Zero Punctuation: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

TheSorrow1145

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Jun 27, 2010
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Mr. Win said:
It was a funny review, and I laughed a fair bit, but I disagree with a lot of the complaints. I found all of the NES style minigames to be very fun, and the exclusion of the sandbox was only a good thing, really.
You're not required to agree, mate. He pretty much expects it by now.

Hopping to another game: Portal 2. Really hating the Valve Time right now. Not only do I have to wait 'til 2011 to get my hands on the game (which looks awesome by the way), I'll have to wait even longer to see if Yahtzee thinks it can top Portal.


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I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster.
 

Sikachu

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Apr 20, 2010
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Finally someone with a soapbox calling out Tarantino for the bullshit he peddles. Reckon you could write your opinions about this on fullyramblomatic?
 

Benny Blanco

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Jan 23, 2008
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MasochisticMuse said:
Lol Yahtzee finally acknowledges the Rebecca Mayes thing. I still think her calling Yahtzee a misogynist was ridiculous, and I'm a second year possibly lesbian art student taking gender studies classes.
Yeah, I don't really think he could be accused of "misogyny" (hatred of women) given that he expresses a dislike of characteristics of males in real life and video games to a much greater extent than their female counterparts. It's just a basically curmudgeonly/snide type of humour (which I should I suppose acknowledge as being common in Britain).

In fact, I've generally been struck by his disdain for misogynistic traits in games during his reviews, as well as in his EP article on "manly men and macho men" regarding the treatment of women by the two character types.

Also loved the fact that he implied that martial artists are all nerds. We are. Except Steven Seagal, who's just a ****.
 

duchaked

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Dec 25, 2008
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mmm not the most hilarious video but can't really blame him seeing how NMH2 seems to be shaping up (the Rebecca Mayes quip was well timed and well done haha guess it was best it was thrown in this vid)
 

wonkify

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Oct 2, 2009
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Finally! Someone besides me who thinks Matisse's Etch-a-Sketch period doesn't get the respect it deserves.
 

SAMAS

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Aug 27, 2009
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I can't say anything about the game, but is anyone else tired of Yahtzee complaining about casual games on the Wii, then when a non-casual game comes out by anyone but Nintendo (which usually draws criticism on it's own), he goes off about how it shouldn't be there?
 

MaltesePigeon

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Feb 3, 2010
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DeathWyrmNexus said:
The Seldom Seen Kid said:
The Rebecca Mayes joke was just perfect.

Great review :)
Lulz, ya, I loved it. Now I can't watch a review without a cheap laugh at Rebecca's expense as she will forever be known in my head as a woman who gets stabby with those who aggravate her.

Like a laughable version of Jason Vorhees. Good times.
Yes yes yes! A laughable version of Jason Vorhees. She's Angela from Sleepaway Camp 2!
Click here to watch here sing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEqo33M60Tw

My containment tube had a whole bunch of breast implants floating in it. Now I don't seem to be able to enjoy the real thing.
 

Elf Defiler Korgan

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Apr 15, 2009
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Yeah, but he is right about Tarantino.

Also he makes a good observation on shut-in nerd and martial artist being an easy fusion. Gaming and martial arts has been the story of my life for years. I know I'm not the only one too.
 

CaseySmith

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Mar 5, 2010
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Boyninja616 said:
CaseySmith said:
I couldn't imagine any sandbox game working at all for the Wii anyway. It doesn't have the hardware to do it properly.

CyricZ said:
Lordbishop said:
Ooo.. think someone might have watched Rebecca's vid/song
Yeah, he watched it when it came out. They even had a little twitter back and forth, but now I think they're both content to snipe at each other from their respective perches, professionally of course. (Not that I claim to understand the British mind)
Well I do, and us British people like to take the mickey/piss out of each other. Most times this is not ment as aggressive, it's usually ment as a form of indirect bonding; a way to have fun with one another verbally.

I really do see how this gets lost in translation with our American cousins, as when the same is applied to an American, they tend to FREAK THE F*CK OUT AND RAGE. Well, at least from my personal experience. =p


Ahh, reminds me of the early days of the internet, where an American would get in between two British friends taking the piss out of each other; accussing one or the other for being horrible and they're gonna report them and what-not... And we all know what happens in those situations!

(Both of them to the interceptor): "Piss off!"


One thing I'm now very curious about is: do the Australians have this trait?
Thank you very much for being someone who acknowledges a Brit's needs to take the piss out of other brits, you grumpy bastard.

Quite right about Rebecca and Yahtzee. It's all fun and games between them. I doubt Yahtzee REALLY expects Rebecca to stab him, and probably either acknowledges a slightly misogynistic nature or sees it as a joke.

Similarly, Rebecca will take this in her stride. She'll probably laugh about it more than us.

I know Americans personally. They get deeply offended about any witty banter that other people just shrug off. A real pain when they're attractive.

Australians aren't anything like us. They all just say "G'Day, mate" and drink Lager (NOT BEER) and hate black people. We Brits hate everyone. Including ourselves, our friends and our families.
Hehee, made me smile.

It's not as extreme as you portray it, but it's true.


I guess that's why you see a lot of comments about dramatised interpretations of the situation between Rebecca and Yahtzee. Because people don't understand this small but basic part of our social culture.

We can laugh at our own flaws and not be offended by them. Well, most of us anyway.


And me, I'm a happy grumpy git! :D
 

incoherent

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May 7, 2007
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Mostly, I liked NMH2, and if you liked the first one you'll enjoy it to an extent, if for nothing else because it's more of the same. The main problem with No More Heroes 2 was that the bosses just weren't as memorable or interesting. Both games are very focused on the boss fights: the minigames are maybe fun once each, the levels before the bosses aren't terribly interesting (and yes, they do seem to get overly long toward the end of NMH2), and the assassination missions are just shorter versions of the levels before the bosses.

But unlike NMH1, the bosses in NMH2 don't seem as strong from a character perspective: you kill them in an attempt or two, then instantly forget them. Margaret seems like an attempt to recreate the success of Bad Girl (complete with "catchy" theme music), but Margaret doesn't have nearly the WTF value: she's just some random assassin with obnoxious ranged attacks. The game tries to make this into ironic commentary on Travis's bloodlust (the rank 2 boss even telegraphs it by asking if you remember any of the people you've killed, and you generally don't know the assassins' names until afterward, unlike NMH1 where they're introduced at the level select), but "ironic commentary" doesn't make it a more fulfilling game. And most of the hard ones can be cheesed by taking the Peony (a long red sword that gets longer, harder, and redder the more of a combo you build up... can you see the obvious joke being made here?) and bludgeoning the enemy to death with it without much real strategy.

Nowhere is this more clear than in the last boss of each game. The last boss of NMH1 appears once, he killsteals you (although apparently not very well, given one of the bosses in NMH2), he jaws with Travis for a bit, then the fight gets broken up. Okay, now we have a rival, who's kind of like Travis but more of a jerk. So when he shows up at the end of the game, it feels satisfying to duel him, and if that's not enough, there's the "plot twist" to make you realize that he's actually a semi-important random jerk. And the fight is reasonably satisfying: no real tricks, but sometimes you don't need tricks (see: the last part of the Ganondorf fight in Twilight Princess, a similar situation).

The last boss of NMH2 seems like he should be important: he's the reason your friend died, he's the CEO of a large and uncaring corporation, and he's a callback to the first game (although for some reason his last name and his company's name changed?). The problem is that Suda 51 fails to make you actually care at all. Who cares, when Travis indiscriminately murders people all the time and the friend in question was even more of a loser than Travis himself? And the fight itself is just irritating: the first phase features a moment where with no warning your previous strategy just stops doing damage with no feedback from the game that you're not doing any damage, the second phase somehow confuses "difficulty" with "cheapness" by giving him an attack which is nearly unblockable and making you just wait for an attempt where he doesn't constantly spam it, and when you kill him there's no twist or resolution, just "well, now I've avenged my dead friend, time to not really resolve anything, THE END".
 

Timbydude

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Jul 15, 2009
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incoherent said:
Mostly, I liked NMH2, and if you liked the first one you'll enjoy it to an extent, if for nothing else because it's more of the same. The main problem with No More Heroes 2 was that the bosses just weren't as memorable or interesting. Both games are very focused on the boss fights: the minigames are maybe fun once each, the levels before the bosses aren't terribly interesting (and yes, they do seem to get overly long toward the end of NMH2), and the assassination missions are just shorter versions of the levels before the bosses.

But unlike NMH1, the bosses in NMH2 don't seem as strong from a character perspective: you kill them in an attempt or two, then instantly forget them. Margaret seems like an attempt to recreate the success of Bad Girl (complete with "catchy" theme music), but Margaret doesn't have nearly the WTF value: she's just some random assassin with obnoxious ranged attacks. The game tries to make this into ironic commentary on Travis's bloodlust (the rank 2 boss even telegraphs it by asking if you remember any of the people you've killed, and you generally don't know the assassins' names until afterward, unlike NMH1 where they're introduced at the level select), but "ironic commentary" doesn't make it a more fulfilling game. And most of the hard ones can be cheesed by taking the Peony (a long red sword that gets longer, harder, and redder the more of a combo you build up... can you see the obvious joke being made here?) and bludgeoning the enemy to death with it without much real strategy.
This, basically.

NMH2 just felt lifeless compared to the original. It was still fun, but it seriously just felt like a rushed game. Aside from the fact that the final battle is frame rate hell, it's not even particularly entertaining. There literally is no strategy to that fight, and it's literally "Mash A and hope I survive".

The original just had a certain spark to it that made it more fun. The sheer insanity of it all was enough to get you through the first 3 fights, and then after that they mix it up by either showing you a crazy assassin or changing the gameplay a tad.

In this one, new gameplay segments felt forced. The motorcycle boss fight? Disaster. Shinobu's platforming? Annoying, imprecise, and you shouldn't have had to use it as accurately as they made you.

Like I said, still fun, but definitely a case of the sequel being inferior to the original.
 

Yopaz

Sarcastic overlord
Jun 3, 2009
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saintfrankie92 said:
i dont miss the sandbox really. it was unnecessary the first time around.
Agreed, the sandbox just made me sad, and I actually liked the quicker way of traveling in No More Heroes 2. I didn't like the new turn of work mini games as you had to play them a lot more to get to your goals, but money wasn't needed to start every mission this time around though.