I went a while without starting a blog here (or ever registering for that matter), mostly because I wasn't sure if I had anything to say. I'm not an inside man, I get all my gaming news from Dtoid. I often get games a bit after they're released, so reviews would be kind of stale. Then I figured, what the hell, most of these are anecdotal, and as an amateur writer, I tend to take a good look at story and character when playing a game, and I've got plenty to say about those.
Which brings me to the point. As you've already seen, I'm calling this piece The Great Ones, and it's a series of protagonists/heroes/playable characters/young spiky haired hothead swordsmen. At least, it's a collection of the ones that I feel made an impact on the story, or even the gameplay, that another character wouldn't have had. I'm open to suggestions, and I'll return to this series every so often because I've got tons of material. Anyway. On to the feature.

Viewtiful Joe


On another day, I would probably mention how I feel that Viewtiful Joe is one of the best superhero games of all time, but today I'm going to talk about why Joe himself is a top-class hero. In short, it comes down to him being a geek. A lifetime superhero film fan, Joe finds himself in the world of movies, able to manipulate the film for dramatic effect.
The thing most would focus on with Viewtiful Joe would be the Film FX powers, but to me, there's something special about the whole experience. Joe's fighting style was learned from watching movies, so when you're doing well, it really looks like an animated Power Rangers feature.
Outside of the gameplay, it's Joe that keeps the game interesting. His opponents are fairly ridiculous, but they're not funny until Joe starts in on them. His constant references to film and video game tropes keep the proper tone before and after boss fights, and the key idea for the character is that in spite of the world (and his girlfriend) being in danger, he's absolutely loving every second of the game. Combine this with the best "geek makes good" plot since Spider-Man, and Joe's a pretty likable guy.

A little rough, but that'll be the general style of The Great Ones. Thoughts?