Information
Reviewed On: Wii
Available On: Wii
Players: 1
Rating: M
Genre: Hack 'n' Slash
Developer: Grasshopper Manafacture
Distributor: Red-Ant
Release: 20th March 2008
In Short...
"A great and stylish game, ruined by a flawed Overworld. A try before you buy."
No More Heroes
No More Heroes is the latest brainchild of Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture, the collaboration of which also brought us the wonderful title Killer7. It combines Light saber action, a lazy, stereotypical Okatu, humor and assassins all in one, to create one hell of a ride that no Wii owner should miss.
This video is rated M for mature audiences, as it contains violence and small amounts blood.
This video is rated M for mature audiences, as it contains violence and small amounts blood.
So, what’s it all about you ask? Well, it is about the abovementioned Okatu, with the awesome name of Travis Touchdown, who likes nothing more than to watch porn, anime, play video games, and just be a flat-out douche bag. He lives in the creatively titled town, Santa Destroy, and stays in the motel No More Heroes. One day he decides to buy a ‘Beam Katana’ from an internet auction. For no reason whatsoever. “Weather looks good today, why not buy a killing implement I have no need for from some shady guy over the net?” Then one night he is out at a pub and meets a, quote ‘hot chick’ named Silvia, and for some reason she needs him to assassinate an assassin called ‘The Drifter’. By completing this favour, Travis hopes she will, quote ‘do it with him.’ After the said assassination, Travis becomes the 11th ranked assassin in the U.S.A. ...
That’s a brief taste of what the game’s entire plot is like - weird, wacky, and in the end really makes no sense. If it doesn’t appeal to you so far, then I doubt you will enjoy the rest of the game, but if it does appeal to you, you’re in for a nice surprise.
(And obviously, from the above story outline, this is not a game for the little ones. It is targeted at the more seasoned in the Wii gaming audience, and is presented as a much more mature game)
The gameplay comes down to two main parts. Ranked Matches, which is fighting the next assassin above you, and the other part basically then consists of making enough money to pay for the Ranked Matches. To earn money, you can do side jobs, which, while fun at first, grow boring after every second try, and “assassination gigs”, which are pretty much the main way to make money. The side jobs range from picking up rubbish to finding lost cats, and even include outrageous things like jumping your bike into the ocean. Assassination gigs are just killing either one target, a set amount of targets, or as many as you can before time runs out.
The Ranked Fights, however, are very well polished, but a bit too short. To participate in a ranked fight, you must travel to the location that your opponent is waiting at, and then fight a whole bunch of identical enemies that wear a whole range of clothing. There’s thug with black suit, thug with purple suit, thug in baseball uniform, thug in camo and thug with paper bag on head. The bosses, however, are the most colourful bunch of characters ever, ranging from the likes of a cosplayer, a magician and a tattooed swordsman, and make the fights familiar, yet quirky enough to hold interest. The combat is extremely repetitive though, as all you really have to do is press the A button and swing the Wiimote in a specified direction to kill the enemies. There’s also wrestling moves that are motion sensitive as well, but you won’t really use them outside of when you have to in certain missions, and during boss fights. The good thing about the combat is that even though it screams repetition, it is extremely fun, and you can never really get bored of turning a whole bunch of identical thugs into black ash.
The wonderful cel-shaded graphics give the game an extremely vibrant (though not too realistic) theme, and really add to the immersion into the world of Santa Destroy. There maybe the odd bit of glitchyness in the cel-shading but it still looks wonderful, and in the art design, Suda51 has done themselves proud. Most of the characters have their own flavour, and you can’t help but love the top ten assassins, with all their different personalities. If you’re looking for a Wii game with unique and humorous characters, look no further. Also, the cut scenes are very well-done.
The sound, on the other hand, is as repetitive as the combat, and the music you hear whilst riding the Schpeltiger gets old way too fast. The voice acting, however, is really good, at least compared to what I am used to, (which is really nothing except Metroid Prime 3 >_>) and the characters just suit their voices. The sound effects are quite good, but the one-liners Travis says when turning an enemy into black pixels can get annoying. (But you’ve got to love when he gets a special ability and shouts out something like “BLUEBERRY CHEESE BROWNEY!”)
Although the game has many flaws, I really enjoyed it in all its uniqueness and humour. The best parts by far are the ranked battles, and they somewhat make up for all the other shortcomings in the game’s overall experience. Anyone who enjoyed even a tiny bit of Killer7 should really like No More Heroes, and everyone else should at least give it a go to see if they like it, because it really all comes down to personal taste. As I said before, the glitchyness of the Overworld will turn most people off, but everyone who sticks through it will have a fun, exciting and unique experience. I recommend that you play No More Heroes for a few hours before you judge it, and if you still don’t like it you are missing out, because as flawed as it is, it deserves a play until the end, simply because you will never play anything like it.
By Ben Hauser
The Verdict
Graphics: A Sometimes glitchy, but lovely cel-shading and cut scenes make this one a real treat for the eyes by the Wii’s standards.Sound: B Repetitive music, but great voice acting and sound effects.
Gameplay: B- Fun but repetitive combat. Glitchy Overworld makes the game really frustrating at times.
A great and stylish game, ruined by a flawed Overworld. A try before you buy.