Captain Blue barely fits into his clothes, and his past success leads him to believe that investing in a film career is better than spending all his time fighting the bad guys. Before he can just hand the mantle over to someone else, Captain Blue has to decide which hero is most deserving. After puzzling over the merits of each, the Captain decides to stage tryouts and pick the hero who creates the most excitement on screen. So, the game plays out as a series of battles, but not like the original
Viewtiful Joe format. Rather than working through waves of enemy and boss battles,
VJ Red Hot Rumble is drawing from the
Mario Party world of short, energetic stages that have simple objectives. Take out more enemies than the other guy, or beat him in a mini-game, and you may be one step closer to winning Captain Blue's part in the new movie.
The single-player game is fairly limited, not because there isn't a lot to see and not because there aren't good controls or weak A.I. The fact is, party games are best with other folks. Hence, the name. One person does not generally make a party, unless that person happens to have a fertile imagination or a large vat of hand lotion. Or both. Players who liked the style of play from the original game and hoped to see that coming to PSP may be disappointed, but there are some things in VJ Red Hot Rumble that carry over from the original game. Even for a party game, there are lots of great battles that give Joe room to stretch out and use his special abilities. As the "movie" is being filmed in different locations, there's plenty of visual variety, and the boss battles are still exciting. Both the A.I. opponent battles and the boss fights are challenging, but there isn't enough variety in the gameplay to make single-player compelling.
Hooking up with other players is a great way to appreciate VJ: Red Hot Rumble, either through game sharing or true wireless multiplayer. The game sharing option is nice, since it lets you get your friends hooked on a relatively stripped down version of the game. If they like it and go buy a copy, you can use the wireless multiplayer to access more than basic options. As much as the multiplayer aspect is fun, there just aren't enough activities to keep VJ: Red Hot Rumble interesting as a party game for long. What it looks like on the surface is that VJ: Red Hot Rumble plays well enough to be entertaining, but not sustaining.