No More Heroes
Story:
Players take the role of Travis Touchdown, an Otaku and fan of Mexican wrestling who lives in the No More Heroes Motel in the city of Santa Destroy, California. After winning a Beam Katana off of an internet auction, Travis runs out of money for video games and wrestling tapes and hires himself out as an assassin. Upon successfully killing fellow assassin Helter Skelter, Travis is ranked 11th by the United Assassins Association and discovers that even if he doesn’t kill again, other assassins will still try to kill him for his rank. Deciding that he would prefer staying alive, making money and most importantly, impressing UAA Agent Sylvia Christel, Travis begins his ascension of the assassin ranks…
The game is split into a repeating cycle of two distinct playing styles, the action stages and the free roam world in between the action stages.
In the action stages, Travis wields his Beam Katana and arsenal of wrestling moves to fight his way through groups of lackeys that include Baseball Players, Soldiers and Bondage Gimps. Upon reaching the end of a level, Travis will engage in one-on-one battle with a ranked Assassin. Also collectible in each action stage are sets of Lucha Libre Trading Cards that affect the decor of the No More Heroes Motel room.
In between action stages, Travis will explore Santa Destroy, where he must find ways to make enough money to pay the entry fee for the next action stage. Travis can travel on foot (not recommended) or on his Schpeltiger Motorcycle. Money can be made either from taking on menial jobs like mowing the lawn and pumping gas, from accepting Assassination missions, from dumpster diving and digging at certain spots on the map, and in Free Fight missions where Travis must fight through a small action stage with only one health point. Other activities that are optional in Santa Destroy include training at the Gym, buying new clothing, upgrading the Beam Katana, renting new wrestling tapes to learn moves from, finding and trading Lovikov Balls to learn secret techniques from a drunk Russian, and playing with Travis’s pet kitten Jeane.
- Free Roam World: The biggest negative of No More Heroes is the city of Santa Destroy itself. Beyond getting to the access points of the various stages and shops, all you can really do in the city is find hidden caches of money, hidden T-Shirts and hidden Lovikov Balls. You don’t get chased by police cars for bad driving and don’t engage in any actual combat while on the map. Perhaps if the map was half the size, it would not seem as big of a fault, but there is no reason to have such a large city when a menu selection system could have easily sufficed. Also, not that I care much about graphics being top notch, but even I noticed the fade-in that reminds of the days of the Nintendo 64.
- Free Fight Stages: The Free Fight stage access points temporarily disappear after each attempt. This is incredibly frustrating as often times a lucky hit from an enemy will end the level and you will have to wait until later to track down the access point and try again. Either Travis should be given more health to begin the stage, or more logically, the access points should remain on the map at all times.
- Money: Not that making money itself is a bad thing, but there’s really only one fun way to make money in No More Heroes. The hidden caches buried in the ground and hidden in dumpsters in Santa Destroy do not amount to much, and while it is amusing to see which menial job you have to ply your trade in next, the mini-games do not remain fun and therefore lucrative for very long, if they are at all. Free Fight Missions are almost out of the question as income sources unless one is good enough at action stages to not get hit. The real money is in the Assassination missions, but even those start getting monotonous if buying extras is involved. Overall, it would have been nice to have a bit more variety in making significant amounts of money.
Pros:
- Style: Like other Suda51 games, this game has a unique, humorous and oftentimes bizarre style. Nearly every facet of the game deviates from the norm in some way, shape or form which really makes No More Heroes stand out. Giving away more than what necessary for this would be a shame for those who have not played it. Definitely the strongest aspect of No More Heroes.
- Bosses: These are not just your run-of-the-mill threats or random obstacle-of-the-moment bosses. This collection of assassins is unique and memorable, both in character design and in combat. Travis will banter with these characters about their respective lifestyles, oftentimes poking at real life. Even better is that the assassins are only named and silhouetted before you enter an action stage, so there is a rising level of anticipation to find out what the next boss is all about as the stage starts coming to a close.
- Combat: Combat in the game is simple to control and fun in practice. Button presses control sword slashes, kicks, dodges and there is the option of locking onto an enemy. You can perform wrestling moves, win sword clashes, provocatively recharge your Beam Katana and execute Deathblows with simple motion controls that are always directed by arrows on the screen. Hitting a Deathblow activates a slot machine that can in turn activate Dark Side Mode, where Travis can kill with ease in a variety of ways, dependent on the results of the slot. Blood sprays (at least in the North American version) and money flies when opponents die. This can overwhelm the screen at times and block your view after delivering a Deathblow to a group of enemies, but not enough to blunt the feeling of enjoyment that can be had from causing so much carnage. There are times when Travis is left open to attacks that simply cannot be blocked or avoided, but that only becomes a major problem in the Free Fight stages. Instead of overloading on motion control just because it is there, the game does not do more than it needs to, and that makes for an enjoyable play experience.
- Clothing: Personally, I do not find customizable appearances in video games appealing, but I took full advantage of the style of No More Heroes by changing Travis’ appearance between each action stage. It takes a chunk out of the wallet, but there is something to be said for showing up to a duel with looks to kill.
Summary:
This is one the most stylish games ever created with memorable characters and easy, fun play control. There are many strange and humorous moments and the player will begin to wonder what could possibly happen next. Unfortunately, there were a few flaws that needed to be worked out and improved upon and half of the game is played in an un-necessary and sometimes frustrating free roam world. Still, No More Heroes is an excellent entry in the Wii’s library and is arguably the best 3rd party Wii title available
Grade: B
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Style. I think that's my favourite element about a game, the style it's executed in. I'm willing to sit through a subpar gaming experience if it dazzles me with style. This doesn't have anything to do with the graphics quality or anything like that. Maybe it could be said that style is the interaction between the context, subtext and text of an action. I could write an essay on it.
I think I might like to play this game based on what you've said about it.
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