In Depth Review: No More Heroes 2
DEMONTIUM REVIEWS NMH2:
Honestly, I think no two words have ever better described a piece of interactive media other than fucking amazing, and were it not for my own need to prattle on about things, I would consider this review complete.
The original No More Heroes was a great game, and one I enjoyed completely. I won't bother going into the story, because most by now are familiar with it, as well as how Travis Touchdown kicks more ass than ninjas, pirates, Jedis and Chuck Norris combined. All that aside, as much as I enjoyed the first game, Desperate Struggle punches it in the face, pile-drives it, then cuts its head off. This game effing rocks.
You pick up where you left off in the first game.. sorta. It turns out that Travis has retired from the assassin circuit after becoming number one due to unrevealed reasons. Reappearing for yet more unrevealed reasons, he encounters Skelter Helter, the brother of Helter Skelter (the first assassin Travis killed), who is seeking vengeance. Long story short, Skelter is defeated, but reveals just before he dies (or after, depending on how you look at it) that the fight was only part of a grander scheme for revenge, as he was collaborating with the heads of super-conglomerate Pizza Batt (changed from Pizza Butt, I can only guess to try to limit the posterior cracks.. get it, cracks? yuk yuk), who were having Travis's best friend Bishop killed at that very moment. Screwed up that they are, they have the head of Bishop delivered Jimmy John's style through Travis's window. When it turns out that the head of Pizza Batt is the current #1 ranked assassin, Travis swears his own vengeance, and sets off to climb the ranks again, starting from 51 where Skelter Helter sat.
The first major difference one will notice between the original game and its sequel is obvious - the free-roaming, open-ended world is gone in favor of a streamlined map-based "choose your destination" system of travel. While normally one might consider this a loss, in this case it greatly improves things, as city travel in the original No More Heroes was one of its weaker points; the city was rather empty and dull, and while you'd see plenty of people and cars on the map, you couldn't interact with them in any way - even running directly into them would do nothing - and while there were a few fun things to do or find out there, such as the Lovikov Balls or some T-Shirts, all in all it detracted from the main focus of the game, which were the action stages. This is where Desperate Struggle shines brighter than its predecessor could've ever hoped to.
If you played the original No More Heroes, you'll find yourself taking to the combat like a duck to water, but even if you haven't, it's a simple matter of slashing, punching, kicking, and suplexing - yes, suplexing - your enemies into submission and their eventual bloody dismemberment. However, Desperate Struggle adds an extra two layers of polish to every aspect of the previous game, and combat is no exception. Enemies are smarter this time around, and come in much more variations. You'll find your generic crowbar, knife or sword wielding foes, as well as some who wield guns or even beam katanas, but the variety doesn't stop there as it did in the first game. I found myself running into big fat dudes carrying axes and chain saws, both of whom take a surprisingly high amount of hits to go down. There are goons who look as though they were just fired from their job as a bouncer for assaulting their boss; they come at you with brass knuckles and torsos so big you'll think that they're one shot of 'roids away from turning green. There are martial artists who'll quite literally kick the crap out of you if you don't pay attention, and there's even the occasional mob-movie gangster wielding a Tommy gun - watch out for those guys. Combat this time around takes place almost completely in the main stages, which there are more of than in the first No More Heroes. Later on in the game you'll gain access to "Revenge Missions" which are similar to the assassination missions from the first game (kill a certain enemy, kill all enemies within the time limit, etc.), only you don't get paid to do them and you're specifically targeting the thugs who killed Bishop.
Not all of the main stages consist of pure combat beat-em-up action, however. I was pleasantly surprised to discover some adventure, racing and even platforming elements embedded into the game. At one point, the story diverged and I took on the role of Shinobu - a female assassin who was fought as a boss in the previous game - and suddenly the gameplay mechanics changed dramatically. Where as Travis can punch, kick, and unleash various wrestling moves through use of the B button, Shinobu can leap into the air and either unleash a torrent of sword slashes or deliver a punishing downward strike which can immediately end the life of a stunned enemy grunt. She also has the ability to scale platforms and rooftops, and leap over obstacles allowing her to reach hidden treasures. You also take on the role of Henry at one point, who's signature ability is a dash attack; a move which makes fighting as him feel not unlike what one might imagine fighting as Zero from Mega Man X in a 3D environment would feel. And that, if you're wondering, is awesome.
While you start at rank 51, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), you won't find 50 stages or 50 individual boss fights in the game, with some of the ranked assassins being "condensed" into a single boss fight. As for the fights themselves, Desperate Struggle offers not only some of the most unique foes of any modern game, but some of the most challenging as well. While I breezed through most of the bosses in the first No More Heroes without being defeated (with the solid exception of Bad Girl), several bosses took me more than one attempt to beat this time around, while the final boss dragged me through the mud before going down. The fights themselves are breathtakingly creative. You'll find yourself engaging in everything from standard katana duels to fighting off Soviet war satellites operated by alien-possessed cosmonauts to - and I'm being dead serious here - a Gundam fight. And through it all, you'll be having the time of your life.
The structure of the game outside of the action stages consists of hopping around the map via a menu to the varying locations; as stated before, a far more streamlined and to-the-point approach than the previous game's open-world map. Gone is the need to raise money for ranking fights, so if you choose, you can zip right through the game without going after the extra unlockables such as clothing and katanas or raising your strength or stamina through workouts. Trust me, though, if you're playing on Mild (mid-tier) difficulty or, God forbid, Bitter (hard mode - available after you beat the game on Mild), you're going to want the swords and stats.
While money isn't a necessary commodity this time around, the side jobs which you do to earn it are so fun that you may find yourself doing them just for the sake of doing them. You'll start with two available right off the bat, and more will be unlocked as the game moves forward. My personal favorite happens to be one available from the very beginning called Bug Out, which I can best describe as a cross between Pac Man, Bomberman, The Legend of Zelda and perhaps Kirby; you patrol different buildings through an overhead view, sucking up various bugs and other vermin for cash.. but watch out - these bugs bite back. These games within games (I refuse to call them mini-games, because they're instant classics which feel like they could've been right at home on the NES 20 years ago) deliver on challenge, style and fun factor, and add a thick layer of juiciness to an already succulent piece of meat oozing with artistic flair.
Words fail me when trying to express the joy I experienced from playing this game. Desperate Struggle feels as though it was designed for me personally. It manages to mash together so many things I love - light sabers, senseless violence, beautiful girls, crude humor, retro/classic gaming, adrenaline-pumping action, giant f***ing robots - in a way I never would've thought possible. It delivers on all the low-brow chuckles and melodrama that make cheesy slasher and suspense films fun to watch, yet does it in the vein of a classic American comic book, while tossing in retro throwbacks for us first, second and third generation gamers to eat up like a juicy steak. It is a must by for any gamer old enough yet to buy it yet immature enough to enjoy it. Just remember to pull your pants up when you're done.
Developers - take note.
Mature games on Wii are done right when it comes to NMH2!
10/10
Honestly, I think no two words have ever better described a piece of interactive media other than fucking amazing, and were it not for my own need to prattle on about things, I would consider this review complete.
The original No More Heroes was a great game, and one I enjoyed completely. I won't bother going into the story, because most by now are familiar with it, as well as how Travis Touchdown kicks more ass than ninjas, pirates, Jedis and Chuck Norris combined. All that aside, as much as I enjoyed the first game, Desperate Struggle punches it in the face, pile-drives it, then cuts its head off. This game effing rocks.
You pick up where you left off in the first game.. sorta. It turns out that Travis has retired from the assassin circuit after becoming number one due to unrevealed reasons. Reappearing for yet more unrevealed reasons, he encounters Skelter Helter, the brother of Helter Skelter (the first assassin Travis killed), who is seeking vengeance. Long story short, Skelter is defeated, but reveals just before he dies (or after, depending on how you look at it) that the fight was only part of a grander scheme for revenge, as he was collaborating with the heads of super-conglomerate Pizza Batt (changed from Pizza Butt, I can only guess to try to limit the posterior cracks.. get it, cracks? yuk yuk), who were having Travis's best friend Bishop killed at that very moment. Screwed up that they are, they have the head of Bishop delivered Jimmy John's style through Travis's window. When it turns out that the head of Pizza Batt is the current #1 ranked assassin, Travis swears his own vengeance, and sets off to climb the ranks again, starting from 51 where Skelter Helter sat.
The first major difference one will notice between the original game and its sequel is obvious - the free-roaming, open-ended world is gone in favor of a streamlined map-based "choose your destination" system of travel. While normally one might consider this a loss, in this case it greatly improves things, as city travel in the original No More Heroes was one of its weaker points; the city was rather empty and dull, and while you'd see plenty of people and cars on the map, you couldn't interact with them in any way - even running directly into them would do nothing - and while there were a few fun things to do or find out there, such as the Lovikov Balls or some T-Shirts, all in all it detracted from the main focus of the game, which were the action stages. This is where Desperate Struggle shines brighter than its predecessor could've ever hoped to.
If you played the original No More Heroes, you'll find yourself taking to the combat like a duck to water, but even if you haven't, it's a simple matter of slashing, punching, kicking, and suplexing - yes, suplexing - your enemies into submission and their eventual bloody dismemberment. However, Desperate Struggle adds an extra two layers of polish to every aspect of the previous game, and combat is no exception. Enemies are smarter this time around, and come in much more variations. You'll find your generic crowbar, knife or sword wielding foes, as well as some who wield guns or even beam katanas, but the variety doesn't stop there as it did in the first game. I found myself running into big fat dudes carrying axes and chain saws, both of whom take a surprisingly high amount of hits to go down. There are goons who look as though they were just fired from their job as a bouncer for assaulting their boss; they come at you with brass knuckles and torsos so big you'll think that they're one shot of 'roids away from turning green. There are martial artists who'll quite literally kick the crap out of you if you don't pay attention, and there's even the occasional mob-movie gangster wielding a Tommy gun - watch out for those guys. Combat this time around takes place almost completely in the main stages, which there are more of than in the first No More Heroes. Later on in the game you'll gain access to "Revenge Missions" which are similar to the assassination missions from the first game (kill a certain enemy, kill all enemies within the time limit, etc.), only you don't get paid to do them and you're specifically targeting the thugs who killed Bishop.
Not all of the main stages consist of pure combat beat-em-up action, however. I was pleasantly surprised to discover some adventure, racing and even platforming elements embedded into the game. At one point, the story diverged and I took on the role of Shinobu - a female assassin who was fought as a boss in the previous game - and suddenly the gameplay mechanics changed dramatically. Where as Travis can punch, kick, and unleash various wrestling moves through use of the B button, Shinobu can leap into the air and either unleash a torrent of sword slashes or deliver a punishing downward strike which can immediately end the life of a stunned enemy grunt. She also has the ability to scale platforms and rooftops, and leap over obstacles allowing her to reach hidden treasures. You also take on the role of Henry at one point, who's signature ability is a dash attack; a move which makes fighting as him feel not unlike what one might imagine fighting as Zero from Mega Man X in a 3D environment would feel. And that, if you're wondering, is awesome.
While you start at rank 51, unfortunately (or fortunately depending on how you look at it), you won't find 50 stages or 50 individual boss fights in the game, with some of the ranked assassins being "condensed" into a single boss fight. As for the fights themselves, Desperate Struggle offers not only some of the most unique foes of any modern game, but some of the most challenging as well. While I breezed through most of the bosses in the first No More Heroes without being defeated (with the solid exception of Bad Girl), several bosses took me more than one attempt to beat this time around, while the final boss dragged me through the mud before going down. The fights themselves are breathtakingly creative. You'll find yourself engaging in everything from standard katana duels to fighting off Soviet war satellites operated by alien-possessed cosmonauts to - and I'm being dead serious here - a Gundam fight. And through it all, you'll be having the time of your life.
The structure of the game outside of the action stages consists of hopping around the map via a menu to the varying locations; as stated before, a far more streamlined and to-the-point approach than the previous game's open-world map. Gone is the need to raise money for ranking fights, so if you choose, you can zip right through the game without going after the extra unlockables such as clothing and katanas or raising your strength or stamina through workouts. Trust me, though, if you're playing on Mild (mid-tier) difficulty or, God forbid, Bitter (hard mode - available after you beat the game on Mild), you're going to want the swords and stats.
While money isn't a necessary commodity this time around, the side jobs which you do to earn it are so fun that you may find yourself doing them just for the sake of doing them. You'll start with two available right off the bat, and more will be unlocked as the game moves forward. My personal favorite happens to be one available from the very beginning called Bug Out, which I can best describe as a cross between Pac Man, Bomberman, The Legend of Zelda and perhaps Kirby; you patrol different buildings through an overhead view, sucking up various bugs and other vermin for cash.. but watch out - these bugs bite back. These games within games (I refuse to call them mini-games, because they're instant classics which feel like they could've been right at home on the NES 20 years ago) deliver on challenge, style and fun factor, and add a thick layer of juiciness to an already succulent piece of meat oozing with artistic flair.
Words fail me when trying to express the joy I experienced from playing this game. Desperate Struggle feels as though it was designed for me personally. It manages to mash together so many things I love - light sabers, senseless violence, beautiful girls, crude humor, retro/classic gaming, adrenaline-pumping action, giant f***ing robots - in a way I never would've thought possible. It delivers on all the low-brow chuckles and melodrama that make cheesy slasher and suspense films fun to watch, yet does it in the vein of a classic American comic book, while tossing in retro throwbacks for us first, second and third generation gamers to eat up like a juicy steak. It is a must by for any gamer old enough yet to buy it yet immature enough to enjoy it. Just remember to pull your pants up when you're done.
Developers - take note.
Mature games on Wii are done right when it comes to NMH2!
10/10
