Count me as one of the people who actually like Killer is Dead and feel most of the media is being way too harsh on it. Character Action games are a acquired taste and if one doesn't go into it with the mindset of being a cool guy slashing things to bits with a katana then it's going to seem very stale and tedious.
Yahtzee actually treated it much more fairly than most, focusing mostly on the parts of it that I do feel could have used refining (short campaign punctuated by minigames that no person would want to do more than three times, the same exposition cutscene used over and over again) but most of all: He didn't use the cop-out that most review sites have been using saying that it's "Too Japanese". Even though the protagonist is essentially Suda's idea of James Bond if he was an assassin from the moon. Everything about that was characterized perfectly except for the part where they actually had to show the world's resistance to his personality to watch how he reacts to tough situations, which never really comes up. He's pretty much the same overly-suave ladykiller from beginning to end. Which is where I feel the campaign should have expanded on instead of throwing "Giant Katana Slashity-Slash Arena Number 15" minigames at the player.
The combat is where I'm saddened to hear it compared as a cut-down No More Heroes because everything about it has been expanded from NMH unless one just buys the standard upgrades without any new moves or techniques. Which is why I say that character action games are very much an acquired taste, as the game could be beaten on normal by just hacking and slashing away at the enemies until they die, but it misses the finesse required to do the much more powerful moves and combos to kill the enemies "properly" (Not just hacking and slashing them until they die). Killer is Dead's combat focuses on Mondo's defensive capabilities and never forces the player to make a move they are not ready to make. Which actually should make it very easy to pick up and play for someone who never even played NMH even on the hardest difficulty. The combat is by far the best part of the game for me even if the rest of it is a little scrambled.
I would say: It's at least worth a rent to enjoy that excellent combat and artstyle. Here's hoping next week is Wonderful 101.