Guest Author - Lisa Shea

Viewtiful Joe is a fun game which has you play a person trapped in a movie, side scrolling along forward and backwards through time. Slow down and speed up to achieve your objectives!

This game definitely has some fun. The graphics aren't cutting edge or stellar. Instead, they deliberately put "hairs" and scratches into the screen view to have you feel like you're watching an old time movie. You get the traditional jumping up to platforms, jumping down to ledges, collecting items, breaking items, killing enemies.

Many games feel like that's enough - move along the path, kill enemies, jump up and down. But Viewtiful Joe takes it to a new level. Because you're "in a movie", you can control how the movie plays out. If an enemy is racing at you too quickly, you simply slow down time so you can deal with the enemies in a timely fashion. If speed is what you need, put yourself into turbo mode to zip along!

It's important to keep in mind that at heart this is a side scroller. If you're a fan of high-quality graphics or Halo-like adventure, this probably isn't the game for you. But if you enjoy side scrollers, cel shading and puzzle styles of games with platformer jumping built in, this will be a lot of fun for you.

The game is very family friendly. The hero isn't swearing or ripping limbs off of people. He's simply jumping up, jumping down, gathering items and squishing cartoon enemies.

The game is very replayable. If you beat the easier level, there are more challenging levels waiting for you. to really test your abilities.

Highly recommended for side scroller fans and families who want to have fun together with classic platforming fun. Even better, if you enjoy the Viewtiful Joe game, there's a Viewtiful Joe 2 sequel to keep your fun going!

Buy Viewtiful Joe from Amazon.com