No More Heores Review (Wii)
Like the last game from Goichi Suda (aka Suda51) and Grasshopper Studios Killer7, No More Heroes is a game that has style and weirdness to spare. However, unlike Killer7, Suda51 realized to get people to play through his punk rock, anime, and 8-bit nostalgia fueled action game, he needed to craft a good game along with all the wackiness. At this rate Suda51’s third game should be a classic, because No More Heroes is at least half of a great game.
No More Heroes tells a much simpler tale than the aforementioned Killer7. The story focuses on Travis Touchdown, a dorky otaku with to many toys in his apartment and to many overdue adult movies from the local video store. Also, he wants to be the UAA’s (united assassin association, I assume) number one assassin, and to do that he has fight his way through the remaining higher ranked assassins. That’s about all there is to it, but the slick writing and sheer insanity of it all is enough to keep playing just to see what’s coming up.
The game is spit into two fairly different chunks: Ranking Missions and the interim open world segments.
The open world sections take place in the town of Santa Destroy. You guide Travis around on his comically large motorcycle, taking up odd jobs and missions to raise the cash required enter the Ranking matches. There most immediately apparent problem with the open world is the lack of interactivity. It feels more like movie set than a world, most of the buildings are just facades with nothing inside, and all the cars and pedestrians are basically unaffected by any of your actions. To earn money Travis can take up part time jobs, which are mini games that make decent use of the Wiimote, and are more entertaining then they may sound (gas station attendant, for example). The other option is Assassination missions, which send to a specific spot in the city and kill everyone there with some varying objectives. The assassination missions are bearable only because the combat is so satisfying, but by and large they are pretty tedious.
The open world is also effected by the lesser power of the Wii as a console. It’s empty and sparsely detailed, there are no physics really to speak of ether, as your motorcycle just slides around cars as if they were surrounded by a magic butter shield. Ultimately the open world feels tacked on and unnecessary. It is a pain more often than it is fun, and feels mostly like a way to artificially lengthen the game.
Once you get the money required to enter a Ranking Match however, the game really shines. Travis has to fight ten other assassins to make it to number 1. A Ranking mission usually involves you fighting through some thugs, and then progressing to a boss fight. Fighting goons is a lot of fun due in no small part to the combat. The Wii-mote is used very well here: you hold it ether flat or upright to change your stance from high to low, and then use it to perform Kill Bill inspired finishers on enemies by flicking the Wii-mote in the appropriate direction. You only use A to attack but when you swing the remote and 3 or 4 goons explode into blood and coins, you can’t help but feel excited. The combat isn’t very deep to be honest but it really shines in the fights against the other Assassins.
Each stage showcases one of the 10 ranked assassins. They are all very unique characters, and most all are fucking nuts to boot. I won’t spoil any here but their battles are the very best part of No More Heroes. The characters of No More Heroes are all perfect additions to the insane world they inhabit. The writing in the cutscenes is vulgar, funny, and is pulled of with far more grace then even some games that where written in English first (Kane and Lynch I’m looking at you). There is a great variety to the boss fights, some are slow methodical chess match like fights, while others are just insane.
No More Heroes shows a lot of potential from Suda51, it’s surely one of the weirdest games I’ve ever played, and that’s what so great about it: it’s unlike any thing out there, and for that reason alone it’s worth a look. I’ll be keeping an eye on what Suda51 is up to after this for sure, and I hope the whole of his next game is as bizarrely brilliant as the good half of No More Heroes.
