On Monday, I managed to coax my parents to give me a ride to the local GameStop. I managed to trade in about one hundred dollars of games (most of them crap I never played ever), and found a copy of No More Heroes, brand new, bundled with Red Steel. I bought that, along with MadWorld and a preorder for Punch-Out!
I have yet to touch the other 2 games. Or any game other then No More Heroes for the past 3 days. This is odd for me, since there are times I play 3 different games in one day. But this is getting tedious, and I have yet to actually review this masterpiece, or even talk about it much. So let's get started shall we?
No More Heroes is an action title for the Wii, made by Suda51 of Killer7 fame, featuring a great cast of characters, a satiric plot, and some wonderful gameplay, as well as a beautiful art style and a great musical score, all of which I will try to go into at least some detail with.
The game follows hilariously named Travis Touchdown, a hardcore nerd with a massive hard-on for anime and pro wrestling, an appreciation of pornography bordering on the level of connoisseur, a toy collection bordering on the disturbing, and a lightsaber he bought on e-Bay. Yes. A lightsaber. Alright, it's TECHNICAL name is beam katana, but you and I both know its a lightsaber. After running into a bit of financial trouble, most likely due to living in a motel and collecting a ton of imported toys, he decides to become an assassin, using his lightsaber, and his knowledge of professional wrestling to kill his targets. After one hit, he is noticed by the United Assassins Association, and things get interesting. He is informed that he is now officially the 11th ranked hitman in the country, and is offered the chance to climb to the top, using the bodies of the 10 assassins above him for a ladder.
The gameplay starts you off at the mansion of assassin number 10, and immediately lets you in on the fun, or lets you go through a brief tutorial to teach you the basics. The combat system is very easy to pick up. You press A to swing your sword, and B to attack with a punch or kick to stun your opponent. If you keep the Wii Remote parallel to the ground, you'll do low attacks, and if pointing the Wii remote up, you do a high attack. The fun comes from the situational attacks. If you empty a baddies health with a beam katana attack, the game prompts you to do a finisher attack to brutally maim the sap, and anyone standing near him for that matter, by flicking the Wiimote in the direction given. after a deathblow, if you're in a ranked fight dungeon, a slot rolls, and if 3 icons match up, you enter Dark Side mode, where you temporarily gain super powers, and in some cases gold hair. The Dark Side modes are tons of fun when you manage to get them, and one assassination mission has you in darkside mode CONSTANTLY for added fun. If you press B near a stunned foe, you can do a wrestling move for a ton of damage. The boss fights are similar, but the bosses are much more creative in appearance and attack patterns, as well as a lot more durable then the average lackey. The boss fights prove to be challenging, but far from frustrating.
And since I talked about the bosses, lets talk about characters. The cast of NMH is wacky, outlandish, insane, colorful, and impossible to hate. Travis Touchdown is probably the best game hero I can think of, simply because he has a lot of endearing qualities, mainly that he's funny, he's nerdy, and he's not ashamed of either. The bosses are also all zany and colorful, but I don't want to risk spoiling them for anyone.
The game also benefits from a beautiful art style, also seen in Killer7, but since I have yet to PLAY that game, and I know I can't be the only one, it's also comparable to LoZ: Wind Waker and Viewtiful Joe, only this time around, human beings have human proportions. Also, this game has a LOT of blood and gore, and the game expects you to relish in it. As a spoiler safe example, after a deathblow that bisected 7 or so people across the waistline, the screen FILLS with blood, and mysterious coins seem to fly from the corpses to your body. This mass slaughter is something the game wants, nay, demands you celebrate.
The story is a massive satire of big action titles, complete with ridiculous plot twists at the end that make no sense but every movie goer will see them coming from a mile away. Close looks show it has parodies of the game industry, nerd culture, and even itself. No More Heroes does not take itself seriously at all, and I love it for it. It's laughably tongue in cheek, and it's not afraid to admit that it's a game. The main character often acts as if he's in a game, something game characters don't normally do. The one liners are so cheesy their hilarious, the jokes are going to merit at least a chuckle, and it's worth a quick look just to see a small sample of the writing.
The game isn't perfect though. My most minor complaint is the music. Much of the game's music is just various remixes of the main theme, which isn't bad, but it's not great, especially if you compare some of the songs to, say, some of the great boss themes, which are often so good I found myself dragging out boss fights to jam. This isn't too much of a flaw, and can usually be ignored.
A harder to ignore flaw are the part's in between the assassinations. After each ranked fight, you need to accumulate money to do the next one by getting a part time job. It turns out your employer has connections to the underworld, and hooks you up with assassination missions if you work hard enough. The minigames are well designed, and the assassination missions are the same fun gameplay as always, but after a while, farming the same damn gig (usually gig 18, minor spoiler) to get the money you need get's kind of old. Plus, there's not a whole lot to do with the city. It looks nice, but there's so little to actually DO in Santa Destroy that it renders the metropolis to a giant buffer between the fun bits. It's not BAD, but in context with the rest of the game, it's just dull. Furthermore, even with the grindy bits, the game only clocks in at around 12-15 hours.
But for all it's flaws, I still hold NMH as a masterpiece. Top notch character design and art style, addictive gameplay, just raw fun from start to finish and back again. Anyone who has a Wii that's made it past at least grade school (assuming you're actually mature enough at that point to handle the gore, end unnecessary qualifier) MUST have this game. If you need a list of games for the Wii to convince you to buy it, add this to it. You can get it awful cheap (I got a new copy of it for 30 bucks, with Red Steel as a free extra). Plus, It's a fresh idea for this generation, and I heartily await it's sequel and the return of Travis Touchdown.
I have yet to touch the other 2 games. Or any game other then No More Heroes for the past 3 days. This is odd for me, since there are times I play 3 different games in one day. But this is getting tedious, and I have yet to actually review this masterpiece, or even talk about it much. So let's get started shall we?
No More Heroes is an action title for the Wii, made by Suda51 of Killer7 fame, featuring a great cast of characters, a satiric plot, and some wonderful gameplay, as well as a beautiful art style and a great musical score, all of which I will try to go into at least some detail with.
The game follows hilariously named Travis Touchdown, a hardcore nerd with a massive hard-on for anime and pro wrestling, an appreciation of pornography bordering on the level of connoisseur, a toy collection bordering on the disturbing, and a lightsaber he bought on e-Bay. Yes. A lightsaber. Alright, it's TECHNICAL name is beam katana, but you and I both know its a lightsaber. After running into a bit of financial trouble, most likely due to living in a motel and collecting a ton of imported toys, he decides to become an assassin, using his lightsaber, and his knowledge of professional wrestling to kill his targets. After one hit, he is noticed by the United Assassins Association, and things get interesting. He is informed that he is now officially the 11th ranked hitman in the country, and is offered the chance to climb to the top, using the bodies of the 10 assassins above him for a ladder.
The gameplay starts you off at the mansion of assassin number 10, and immediately lets you in on the fun, or lets you go through a brief tutorial to teach you the basics. The combat system is very easy to pick up. You press A to swing your sword, and B to attack with a punch or kick to stun your opponent. If you keep the Wii Remote parallel to the ground, you'll do low attacks, and if pointing the Wii remote up, you do a high attack. The fun comes from the situational attacks. If you empty a baddies health with a beam katana attack, the game prompts you to do a finisher attack to brutally maim the sap, and anyone standing near him for that matter, by flicking the Wiimote in the direction given. after a deathblow, if you're in a ranked fight dungeon, a slot rolls, and if 3 icons match up, you enter Dark Side mode, where you temporarily gain super powers, and in some cases gold hair. The Dark Side modes are tons of fun when you manage to get them, and one assassination mission has you in darkside mode CONSTANTLY for added fun. If you press B near a stunned foe, you can do a wrestling move for a ton of damage. The boss fights are similar, but the bosses are much more creative in appearance and attack patterns, as well as a lot more durable then the average lackey. The boss fights prove to be challenging, but far from frustrating.
And since I talked about the bosses, lets talk about characters. The cast of NMH is wacky, outlandish, insane, colorful, and impossible to hate. Travis Touchdown is probably the best game hero I can think of, simply because he has a lot of endearing qualities, mainly that he's funny, he's nerdy, and he's not ashamed of either. The bosses are also all zany and colorful, but I don't want to risk spoiling them for anyone.
The game also benefits from a beautiful art style, also seen in Killer7, but since I have yet to PLAY that game, and I know I can't be the only one, it's also comparable to LoZ: Wind Waker and Viewtiful Joe, only this time around, human beings have human proportions. Also, this game has a LOT of blood and gore, and the game expects you to relish in it. As a spoiler safe example, after a deathblow that bisected 7 or so people across the waistline, the screen FILLS with blood, and mysterious coins seem to fly from the corpses to your body. This mass slaughter is something the game wants, nay, demands you celebrate.
The story is a massive satire of big action titles, complete with ridiculous plot twists at the end that make no sense but every movie goer will see them coming from a mile away. Close looks show it has parodies of the game industry, nerd culture, and even itself. No More Heroes does not take itself seriously at all, and I love it for it. It's laughably tongue in cheek, and it's not afraid to admit that it's a game. The main character often acts as if he's in a game, something game characters don't normally do. The one liners are so cheesy their hilarious, the jokes are going to merit at least a chuckle, and it's worth a quick look just to see a small sample of the writing.
The game isn't perfect though. My most minor complaint is the music. Much of the game's music is just various remixes of the main theme, which isn't bad, but it's not great, especially if you compare some of the songs to, say, some of the great boss themes, which are often so good I found myself dragging out boss fights to jam. This isn't too much of a flaw, and can usually be ignored.
A harder to ignore flaw are the part's in between the assassinations. After each ranked fight, you need to accumulate money to do the next one by getting a part time job. It turns out your employer has connections to the underworld, and hooks you up with assassination missions if you work hard enough. The minigames are well designed, and the assassination missions are the same fun gameplay as always, but after a while, farming the same damn gig (usually gig 18, minor spoiler) to get the money you need get's kind of old. Plus, there's not a whole lot to do with the city. It looks nice, but there's so little to actually DO in Santa Destroy that it renders the metropolis to a giant buffer between the fun bits. It's not BAD, but in context with the rest of the game, it's just dull. Furthermore, even with the grindy bits, the game only clocks in at around 12-15 hours.
But for all it's flaws, I still hold NMH as a masterpiece. Top notch character design and art style, addictive gameplay, just raw fun from start to finish and back again. Anyone who has a Wii that's made it past at least grade school (assuming you're actually mature enough at that point to handle the gore, end unnecessary qualifier) MUST have this game. If you need a list of games for the Wii to convince you to buy it, add this to it. You can get it awful cheap (I got a new copy of it for 30 bucks, with Red Steel as a free extra). Plus, It's a fresh idea for this generation, and I heartily await it's sequel and the return of Travis Touchdown.
