Viewtiful Joe 2

I really wasn't looking forward to playing this game. Avid Back-Blogged fans will recall that two Marches ago, I finished off the first Viewtiful Joe game, and also may recall that I didn't care much for it. For those that can't be bothered to follow links, a few phrases from that review are "a treat to play but a hassle to beat" and "fun but frustrating." And those serve just as well as descriptions of this nearly identical sequel. Viewtiful Joe 2 gave me exactly as much entertainment and exactly as much annoyance as its predecessor did. Actually, that's kind of a lie. Since I was expecting Viewtiful Joe 2 to be exactly the same as Viewtiful Joe, and since the concept and gameplay were nothing new to me this time around, what I really experienced was a whole lot of bored melancholy. This is one of those games that, were it not for my silly little mission to beat every game I own, I'd have stopped playing after two or three levels. But that's pretty typical of Capcom games - remember when I nearly went postal playing the exact same Mega Man game a dozen times a year ago? Also in typical Capcom fashion, the penultimate level of this game was just me running through a gauntlet of bosses from previous levels, each one stronger and more dangerous than his original incarnation. I dreaded this all game, and when it finally happened, I just pressed forward soullessly without so much as a "Goddammit" or a "Fuck yes!" That's really the best way to sum up this whole game though; I just didn't care. It wasn't terrible, it wasn't long, and it wasn't broken, but I simply didn't enjoy much of it at all. And that's not to say that you won't, or wouldn't. It just means I didn't. Kind of like the Left 4 Dead games, I guess; I see the appeal, but it just didn't blow me away. C'est la vie.