I bought this about ten million years ago, and got a natty little weeble-clock thing with it. And then, I didn’t play it. Even though I really liked the first game.
Anyway. This one is MUCH easier than the first game. So far, at least. I’m played through on Kids mode, as experience on the first Viewtiful Joe proved to me that Adults mode is impossible. I don’t think all that many people managed the original on Adults mode either, so Kids mode is justified.
You can now swap between Joe and Sylvia at will, and, although she is much the same as Joe in many ways, her extra abilities (specifically the Replay move) mean you have to swap sometimes to progress. I’ve worked my way through to the third “reel” now. Each reel is based on a particular film or film genre, with Reel 1 being Jurassic Park in all but name, Reel 2 is Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (complete with never-before-in-a-game minecart section), and Reel 3 isn’t yet obvious to me – some kind of futuristic city thing.
Bosses have been much easier then the first game so far too, with health pickups available during the fight too. Whether this is just because it’s Kids mode or what, I’m not sure. The first boss, a T-Rex soldier who breathes fire, was pretty simple (even more so when I realised Sylvia’s gun dealt him stacks of damage). Other bosses and “mini-bosses” have included a plane than transforms into a robot, and a giant stone gollum thing that turns into a flying snake drill. No, really.
The story is bizarre, as expected, but unexpected was the fact that Joe’s dad appears to be Sylvia’s uncle… Which is just plain wrong!