Viewtiful Joe 2 [GC]

Half spooled-celluloid movie, half goofy comic-book, half smirking shrine to all things Hollywood, half Pixie Stix, color-overdose nightmare -- see what an engaging video game can do to your basic math skills? The original Viewtiful Joe brought GameCube owners a fun, inventive, and just plain strange cel-shaded 2D side-scrolling brawler, and Viewtiful Joe 2doesn't mess with the formula. The ingenious, eye-catching look and cool VFX powers are still here, but there are also some fresh, wicked puzzle elements introduced, too.

As with its predecessor, you take the role of red-tights superhero Joe, making "viewtiful" music with your fists and the chins of countless enemies. Last time, you were out to rescue your girlfriend Silvia; this time, she's along for a piece of the action, and you'll need her. Still no two-player gaming, alas, but you'll be able to switch between our two heroes on the fly with a viewtiful touch, alternately employing their distinct VFX powers to solve a series of clever puzzle-based challenges.

As before, Joe's VFX powers include "slow" (his own little animated bullet-time, in which one can set up hellacious combos), "mach speed" (the anti-slow, this accelerates Joe's attacks into splinter-selves, causing damage all over the place), and "zoom," which cranks the focus up close, opening up new opportunities for butt-kicking that's inspired by over-the-top martial-arts anime.

For her part, Silvia has the "replay" power, which is just what it sounds like: Silvia's recent action is repeated three times (another martial arts/anime staple), doling out triple the damage. It's actually a greater visual treat than it is a strictly effective practice, considering the VFX cost, but that hasn't stopped us from using it. Just be aware that the triple deal works both ways -- if something bad happens to Silvia, that gets tripled, too. Just as Joe can catch ablaze while using a special power -- a useful, sometimes necessary side-effect for solving certain puzzles -- Silvia likewise crackles with electricity, and it will come in handy.

The overall action is just as crazy and flowing as in the previous game, but the emphasis here is on using your VFX powers -- and the mixed efforts of your two characters -- to get around what are really some quite clever puzzles. Raw gaming reflexes are fine and dandy, but you'll often need to get decidedly creative. Zooming in or slowing subjective time, for example, not only affect your kinetic relationship to your foes for purposes of sheer fighting, they may also yield other changes in the environment for you to exploit.

Being a modern sort of couple, Joe and Silvia share the family vehicle (the Six Machine), and it adopts different forms depending upon who's driving. For Silvia, it's a drilling/excavating machine, allowing her to bore into the ground and through barriers; for Joe, it's a torpedo-packing submarine. Further, Silvia has ranged laser shots, affording her a certain flexibility in both combat and puzzle-solving that even our versatile Joe lacks. Fortunately, you can switch back and forth between them -- in some cases you must.

If you played the original Viewtiful Joe and enjoyed it, Viewtiful Joe 2 is a classic case of more of the same: a fairly conservative upgrade to a winning formula. If you haven't played the original -- and if wacky, inventive games don't freak you out too badly -- it is a must see. The 2D side-scroller is not dead -- it's up on its animated toes and kung-fu fighting. And it's even got a girlfriend.