Nintendo DS

Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble!

Totalement inédit dans la série, cet épisode DS n'a vraiment rien à envier à ses prédécesseurs. Les nouveaux pouvoirs relatifs aux fonctionnalités de la console sont vraiment pertinents et donnent lieu à des énigmes incroyables. On hallucine du début à la fin, et on regrettera juste que le jeu soit un peu court sur la durée.

Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble! ist perfekt auf Nintendos Handheld zugeschnitten. Die kurzen Abschnitte eignen sich prima für die Busfahrt zwischendurch und die zahlreichen Spezialattacken und Superkräfte werden durch den Touchscreen besser denn je in Szene gesetzt, auch wenn dabei etwas Fingerakrobatik gefragt ist. Mich hat das Viewtiful-Fieber erneut gepackt!

The original Viewtiful Joe on the console brought back that old-school, one-two punch-kick beat-em-up action of games like Double Dragon and Final Fight, all the while introducing some really clever gameplay mechanics such as the Matrix-like slow-motion power for more devastating and satisfying attacks. It was an instant classic on the original GameCube that not only justified a multi-console sequel, but also a spin-off fighter that's just hitting the market. Though the current reception for Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble is a bit on the lukewarm side, this isn't the case with Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble on the Nintendo DS. This game might break away from the intense action of the GameCube original and its console sequel, but the puzzle elements are the real treat in this Nintendo DS product.

All and all, this was a fantastic game for the DS, and another shining example of a fun Viewtiful Joe game. While the game is rather short, and the love/hate activations of the some of the Viewtiful powers, this is an extremely fun game. I would recommend this to anyone whom liked the previous Viewtiful Joe games. All and all, Captain Gordon gives this game... a B+.

Para finalizar solo remarcar que como buen juego de Joe la dificultad es elevada pero a no desesperar porque no es tan difícil como las versiones de Playstation 2 y Gamecube. Para los fanáticos es una compra obligada, para los que nunca jugaron un juego de Joe y les gustan los juegos de plataforma y accion no deben dudar en considerar este Viewtiful Joe: Double Troube! como una de las mejores opciones.

Now that Joe has made it big on the home consoles, it's only natural that this slick-talking wannabe superhero makes his star-studded debut on the handheld market. Not just a rehash of Joe's prior exploits, Double Trouble centers around the unique touchpad of the DS. By slashing, sliding, and tapping the touchpad, Joe can perform unique VFX powers like splitting the screen in half to disorientate enemies or to open areas otherwise blocked off. There's a handful of other powers available, each requiring a different stroke on the DS, and thankfully all of them feel useful and enjoyable enough that they never become tedious.

The exaggerated action, colorful visuals, and ridiculous story are all still present and accounted for - they're just not as exciting this time.

Nicht übel, gar nicht übel – ich hatte ehrlich gesagt Schwierigkeiten mit der Vorstellung des technisch doch recht anspruchsvolle Viewtiful Joe auf dem in Sachen Rechenpower nicht eben gesegneten Nintendo DS. Doch die Clover Studios haben die Kurve gekriegt: der kleine Joe spielt sich genauso flott, die Zeitlupenmoves sind genauso cool, die Sprüche genauso bekloppt wie bei den großen Brüdern. Allerdings sind die neuen VFX-Kräfte etwas halbgar: Von den Ideen her zwar teilweise brillant, aber durch das immer benötigte Hin- und Hergegreife zwischen Buttons und Touchpad nicht immer einfach auszulösen. Nichtsdestotrotz ein cooles Beat-n-Jump-n-Puzzle, auf das man einen längeren Blick werfen sollte.

Viewtiful Joe has become quite the star since his debut just a few short years ago. The brightly-dressed superhero has already headlined in a handful of games on consoles and in his own animated television show, and now he's hamming it up on Nintendo's handheld with the release of Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble. The game has all the trappings of a Viewtiful Joe product, with loads of style, cheesy one-liners, not-so-subtle movie spoofs, and plenty of special effects and over-the-top action. However, since this is a DS game, you can expect to see some new and inventive features that make use of the system's touch screen. The implementation isn't quite seamless, and it can be frustrating at times, but the touch screen features do give you a few more ways to interact with enemies and environments. As a result, Double Trouble takes a much more puzzle-focused approach to the standard side-scrolling beat-'em-up formula.

In short, Viewtiful Joe's first DS adventure is by no means a bad game, simply one that falls a bit short of the excellence displayed by the franchise so far.

Overall, despite the odd blip in touchscreen accuracy, and the initially disappointing combat, Double Trouble is one more wonderfully-creative use of the DS, and a decent game to boot. Get used to the shift to a more puzzle-orientated experience, and you’ll have a viewtiful time. Bonus marks for the grin-inducing nods to another major Capcom franchise in the second chapter, too.

Double Trouble has two things working in its favor. One, it plays exactly like its console predecessors, which is always a big plus in a portable game. Yeah, it's ugly as hell thanks to the low resolution of the DS, but putting aside issues of jagginess it's really a technical marvel: As Joe battles normally on the lower screen, his actions are duplicated in a "zoomed-in" view on the upper screen. All the slick slowdown effects and many of the special techniques are present, and aside from the blocky polygons and lack of voice acting in cut-scenes you'd be hard-pressed to pick this out as a handheld game in a police lineup.

Au final Scratch! Viewtiful Joe s'en sort plutôt bien, mais pêche par son manque de renouvellement. Le jeu aurait par exemple gagné à proposer des combats plus techniques, ou des énigmes un peu plus complexes. A défaut de cela, on se contentera d'un bon divertissement hélas de courte durée, en espérant que les gars de Clover se bougent pour nous proposer un prochain épisode plus novateur.

Based on that, if you know and love the series, there's nothing that should deter you. It's superb graphical style, feel, and quirkiness maintain everything that has made the series popular. Its problems are outweighed by its basic engine that has already been used many times over on other consoles. If it's good enough to produce multiple sequels, it's good enough for the DS.

Joe's new adventure is set in the real world, but as long as Silvia trains a camera on him he finds that his VFX powers - the hero abilities that allowed him to slow down time and duck or prance over attacks in the big-console versions - still work. The touch-screen offers a traditional wide-angle 2d side-scrolling view, while the top gives you a close-up of Joe, and the camera is the foil for a range of new VFX powers, like the abovementioned "slide", which are based on the DS's unique capabilities.

Action games on the Nintendo DS have mostly fit into one of two categories thus far: games that simply don't take advantage of the system's second screen or unique functionality, and games that have said unique functionality grafted on as extraneous, often unintuitive features. Rather surprisingly, Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble doesn't quite fit in to either of those groups, combining the standard action we expect from a Joe game with some rather interesting touch-screen and screen-swapping features that actually -- gasp -- add to the experience.

The result of meddling with Joe's mechanics is pure mediocrity. Though lefties will scream in frustration, the action is never bad, merely bland. Those familiar with the console releases will find that familiarity quickly breeds contempt, or at least boredom. Newcomers may stave off that fate for a few extra hours, but Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble is appropriately titled.