Hey everyone, this is my first review for a game for the Nintendo Wii called No More Heroes. This is Suda and Grasshopper Studios latest development. You might know them from a game on the gamecube called Killer 7. Anyway, in No More Heroes you play as the main protagonist Travis Touchdown, an anime loving smart assed pervert. Some of the games best dialogue comes from the wise retorts Travis gives to his “acquaintances.” In a way Travis almost represents everything a gamer is, and what everyone that plays video games wants to be like. Travis gets involved in this underground assassin society. It’s his job to fight his way through the top ten ranked assassins to earn the number one spot and become the best. His motivation? To sleep with the organization’s “publicist” Sylvia. That’s about the story in a nutshell, you kill the top ten ranked assassins in order to get some action…sweet.
Initial gameplay mechanics almost give off a Grand Theft Auto vibe. You are free to roam around a large city doing random jobs and assassin missions to earn money to enter into the next ranked assassin match. The only quirk I really have with this is that most of the tasks you do to earn money seem so monotonous and unmotivated that it almost brings the quality of the game down. I mentioned that the city (named Santa Destroy) is quite large, yet you are lacking in what you can actually DO. At times it seems to be a bit tedious to move from one end of the map, to the other to fulfill a job that gets you little money.
What this game lacks in the way of initial gameplay is made up tenfold through the ranked matches and cutscenes. Each ranked match starts off with you fighting your way through a building i.e. School, Baseball Stadium, Movie Studio, in order to make it to the final room where you fight one on one with said assassin. It is through these introduced characters and the dialogue that we get a sense of who that character really is. It seems as if you can pull one of these animated characters straight from an anime or manga and it feels as if it belongs there.
Battle in general is really fun, it is fast paced and very simple in nature. It terms it is basically a gory hack and slash game with over the top amounts of blood and violence galore. Your main weapon is a beam sword with two different ways of holding the sword, up and down giving different attacks. Each style is determined by how you’re holding the wii-mote, if you’re holding it up, you’re in up syle, if you’re holding it down, you’re in down style…simple enough right? Along with the beam sword, Travis has the ability to learn wrestling moves throughout the game and they come in handy during some of the fights. These moves give a welcomed break from the hack and slash every once in a while.
No More Heroes also boasts of different upgrades and customization. You can learn abilities by collecting items, you can ultimately fight with one of three different beam “katanas” each with their own unique style, and you can change the look of your character completely. After each rank assassin you kill more clothing options become available to give Travis a wide array of looks. You can even roam around the city looking in dumpsters to find extra shirts. Some of my personal favorites include a Moonwalk tee shirt showing how it is supposed to look like and a I <3 Tits tee shirt with a set of…well you guessed it…tits on the front.
The game has replay value with even more unlockables to open and harder difficulties to overcome. If you can overlook the games clunky and monotonous beginning, I’m sure you’ll fall in love with the story line, the characters, and the fighting system. It’s an all out over the top game that every serious Wii owner should at least rent if not go out and buy.
My final rating: 8/10
Now go out there and play the damn game!
~Prudz
