Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble is essentially Viewtful Joe 3 in all but name and format, appearing this time on Nintendo's dual screen wonder (with touch-screen specific features that anyone without an extra set of thumbs will struggle to utilize with any degree of success), instead of a home console.

The game's storyline follows the premise that a video camera can bestow time-manipulating powers upon a person. Basically, through some bizarre turn of events, our protagonist finds himself back in the 'real' world without his famous VFX powers. Unfortunately for our friend Joe, Earth just happens to have been invaded by hordes of Movieland inhabitants, so, with the aid of the aforementioned magical camera, he regains his VFX powers along with a few important additions - the ability to split, slide, and touch scenery, and 'scratch' objects (or would that be props?) using the touch screen.

You control our hero Joe using the d-pad, with the face buttons, like in the console versions, used for jumping and attacking enemies via kicks and punches. The L and R shoulder buttons are used for slowing down time and scratching enemies or objects respectively, while the touch-screen is used for splitting, sliding and touching (usually only used to activate switches or open certain boxes). As you can imagine, it gets pretty awkward with you often foregoing the stylus in favor of running your finger or thumb over the bottom screen in a mad bid to multi-task.

Unlike the previous Viewtiful Joe games, Double Trouble is far less concerned with combat than it is with puzzles. These puzzles usually take the form of scratching a rock via the touch-screen to crumple it, or splitting and then pulling a piece of scenery over towards you in order to proceed past a pool of lava.

Another new addition is the inclusion of Joe's younger sister, Jasmine. Unlike Viewtiful Joe 2 in which you controlled Joe's love interest, Silvia, Jasmine's role is, for the most part, confined to that of asupporting actress with her only really appearing in cut-scenes and during boss battles to aid you by throwing restoratory items such as cheeseburger meals and VFX canisters. Later on in the game you will find yourself controlling Jasmine, but these sections are by far the worst aspect of the game, as without the ability to control time, the game resembles Sega's risible Comix Zone rather than Capcom's superlative Joe.

If you found yourself struggling with the other games, you'll be glad to know that this dual screen incarnation is significantly easier with checkpoints between stages, and enemies being less of a nuisance. Sticking points are still plentiful over the course of the game, this time arising from vague puzzles where it can be a struggle to decipher just what action must be taken and what powers used in order to advance. Another complaint is the over reliance on the touch-screen which leads to some unnecessarily hectic multi-tasking (it's a known fact that the male species lack this important skill) and a few frustrating puzzles and boss encounters later on in the game.

A typical puzzle in Double Trouble goes like this: you're required to slow down time, 'split' and 'slide' across a piece of scenery while running towards the right side of the screen before quickly jumping to avoid a premature death. In terms of finger movements, that one little puzzle requires your digits to hold down the R trigger while slashing down the touch-screen followed by a swipe towards the left side of the screen, all the while holding down the right axis of the d-pad before finally tapping the 'A' face button. As mentioned earlier, later bosses also require you to defeat them in a similar fashion which may well result in more than a few broken DS's covered in tears of frustration being led away to handheld heaven. (Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble meanwhile, would be banished to video game hell where it would spend eternity with the likes of E.T: The Video Game, Goldeneye: Rogue Agent, and Army Men: Why, 3DO?! WHY?!!!)

On the plus side Double Trouble, like previous Viewtiful Joe games, is still a lot of fun to play with the exciting gameplay that's become synonymous with the series featuring prominently in this sequel. You still traverse across a two-dimensional plane beating up bad guys through clever use of combos and VFX powers. Another redeeming feature of the game is that Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble is one handsome devil with detailed, colourful environments, and impressively rendered characters. The game looks so close to its console brethrens that you'll wonder why anyone ever doubted the DS's 3D capabilities.

The humour present in prior Viewtiful Joe games also makes a welcome return with levels again parodying popular movies such as The Fly and, hilariously, Resident Evil. Whilethere are more film references, the aforementioned two are the only ones that really stand outin being the most instantly recognizable and enjoyable of the whole lot. In terms of how well they function, they don't work as well here as they did in previous gamesas the parodies themselves tend to be very vague, and of less, shall we say, distinguished movies.

Unfortunately it's not all cookies and cream on the presentation side of things; the excellent soundtrack from the previous games is somewhat compromised due to the DS's low quality speakers marring the experience slightly. Another gripe on the audio side of things is the lack of voice acting in the main game. Instead, Double Trouble uses text to narrate proceedings which, while not huge loss, is disappointing considering how well everything else in the game so closely resembles its older, bigger brothers.

Double Trouble, like previous games in the series, is a good 12-15 hours long on the first play through. However, this time repetition sets in far quicker than before with quite a few of the later levels becoming quite laborious for all but the most determined of gamers.

In short, Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble is a decent game that is perhaps a bit too ambitious for its own good. If you're a fan of the series, you should pick it up no question. However if you've yet to sample the delights of Viewtiful Joe, then you'd do well to pick up one of the more accomplished console editions.