use weapons, siege units, transport units, and naval units. Each type has its own subcategories, but the most important is the regular units which will make up your core fighting force. They come in four flavors, Spears, Pikes, Bows, and Horses and form a weapon triangle of sorts which goes like this;

• Pikes<Horse<Spears<Pikes
• And Bows are weak to everything but have a range of two spaces and sometimes three if the character has a certain skill.

All those stats I was talking about earlier? Yeah they affect this. Leadership and War determine how powerful the unit is and intelligence determines how easily they will fall for traps and ploys.
Hint: Only a fool sends a low intelligent unit by itself.
Aside from regular attacks you have at your disposal a number of tactics unique to the type of unit which you are attacking with, these tactics range in cost and power. Tactics cost willpower which is something you build up at your city by training your troops or by hanging around band towers. These tactics can turn the tide of a battle when used correctly as some of them have effects such as setting a unit on fire or confusing them. Another nifty thing is the ability to have any unit challenge an opposing unit to a duel, though the opponent reserves the right to deny it they can sometimes be forced which brings us to the duel system. . .

Don’t mess with him, he’s got 100 War.

The duel system is fairly simple and is mostly determined by a characters War stat. Though when equipped with items (which are randomly found) like throwing knives or bows one can easily turn the tides of a duel. In a duel you are given several options, Attack, Defense, Spirit, and Fury. They work like this, Attack just has the character attack regularly, while defense that the character focus on defense, spirit raises his spirit gauge which lets him use special moves, and fury give him a 1/10 chance of executing a super strong combo. As fun as they same Duels won’t happen that often, however if you do get one to occur and you win you will completely eliminate the opposing unit and capture the enemy general, if you lose the same thing happens to you.
There is also a diplomacy system in place which determines your relations with other warlords and your ability to get ceasefires, coalitions, and alliances. You perform diplomacy from your city and it is an absolute requirement that you use someone with high Intelligence and Politics in these actions, otherwise they will almost always fail. Generally you will just select an option and then send an envoy and some money and that will be all, though sometimes when your case doesn’t seem all that compelling the warlords strategist will request a debate with your envoy. . .

A tale of swords and souls eternally retold. . .

Debates are just like duels in that they are determined almost entirely by the stats, though personality can also play a role in them. Debates are fought using little option cards you are dispensed and your objective is to throw the highest level version of whatever card is being requested by the orb in the center of the screen. The person with the highest level of that card deal damage to his opponent. There are three standard types of cards, Fact, Logic, and Time, there is no weapon triangle to this as its all about having the highest level if whatever is being called for. There are also special cards which can either deal damage or diffuse an opponents rage mode; now here's where personality comes in as Rage mode is determined by the personality of the person, for instance a person with a cool personality will never go into rage mode, while a timid person will flip out.
Now that we’ve talked about all these fun things like debates and battles I think its about time we talked about the Character Creation System in this game. Now the CCS of this game isn’t all that different from its predecessors aside from allows you the option to choose what skills you want. So here’s a run down of it in mostly picture form. . . (click to enlarge)
You can set the basic things such as name, age, and gender along with who the person is married to and who the like and hate.
 
You can also set their stats, aptitudes, and special skill.

You can also adjust most every facet of their personality which will determine how they view things and interact with other people.

The CCS system allows for a decent amount of customization while remaining incredibly simplistic in form.
This game also sports an incredibly hand (and quite hilarious) tutorial mode which teaches you how to play the game by setting you up in scenarios and asking you to complete objectives. As extra incentive you unlock bonus officers for completing it. The tutorial mode teaches you the basics of building your economy, how to duel, and even how to debate properly. This mode is by far the most important as even fans of the series will need a bit of help with the major facelift this game has given the series.

 

Liu Bei the great!

The writing for this game is really good, though being that this is based off a book, a majority of the jokes in it are lost on people who haven’t read the novel. Jokes aside though this game sports two fun modes of play, a free campaign mode, and a preset mode. The free campaign mode allows you to choose any scenario from the incite of the Yellow Turbans to Shu’s last Hurrah and gives you the ability to either create your own army or to play as an established force. The preset mode only allows you to play as an established force and gives you a set objective such as capturing a certain location, or not dying for a period of time. Campaign mode has the most replay value being that its open and lets you play as anyone and allows for endless possibilities for scenarios and gives you the capability to shape history with your own hands.

Yes, yes please give me your ideas so I might plot to take over the world bwahahahahaha!

Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI is by far one of the best installments in the series where it returned to its roots and both renewed and improved upon it. The game has many small innovations such as a mini map which constantly tells you what's going on but allows you to quickly jump to another location to investigate something. It also has a beautiful musical score orchestrated using zithers and other classical Chinese instruments which is both soothing and enjoyable to listen to. However despite the games incredible depth and great writing its obviously not for everyone. This game is first and foremost a strategy game, meaning that it requires patience and the willingness to constantly think critically. The game is also a historical strategy game based on a novel, meaning that for the most part a lot of what is happening will be of no interest to non-fans. This is an amazing strategy game, but is more for a niche audience then it is for everyone.

Battle Arena Toshinden (GB port)

The 90’s was a good time for fighting games and saw the beginning of many popular franchises, Fatal Fury, Street Fighter, Tekken, and Virtua Fighter amongst them. Though have you heard of of this fighting game?

Oh god kill it with fire!

In all serious though (seriously how can’t you remember a cover like that?), Battle Arena Toshinden is an arcade style fighting game released for the PSX and Arcades in 1994. The game was for a while considered a must have game for the PSX and spawned three sequels and several ports to other systems. Today we will look at the Gameboy Port of the first game, though it is a port it is fundamentally the same game as the PSX and Arcade versions with the only notable differences being two extra unlockable characters that wouldn’t be fully explained until the sequel Battle Arena Toshinden 2.

Wut? This is different.

The game and is a 2D fighter where you can choose from eight different characters along with four unlockable characters. Each character has its own unique move set and characteristics with the only truly balanced characters being the main protagonists Kayin and Eiji(seen center). Being that the gameboy has only two buttons aside from the D-pad and the start/select buttons attacking is entirely delegated to the A and B buttons; one button controls all punches and the other controls all kicks. By executing certain directional movements and pressing the appropriate attack button the characters can use special moves unique to that character, along with the special moves each character has a super move which can only be used when your character has less than 10% health. The game also features the ability to throw your opponents which is done by pressing forward and punch. Each match can be won in three different ways, via Ring Out, KO, or Time up.

I am become death.

The sprites in the game are essentially chibi versions of the 3D models used in the PSX version. Surprisingly though the sprites are rendered very well and are quite appealing. The backgrounds as still images and change with each stage, however the fighting platform stays the same regardless. If one were to play this game using the Super Gameboy for the SNES you could play the game in pseudo-color where cut scenes were completely in color and battles were given a hue instead of being represented entirely in black and white (or sepia if you are using the Original Gameboy). You are also treated to a nifty little border around the game screen which is a nice feature that very few other games had aside from the Pokémon series of Games.

Eiji and Sofia getting funky.

Now for the game’s story. . . Its kind of bad. The story is essentially a condensed version of the PSX’s story but without proper context to allow a person new to the series any comprehension of what's going on. The overall plot of the game is that Gaia is hosting a tournament and is offering a fabulous prize to whomever can beat him, naturally this attracts a lot of attention and that’s where the game picks up. You choose a fighter and watch their story unfold through an opening cutscene and an ending cutscene when you beat the game. It would take a while to explain each persons story but here’s an abridged version of all of them:

Person has a problem, Person gets invited to tournament, Person decides tournament will fix problem.

That’s about it. Now what's really going on is that Gaia is the member of an illustrious quintuplet of awesome warriors and they are chartered to help this aforementioned evil organization. Gaia’s wife was supposed to become the new leader of the organization but the Organization didn’t want this duo having control of both groups so they tried to kill them. Gaia’s wife died and he and his young daughter survived; leaving her in an orphanage he starts the Toshinden tournament to find warriors who will help him take down the organization. That’s the plot of the game, which is poorly explained.

Now despite the poor story to this port the game has a very good fighting mechanic and even sports a multiplayer function which can be used with a link cable to play via two Gameboys, or a super Gameboy to play via your SNES. If you know the codes to the game than you can play as the extra characters and/or increase the difficulty or make the game easier. This is a solid game and definitely withstood the tests of time, the series may now be dead the games live on many different platforms. I’d suggest giving this game a gander as it’s a quick fighter that’s easy to pick up and play so long as you don’t expect to have tons of story thrown in your face. All in all it’s a good game and you should get it or at least try it.

Spoilers below:

To make it more difficult enter Up, Up, Select, A, Up, Up, B at the title screen.

To make it easier (able to use super attacks easily) press select three times when the Takara logo appears.

Beat the game on hard and it will give you the code to play as all the characters.

Rugrats: Search for Reptar

Gonna rock out to some mad Rugrats jams.

Rugrats: Search for Reptar was the beginning of a large marketing plan by THQ and Nickelodeon to cash in on the incredible popularity of the television show Rugrats. This marketing plan included TV and printed advertisements and rivaled that of Nintendo’s advertising plan for Ocarina of Time. THQ and Nickelodeon believed that by creating this game they were opening an entirely new market towards younger gamers between the ages of six and twelve. Unbelievably Rugrats: The search for Reptar sold very well and remained at the top of the sales charts for two weeks.

The game is essentially a condensed version of the show where you interact with objects to play levels that are for the most part recreations of the popular episodes like “Chuckies Glasses”, “Mr. Friend”, and “Grandpa’s Teeth”. There are a few original levels and some hidden ones scattered throughout as well. The game also has several multiplayer modes and a training mode to help get through levels.

In space naturally.

The premise of the game is that you are playing as Tommy Pickles and you are searching the house for the missing pieces of your Reptar puzzle. You obtain them by completing stages and by collection a certain number of candy bars which score you another piece. The game has about fourteen levels they range in difficulty and several of them are secret stages which require certain criteria to be met to unlock them.

The game is ultimately a platformer as you jump and climb to perform most actions, though some stages, this is varied in certain stages as some involve racing and others might be 3rd person shooters. The game contains several sports mini-games most notably the Ice Cream Mountain mini-golf course which features a multiplayer function. The game by no means is innovative with its platforming, its fairly vanilla. However one innovative part of the game is the option to choose what stage you want to play and the ability to replay the stages as you please; this allows for a certain sense of openness to the game despite there being a fairly linear story.

lol

Being that this is a PSX game at its time these Graphics were still considered innovative and top of the line. Naturally when compared to the graphics of today these seem stone-age but for its time the game had pretty good graphics for its time despite not ageing well. However if you are a graphical Purest you most likely are not going to be playing a PSX game so I digress. Along with the graphics the game features a soundtrack made entirely from that of the TV series which goes fits very well with the game and its stages, however at times it can feel repetitive.

Still more convincing then the zombies in the PSX version of Resident Evil.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about this game as it is essentially the TV series in Video Game form. The game is a decent platformer with a simple story that is aimed for a younger audience and fans of the show. It was innovative for its time but has not aged all that well, though certain aspects of the game even then were not very good such as the climbing mechanic which would sometimes allow you to climb only certain times and sometimes when you did not wish to climb it would make you climb nonstop. Also being that it was based on the show it catered entirely to the demographic that likes the game as most people who do not like it would most likely not enjoy the Rugrats humor and the silly babies. I will admit that I like the game and I am a fan of the series, as such I would recommend it only to someone who also likes the series. The game has nothing for anyone who does not like the show, there is not that much original material and it was only made under the intention of catching in on the popularity of the series. The game is by no means terrible, but its made for a niche audience; if you fill that niche I’d advise you give it a look.

You will despise these boxes and anything like them very quickly.

Elite Beat Agents Review

Elite Beat Agents is a Rhythm based game for the Nintendo DS. Its by iNiS and is essentially a successor to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! Which is a popular video game series in Japan about a Cheer Squad who sing and dance to raise the spirits of various people so that the can perform tasks. Where Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! was about kids in High School cheering up mostly other High School students, Elite Beat Agents is about Government Agents who use song and dance to assist many people in their daily tasks. In Elite Beat Agents you tap, draw, and spin to covers of popular songs such as “YMCA”, “Highway Star”, and “ABC”.

The artists have a thing for crazy hair.

Being that it’s a rhythm based game EBA’s game play mostly revolves around tapping to the beat of the song with occasional sliding and spinning. The ultimate difficulty of the game is derived from what mode you are playing, there are four modes of difficulty; Breezin’, Crusin’, Sweatin’, and Hard Rock. Each mode has a different set of Agents you will play as. This provides more of an aesthetic change as the story remains unchanged regardless of the mode you play; however the individual stages change slightly depending on how well you do and most have three different endings. Tapping to the beat may seem easy at first but depending on the difficulty what you may be tapping to will be quite different. Certain songs in the game will have you tapping along to the vocals, whereas other will have you tapping to the guitar in the background, these vary and allow for a decent amount of challenge.

Video Game = Football

Each stage has the Agents Dancing to aid someone in completing whatever task it is they are finding difficulty doing; this may include but is not limited to, babysitting, making a movie, helping a girl achieve her dream, and raising the dead. The stages are broken up into parts alternating between gameplay and story. The format for each stage is generally this:

• Person needs help and Elite Beat Agents come to help
• Song starts and you begin playing
• The song fades and story occurs showing the Persons progress in what they are doing
• Gameplay
• Story
• Gameplay
• Finale which shows how well you did.

This formula alternates for only a few stages, though during the gameplay sections if you happen to glance upwards you will notice that during gameplay the top screen will have animations playing telling you how well you are doing as you play.

What happens up top is completely dictated by how well you are doing, if you are missing notes the top will show the person you are aiding failing at what he is trying to do, while getting high marks will have them doing things passionately.
The game doesn’t have much in the way of a story, you merely play as the agents as they aid people in their day to day lives. The stages don’t really lead to an intertwining story that hold the game together, however it does have an ending where you use Music to fight Alien Invaders. Though lack of an overall story doesn’t detract from the appeal of the game as each individual stage has its own quirky story which more than makes up for it. The game also makes clever allusions to pop culture with some of its stages which is a treat in itself.
Elite Beat Agents also features a Multiplayer mode which allows up to four people to go head to head in rhythm battles where each person tries to get the highest score and cheer their respective team to victory. This mode is where the games true replay value lies as tapping to your favorite song as you attempt to outdo your friends allows for a great deal of fun. What makes the mode better is that you get the option to play as any Agent you unlocked in your particular game, so essentially you can be your favorite Agent. . .

Oh Cieftan. . .

What makes this mode even better is that it also supports Single Cartridge play which means even those without the game can play with you though admittedly with only the starting Agents and a handful of songs.

Their hairstyles are cool enough to count for one thousand agents.

Elite beat Agents also allows you to broadcast the first level of the game to other players which allows them to play it without the game which is a nice added bonus.
As mentioned earlier this game is the successor to Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan! and as such those of you who have imported the Japanese game may have noticed glaring similarities between the games, such as the formulas of stages and event he themes of stages as they look and play quite the same.

As you can see they are very subtle similarities.

Elite Beat Agents is the game for any fan of music and rhythm games, however for those who aren’t into either of those things this is not the game for you. Elite Beat Agents carries with it a ton of replay value and the capacity to be enjoyed across a circle of friends with its multiplayer feature. In my opinion this is by far one of the best games for the Nintendo DS and is a must for any fans of its genre. If however you don’t care for American music but instead prefer to listen to the funky beats over in the land of the Rising Sun then check out Osu! Tatakae! Ouedan! and its two sequels which you can import from playasia or ebay.
Oh hey look! Lukie Games has Elite Beat Agents for under $4.00, what a steal! So what I’m getting at is that you should buy and play this game because its awesome.

Viewtiful Joe

It also goes by the alternate title “Greatest Side-scrolling platformer in the universe!”

Viewtiful Joe is the loving creation by Team Viewtiful a group working for Capcom Production Studio 4. They later would become Clover Studios before being shutdown by Capcom and going off to form their own game making group Platinum Games, which have made quite a few modern gems (Madworld). Prior to production the game was intended to be a rush job in which they had no more than 12 months and a five man team to finish the game. However over time the team progressively grew in size and the finished product took 21 months to complete. This game was thought up by and produced by Hideki Kamiya. You may know him for his other games, Devil May Cry, Okami, and God hand. Viewtiful Joe was incredibly well received by everyone and won numerous awards over the course of its lifetime for its innovative design and both its quirky cast and story.

There are two versions of this game, the Gamecube version and the PS2 version. The Gamecube has nothing particular special as it was the original version, however the PS2 version contains several extra characters; they include Dante and Trish from Devil May Cry each have their own original stories as well. In both games you have the ability to play as quite a few characters though they need to be unlocked in order to play as them, each of the unlockable characters have their own respective stories adding a great deal of playability to both versions.

Cameo’s as far as the eye can see!

The game is a 2D side-scroller though it is nothing like its predecessors, Viewtiful Joe is something new, it combines beat em’ up action platforming with some simple and amusing puzzles. Joe can only move in four directions and back your enemies will come at you from all sides including the foreground and background. At your disposal aside from the typical punches and kicks are three abilities that you unlock throughout the game; the first is “Slow” which allows you to slow the passage of time to increase the damage of your punches or to effect your surroundings to fulfill a puzzle. The next ability is “Mach Speed” which speeds up Joe and his surroundings when using this Joe’s attacks are lightning fast and after a while of punching he glows red as his attacks gain fire attribute and he becomes immune to fire, it can also be used to move fast as the name would suggest. The final ability Joe gains is “Zoom in” while using it enemies on screen are stunned by Joe’s coolness, also Joe’s attacks become much stronger. These three abilities can be used in combination with each other to make strong combo’s.

Mach Speed in action!

This game stars Joe, an average fellow who happens to like super heroes, comics, and old movies. One day while going to see a special run of a classic super hero movie with his girlfriend Silvia tragedy strikes as a monster from the movies reaches out from the screen and snatches her away. From there on Joe begins an epic quest through Movie Land to save his girlfriend and all of Movieland from the evil Jadow.

Some people just don’t appreciate the classics.

Each level in the game is based off a certain genre of movie ranging from Horror to Sci-Fi. The Stages are beautifully done and work amazingly well with the Cel-shaded style of the characters and enemies. Viewtiful Joe is essentially Double-Dragon or River City Ransom mixed with the most iconic movies of all time and stirred together with several gallons of awesome creativity. Aside from the movie references rife in the stages there are allusions to famous real life personages and companies throughout the game. Just to make the game even better it has a great soundtrack with music ranging from rock to techno that always fits the mood of each level and changes to reflect what's going on.

Case in point; Hulk Davidson

Now to use these abilities you use your VFX gauge (pictured below). If you use up your VFX then Joe goes from being a Hero back to being Average Joe. The VFX gauge refills over time and once its recovered he transforms back into his Hero Self. Now the difference between the forms of Joe aside from the awesome powers is that Average Joe takes more damage and deals less, while Viewtiful Joe is the opposite. The VFX powers are all useful and are consistently used throughout the game to platform and pass through puzzles.

You can use them to kick butt. . .

. . .Or solve puzzles.

The story of the game follows Joe, as he adventures through Movieland after his girlfriend Silvia is kidnapped in front of his eyes during a date at the movies. Joe leaps through the Movie screen to try and save her where he meets his hero Captain Blue who tells him that he needs to unlock his secret potential and become the greatest hero ever, Viewtiful Joe! Joe then proceeds to travel throughout the entirety of Movieland fighting the forces of Jadow as he searches for Silvia. He fights Jadow’s many bosses and even the mysterious Other Joe. . .

DUN DUN DUN!!!!!!

After plowing through all the forces of Jadow and reaching the climax Joe fights the Evil King in Six Machine to free Silvia and save Movieland.

The story of Viewtiful Joe is a serious rescue the princess and save the world thoroughfare combined with a cast of characters who have original personalities and are rife with individual quirky humor such as a shark who has trouble remembering, a bat who talks to much, and a Thunder boy who needs to stop reading from the script. The fact that Joe takes nothing he’s doing seriously makes the game even greater as he catches all his foes off guard with his blunt statements and comic/movie logic he imposes on his adversaries. Also the consistent movie and television references add some extra fun to those who can identify them.

See if you can count the allusions to movies and old peripherals.

This game is loads of fun and is a gem regardless of what system you get it for, I would highly recommend this game to anyone who likes platforming and even more so to people who like characters that know how to be fun regardless of how serious the situation is. Also for those who liked the Devil May Cry series, there’s a certain character who will ring a few bells. . .

See what's in his hand? Yeah he’s the spirit in the sword.