Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble

"This isn't Super Smash Bros Melee, folks."

I liked the Viewtiful Joe games up to this point. Granted, I preferred Sylvia to Joe in Viewtiful Joe 2, which indicates that my tastes may not match those of an average Viewtiful Joe fan. I also liked Super Smash Bros Melee. When this game came out, I thought "Viewtiful Joe meets SSBM! Cool!" The game does seem to be patterned after Melee, and there are plenty of Viewtiful Joe characters in it.

So why am I not happy?

First, the controls are different from the other Viewtiful Joe games. A is still jump, but that's about the only constant. Instead of X and Y being kick and punch (respectively), they are now regular attack and "special attack". You can no longer use a VFX meter to call on VFX abilities at any time; instead, you must collect little V orbs to use these powers. But each orb only works once, and can only be used for a specific power. The VFX abilities have also changed. Slow no longer slows you down, Mach Speed now makes you catch fire and fly (what the heck?), Zoom now makes you bigger, and Replay is gone, replaced by Sound FX. It won't mean anything to newbies to the Viewtiful Joe series, but longtime Joe fans will be thrown off by this.

The story is pretty weak. Captain Blue is retiring from acting to become a director, and the other characters have to compete for the lead roll of the next movies. For some reason, they compete like this while that actual movie is being filmed, so they get a starring roll just by competing. Also, for some reason, Captain Blue is competing for the lead roll despite the fact that he's supposedly "retiring". Also, the story doesn't fit at all with the other Viewtiful Joe games, and several characters, such as Captain Blue Jr., pop out of nowhere - or, to be more precise, the Anime show. It hurts the series' continuity.

The graphics are about what you'd expect from a Viewtiful Joe game. They are cartoony and highly unrealistic by design, but capture the mood of the game reasonably well. However, they do seem to be a small step down from the first two Viewtiful Joe games. The background music is about the same: cartoony, fits well, and seems to be just a bit worse than in VJ and VJ2.

The sound, however, is another story. Characters constantly repeat the same things over and over again when they attack, die, perform a move, complete a mission, use VFX, jump, or basically do anything at all. It becomes annoying to the point that I ended up hitting the "mute" button to shut out the noise.

The gameplay is where the biggest problems come in. Your goal is to collect those little coins to complete stages. It's not about clearing massive levels or pummeling your opponents, it's about picking up coins. If you die, you just lose coins. If you complete a mission, you just get coins. In each reel, you have several scenes, each of which have specific requirements you must complete to advance to the next scene. Sadly, these requirements tend to revolve around "Don't die!", despite the fact that the warped AI almost always attacks you instead of completing the regular missions. Since the computer opponents can just keep regenerating over and over, this becomes very annoying. It's hard, but not in a good way. Also, you can't save in mid-reel; if you quit, you have to start that entire movie over again.

On the plus side, there are lots of unlockables. Story Mode has lots of stages, which should keep you occupied for a while. Unfortunately, none of them are really "fun", and playing several of them turns out to be a chore.

The multiplayer is about collecting those stinking little coins. It doesn't matter if you completed more missions or died less; if he ends up with more coins, he wins. Also, there are no stages in which you can have a real fight to the death that doesn't have a one-hit kill element and a 30-second timer, so don't expect any Melee-type battles.

In conclusion, this game is completely different from the VJ series (on which it is based) and Super Smash Bros Melee (which it is patterned off of and attempts to draw fans from). Though it is supposed to attract fans of both, it is likely to not appeal to a fan of either.

Buy or Rent? Rent, and see how you like it. This game is really hit-or-miss. For me, it missed.

Final Score: 5/10

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/06