No More Heroes 2 Review

Hopeless anime nerd/violent sociopath (two personality types that, let's be honest here folks, are virtually inseparable) Travis Touchdown is back for more blood-shed in the sequel to the 2008 sleeper hit No More Heroes and the result is a satisfying (sometimes redundant) if short-lived thrill.

I was a huge fan of the original No More Heroes, as were a few other people I know. There was a lot of appeal to the game. It was charming, stylish, and though the gameplay was solid, the over-world and sub-games caused it to suffer a bit. To be truthful, loving the No More Heroes series also has another secret bonus. You know what it's like when you love a band that none of your friends, really, actually know about? Yeah? That vague feeling of superiority when you tell them about this great, awesome thing and they just say, "What?" NMH is the video-game equivalent of that.

Failing in Japan for having been developed with a Western audience in mind, the original came state-side and tanked here as well. It's a testament to the developers adoration of the characters and world that the game ever got a sequel at all. Developer Suda51 is known for pushing style over substance (evident in his first(?) game Killer 7) and sometimes that doesn't make up for the lacking areas in game play but I was more than willing to over-look the originals flaws (a crummy over world and some boring mini-games) for it's fantastic sense of style and over the top beam-katana boss-fights.

NMH2 takes place three years after the original ends. At the end of NMH the United Assassin's Association [UAA] was revealed to have beeen a scam by Sylvia to trick violent, sexually frustrated, down on their luck losers (Travis) into killing a bunch of strangers in exchange for a fake ranking and a sense of accomplishment, netting her a hefty sum of cash in the process. Travis has "retired" from assassination, and returns to Santa Destroy three years later to find the UAA has exploded since his departure into a legitimate organization, and Sylvia is again pulling the strings. Throw in some dead friends and another promise of sex and Travis is off to fight his way the top again starting at Rank 51.

One of the most notable things about the game is the presentation. There are some very extreme shadows that have turned some of the people I know off to the game, but over-all it looks a great deal better than the original. The world of No More Heroes is one of a fanciful sort of grit. If Quentin Tarantion directed a vide-game it would be like this. The over the top violent-almost-to-the-point-of-parody flavor that exists within the game is one of the hooking features, along with the writing which walks the line between cheesy and bad-ass so perfectly one wonders how it doesn't fall to either side.

The first thing to note about the game itself is that it's quite deceptive about it's content. The back of the case boasts that, "Starting from Rank 51," Players will, "fight their way through even more epic boss battles," The implication here clearly being that there are 50 boss battles in the game. NMH2 however, argues semantics in the leagues of your most anal high school English teacher, however, with a number of ways for Travis to jump up literally tens of ranks in single confrontations. One early example involves a Football player assassin named Charlie who's cheerleader groupies swarm together to form a giant robot... Yeah... Travis, using his own giant robot, blows up Charlie only to find out that the Cheerleaders were also on the list and he has just jumped 26 ranks.

Suda 51: Problem, video-gamers?

It gets so bad late in the game that Travis actually starts to complain about other people taking his kills.

Gameplay is much the same as the original. Travis will fight his way through a series of enemies (finishing each with either a wagglan beam-katana finisher, or a wrestling move) finally coming to a confrontation with the person a rank above what he currently is, pithy conversation, fight, rinse, repeat. One welcome addition is that of a few more basic enemies (of which the game has about three) and, thankfully, new environments to explore. It seemed like 90% of the first game's missions took place in an abandoned warehouse, but the environments on display in Desperate Struggle are much more varied and help to keep the game fresh. Still, some may find repetition setting in, especially in some of the of the later levels. One can only cut a man in half at the torso so many times before it becomes a nuisance. The best levels are the ones that are short and sweet, and thankfully, many are.

Two of the biggest complaints about the original NMH were the boring sandbox-hub and the mundane mini-games needed to earn cash for ranking fights. This time around the sandbox apsects have been removed entirely, replaced with a tidy map selection system and the hum-drum mini-games have been replaced by 8-bit mock-ups of classic games, like Super Hang-On and a hybrid Pac-Man/Dig-Dug thing. Because it no longer costs to enter ranking fights, you can play these games at your leisure and spend the money earned on new weapons, new clothes, or character upgrades.

No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle is a game that tackles every problem it predecessor had and improves minutely on the good aspects. The characters, artistic direction and writing are all top-notch, but the game suffers from a bit repetition in it's late levels and, for a game essentially all about boss battles, the final one is pretty weak. Still, it's insanely stylish, and, simply put is a fun ride from beginning to end, and really, that's all one can ask from a game.

VAGUE NUMERICAL SCORE FOR LAZY READERS: 4.5/5