No More Heroes Review

The latest game to come from Suda 51 and Grasshopper Studios (makers of Killer 7) is certainly not perfect, but many of its problems are easy to forget during the amazing boss battles.

You play as Travis Touchdown, a gamer and (according the weapons mistress, unless I misheard) an otaku.
To sum up the basic plot as quickly as possible, Travis ends up killing the number 11 ranked assassin "Helter Skelter." As a result Travis is recruited by the "agency" to continue taking out the other ranked assassins one by one until he makes it all the way to the top. I'd say I was being vague to avoid giving away any of the important story points, but that's about all there is to tell. While being scant on story in an era of BioShock and Mass Effect could hurt a game No More Heroes seems to dodge that bullet. This is due mostly to the intense and down right enjoyable combat system. The characters also add a lot to the game as the other assassins are insane, maybe not as insane as Travis but pretty on par. The dialogue is often very sarcastic, funny and aware of its tongue and cheek nature. Back to the combat.

Travis has essentially three basic attacks: a high and low beam katana attack differentiated by the position of the Wii-mote (upright for high and flat for low), a high and low physical attack which can be used to stun enemies temporarily and finally Wii motion controls that are either wrestling or finishing moves. Some might complain that this results in a repetitive, button mashing fighting system that grows wearisome after the first three or four hours. If one was going to play straight through the game and not take any breaks (and for the record I generally play for an hour or two) then I could see this being true, but again there are those boss battles.

Let me just say that it has been a long time since a game's bosses really challenged me and I can't fully express just how happy it made me to really work for a victory. Every battle ended with my life meter at next to nothing and it took me a few minutes after the battle to calm down and let my heart beat return to normal. That's right, my heart was pounding because the battles were that suspenseful! But to clarify, it's not the violence. The blood and dismemberment is incredibly stylized and before you have any time to take in the destruction of your foe they disappear in an exploding cloud of blood. Sounds pretty gruesome, but it is so unrealistic that I had little problem tolerating it. Part of that may also be attributed to the speed at which you move from enemy to enemy; you don't have time to take in a great deal of the violence.Now that the positives have been discussed, the weaker points. The graphics are incredibly stylized. This is at times beautiful and at others depressing. It has been stated before that it seems that the graphics are GameCube level, I really can't argue with that. After seeing what the Mario Galaxy team was able to pull off I can't excuse poor graphics even with the excuse of a game being stylized. There are some rather effective nods to old school gaming in the pixelized HUD displays and various sound effects that evoke the warm and fuzzy feelings of the 8-bit era. Seeing effective stylistic choices and not so effective ones, I can only wonder why certain parts of the game are so bland. Suda could have been hurt by a low budget, but if this was the case then maybe he could have backed off on some of the other aspects of the game that just don't work...like the open world.

The city of Santa Destroy is a quasi sandbox environment. I say quasi because if GTA has a sandbox with lots of cool buckets, shovels, molds, and other kids to play with then NMH is a sandbox with an old cracked shovel and a bunch of sand bees. It's low on detail and weak on fun things to do. Also, as a less important point, your motorcycle in the game controls like junk. It feels like a brick and not a fun brick either.

All in all I'd have to give the game an 8/10. While there are some truly frustrating elements and the graphics at times leave a lot to be desired, the fighting mechanic is so enjoyable that I'm willing to excuse some of its faults. There is nothing more important to me then gameplay, it out weighs all of the frills because ultimately if I can't pick up the controller and smile it's not worth my money. Also, there is a slight element of upgrading and customization (through working out, buying new weapons and finding/buying new clothes) which adds a little depth. No More Heroes is fun and if you're in need of something to kill the time until Super Smash Bros. Brawl then it is definitely a good investment. It's probably the best M-rated Wii game out there as well and it can't hurt to support games for the hardcore on Wii.