GameCube

Viewtiful Joe

November 11, 2003

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/viewtifuljoe/cover.jpg[/floatleft]To say that I had a negative view of this game from day 1 would be an understatement. I read the reviews and saw all the buzz about this game but from what I had seen I wasn’t sure I was talking about the same game as everyone else. Viewtiful Joe, which apparently is a purposeful mistranslation of Beautiful Joe, didn’t look like a game I would ever have interest in. The main character, Joe, wore “pink”, had all sorts goofy stances, and the cel shading just didn’t seem like it worked for this game. I anxiously waited for my copy to show up because I wanted to know what was so great about this game.

My copy arrived and Dots and I played it for a while. After about 90 minutes or so of playing on “Adults” I just looked over at her with a look of utter confusion. This game was terrible, what on earth was everyone raving about. I hit the Penny Arcade forums to find out what the deal was. I had to ask the people that claimed this was a top notch game what I was missing. It turns out, I had missed everything. Not only did this game have a very hefty learning curve, the game as a whole is an acquired taste.

Graphically speaking, Viewtiful Joe has a very interesting style. The use of cel shading was executed very nicely and it really gives you that feel of an old school 2d side scrolling platform game, contrary to my initial thoughts. The use of shading and lighting also accentuates the comic book styling that the game is aiming for. Overall I thought the game looked great. It is not like anything you have seen recently even with the popularity of cel shading still on the rise. I don’t want to touch too heavily on the sound aspects, but I will say that the music and sound effects do a great job of drawing you further into the comic book feel of the game.

[floatright]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/viewtifuljoe/ss03_thumb.jpg[/floatright]The one aspect I want to focus a little more on is the controls as I feel like they will make or break this game for you. The gameplay will also play an important role so I will try to cover those as a single entity. The controls are laid out in a typical fashion with jump, kick, and punch. As you would expect, or wouldn’t expect in my case, pressing up on your control stick will dodge a low attack and pressing down dodges a high attack. The buttons unique to VJ are VFX Zoom, VFX Slow, and VFX Mach Speed. These buttons play an integral part in learning to play VJ properly. You cannot treat this game as another beat em up game, you absolutely must use your VFX powers. That was the mistake I made and I got very frustrated that I kept dying very early on in the game. Where the gameplay and controls merge is in regards to Joes Viewtiful FXs. The powers themselves are pretty self explanatory, but how they work in conjunction with defeating enemies is not.

Like any platform game there is a certain level of thinking involved and these VFX powers are your means to an end. Of course with most enemies you can just punch or kick them, but the real devastating attacks come from dodging and counter-attacking. If you dodge a low attack and immediately use your VFX Slow and attack that enemy you enter “Rock On” mode. “Rock On” mode essentially kills people with one punch and stringing a lot of attacks together earns you huge Viewtiful points. Viewtiful points are what you use to purchase new abilities and attacks. That being said, your VFX powers are there so use them.

[floatleft]http://www.snackbar-games.com/images/reviews/viewtifuljoe/ss08_thumb.jpg[/floatleft]VJ has a Kids and Adults mode, do yourself a favor and start with Kids. The difficulty of the game increases pretty fast and will become impossible if you don’t have a firm grasp on how to use your VFX powers. Let me prepare you by saying that you will probably experience high levels of frustration while playing VJ, but the game is totally worth it so stick with it. The main thing that makes this a challenging game is the limited number of save points. You can only save at certain times and we have become spoiled recently with the ability to save at any point or time. That coupled with the fact that if you lose all your lives you start back at the beginning of the level leads to much frustration. Consider yourself warned.

While I had a very bad feeling about this game even after playing it the first time I really enjoy it now. I learned how to play the game properly and I really started to get into the graphical style of the game. My genre of choice right now is platform so while it should have been a perfect fit it took a little while for me to appreciate this game for what it was. I do realize that Viewtiful Joe is not for everyone, Dots just didn’t get into VJ at all, so if you don’t like games with learning curves steer clear of VJ. Even if you consider yourself a hardcore platform gamer you may want to give this one a rent before you lay down the money. I do have to say that this one really snuck up on me and I am glad I stuck with it.

Soul Calibur 2

September 7, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal /

It is not secret to many that I am not a fan of the 3D fighting game. It was not till recently I rediscovered fighting games in general that I started playing them again. I was content to just keep to older 2D fighters. Out comes Soul Calibur 2, and after all the hype and demos I have played I decided to go ahead and give the third dimension one more go. Looking back I am glad I did as Soul Calibur 2 has much to offer in the way of game play, features, and hidden goodies.

Something for the mashers, something for the style freaks.

I know folks that turned Tekken into an art form. I myself have survived the genre by relying on the few moves I memorized, and of course I let button mashing take care of the rest. Funny thing with Soul Calibur 2 is that both button mashing and strategic gameplay meld into each other. So much happens so fast during gameplay that in time of panic you will mash away to get some space between you and your ever attacking opponent. I find myself also setting them up for a great counter attack or special move, most of which are fairly easy to do, but not nearly easy to land. The game has a great practice mode where you can see all the moves in your character’s arsenal as well as programmable opponent A.I. It is always good to hone your skills for the challenge that lie ahead.

Character modeling 101

The characters in Soul Calibur 2 look fantastic. I am extremely impressed with the design of all the character’s minus McFarlane’s Necrid, as he looks like complete crap. Fighting animations, movement, everything is top notch and beautifully rendered. I own the cube version, and it looks not just good but great. I play the Xbox version over at EB and of course it looks the best. The PS2 version however looks like someone smeared Vaseline all over the TV. Then again the PS2 blows.

Nooks and Crannies

I will be the first to say that Soul Calibur 2 has about a zillion things to unlock. While the exact number of unlockables is unknown to me as of yet, I bet it reaches zillion status by next week. There are many modes to unlock, including practice modes, new versus modes, time challenges, extreme modes, and of course the weapon master mode unlocks the neat weapons you can dawn on your character. The weapon master mode of course is where the Namco got creative. It plays almost like an RPG as the games lays out the settings and emotions of your character as you fight different stages and missions. You will even dungeon crawl from time to time. While many people will just zip through the reading and setting of the stage, it’s actually very good. Along the way you will of course unlock new weapons you can use in extra arcade mode as well as new characters and costumes. You want to make sure you search every nook and crannie of the dungeons or you might miss out on someone’s sixth weapon, and of course that would be a crime.

So help me god if they hit me up in the air again.

Just a forewarning, if you get knocked up in the air you are subject to a severe ass kicking. The combo system in Soul Calibur will make many fighting game fans giddy with happiness. Once you get the controls of your fighter down, your next step is customizing your own combos to hit in particular situations. I know I am setting up different strategies depending on the distance I want to keep from my opponent. Taki for instance I keep my distance from, and A
st
aroth with his big axe I rush upclose. Then again that’s just me, but I’m sure you will find your own strategy to use for just about every situation.

This game is dare I say…great!

I have really taken to this game as it has brightened up the future for me and 3D fighters. It’s not very hard at all, but it will challenge the expert and button masher. The weapon master mode itself is a genius include on the part of Namco. My only real annoyances are the repeated characters and of course the A

Wario World

August 29, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Chris Rasco /

Wario World is a throw back to the awesome 2D side scrolling (SS) platform games that I played as a kid. You mean like Super Mario Bros. 3? Yes, except SMB3 is one of the best games of all time and I am having difficulty placing Wario World that high on the list. The major thing that makes this game different is that it does in fact have an added 3rd dimension. This “depth” to the game is very limited and takes a little bit of getting used to. Before I spoil all the fun, let me tell you a little bit about the story.

Wario taking out some enemies by swinging a statue around.

I think it is safe to say that Wario is greedy. Wario is hanging out and suddenly his treasure turns into a myriad of different creatures. Needless to say, Wario is less than thrilled with the recent developments. Of course he sets out to get his stuff back and ends up battling thru 12 levels in 4 worlds (1 level in each world is strictly a Boss Fight). I will be the first to admit that I felt the game was a little on the short side, but each level has quite a bit to accomplish before it is 100% complete. Sure, you can run thru the game in probably 2-3 hours, but I like to collect every last treasure etc etc so I spent maybe 5 or 6 hours total on this game.

Some of the things you can expect to collect are treasure pieces, gold, and rubies. The gold pieces just happen to increase your number of hearts (life) and the rubies are required to fight the level boss. So essentially, you only really have to get the rubies, but it is a pretty pointless game if you don’t make some sort of effort to collect everything else. I personally enjoy games where you have to collect various objects and so I made sure I got everything before moving on.

The aftermath of the Wario Piledriver

One thing I should probably mention is that you will spend a good chunk of time solving 3d “puzzles”. You should see numerous trap doors as you go thru the levels and they lead you to puzzles of varying nature. In the end, your “reward” is one of the various things you are collecting be it rubies or gold.

The controls are pretty simple and didn’t take much getting used to, but the camera was a different story. Since the game tries to stay true to the side scrolling action, the camera work gets a little tricky. In the rooms/areas where you are solving a puzzle, you have control to move the camera almost 360 degrees in any direction. However, during normal level gameplay you are limited to shifting the camera horizontally and moving to a slight overhead view which comes into play in some key situations in later levels. I got used to the camera control pretty quickly but it is a definite quirk that makes the limited 3d depth of the game a tad bit difficult to get used to at first.

You can also throw enemies at each other.

My greatest annoyance with Wario World fell squarely on the use of enemies. They developed a handful, about 7, different enemies and then simply replaced the “skin” o
n
them in each level. If there is one aspect of the game that got old, it was fighting the same people over and over and over again. I think this was a poor call and someone needs to bust out a dictionary and look up the word “repetition”.

Hey, he has to have a quick way to gather coins.

Despite the flaws that I found with the game, I did enjoy my time with Wario World. I love platform games and although I felt this one was a little short I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is a fan of the side scrolling platformer. By recommend I mean rent. I can’t fully advise anyone to purchase this game strictly based on its length. I tore thru the game in probably a week and the casual gamer would be finished in probably a weekend. So in a nutshell, the game is good but hardly worth the $50 price tag it currently carries.

Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour

August 24, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Mike Carabajal /

You know more and more articles I write the better a writer I become, no really its true. Then I throw it all out the window when I give a description of this game, because Mario Golf in essence is A

Luigi’s Mansion

June 24, 2003

GameCube / Reviews / by Lauren Rasco /

Dark rooms, scary thunder storms, long spooky hallways, rats that chase after you, ghosts…no I’m not talking about Fatal Frame. I am talking about Luigi’s Mansion. Not to mention vacuums with the power to suck up ghosts, a little mad scientist guy, and, oh yeah, Toad is back too.

Luigi’s Mansion was one of the launch titles for the Gamecube. You may then ask yourself, why Dots, if the game is so old, are you reviewing it now? Well, I just played it and it is new to me. I am only recently a Gamecube owner. Paired with the fact that there is really nothing new out there that I want to play or review. SO, with that out of the way, I give you the Luigi’s Mansion Review!!!

I will start this review with a brief history about my relationship with Luigi. It all started with the original Mario Bros. game. I always played Mario and made my younger sister play second player, thus, she was always Luigi. She would get mad because I A

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