Joe is an everyday guy who adores comic book superhero Captain Blue. One night watching a Caption Blue movie with girlfriend Silvia, the movie comes alive and the main bad guy snatches her into the silver screen. Joe follows her and learns that to save Silvia he has to become Viewtiful Joe, a superhero alter ego who uses VFX powers to save the day.

VJ has a simple control scheme that’s easy to get into. The square and triangle buttons are punch and kick while the X button is jump. All the moves are snappy and combo friendly with a few pushes that get Joe into fighting action. To mix up the gameplay Joe uses VFX powers that can slow down, speed up, and zoom. Slow down does Matrix style hits that pummel enemies, speed up unleashes a bunch of attacks, and zoom shows off Joe’s moves which wow the enemies into a daze. In addition, Joe can dodge enemy attacks by pushing up or down when a skull appears in front of the enemy. Push in the opposite direction of the skull and you’ll catch the enemy off guard and make him dizzy.

The graphics in Viewtiful Joe have made a near perfect translation to the PS2. The action is at 60 fps with a hint of slow down during some VFX moves. The colors are just as vibrant and dazzling. The control is even better on the Dual Shock 2, basically because it’s a better controller to hold and use the D-pad with.

You’ll need the tight controls to get through the game. It’s not the easiest on Adult mode and there are quite a few challenging levels and bosses. But there is a kids mode to make things easier.

Viewtiful Joe is a fantastic 2D game that everyone should pick up. It’s at a value price now and the PS2 version includes an unlockable Dante from Devil May Cry, who uses cute little guns Ebony and Ivory to blast people to pieces.