dzachsie's Full Review: No More Heroes for Nintendo Wii
Are you looking for a more mature video game for the Wii? With most games aimed at children, finding games for the 18+ crowd can be difficult. When the famous Goichi Suda, or "Suda 51" as most gamers know him, began working on No More Heroes, I knew this game was going to be great. The final product was a overly-mature, blood-splattering assassins game filled with sexual themes and reminiscent of Grand Theft Auto... with swords.
Gameplay
First of all, I have to tell you that everything, and I mean everything in this game is border-line ridiculous. If you're looking for a meaningful life-changing story that tugs on your heart-strings, you're looking at the wrong game. No More Heroes pushes everything to the limit, as if Suda 51 and the other creators tried their hardest build a crazy, unbelievable and groundbreaking game for adults.
You play as a character named Travis Touchdown, a slightly immature guy in his 20's living out of a motel who is obsessed with professional wrestling and anime. He has a unique, laid-back style which is apparent from his slick attire. And to add to his suave persona he rides around town on a sleek and powerful motorcycle. You can cruise around the city on your bike or run around on foot.
The basis for the story is both ridiculous and simple. Travis buys a Japanese light-sword (like a Star Wars light saber) called a Beam Katana. Because he is short on cash he assumes the role as a hitman. At some point (shown in a video before the game begins) he accepts a hit job to assassinate a man known as "The Drifter". Unknown to Travis, the Drifter (Helter Skelter) is the 11th ranked assassin in a secret society for assassins known as the UAA or United Assassins Association. Why anyone would want to be part of the UAA is beyond me, since you have to pay large sums of money just to set up the next kill, and as you move up in the ranks you have to continually look over your shoulder for the person who's gunning for you. Nevertheless, Travis sets off to work his way up in the ranks and try to achieve the coveted #1 assassin's ranking.
I won't reveal all of the secrets about the plot because part of the fun of this game is meeting the multi-faceted characters, learning about your past, and unlocking your future. Just know that there are many twists and surprises as you work your way towards your goal. You must start by earning money and this can be done by taking on part time jobs. This could be anything from mowing lawns to rescuing lost cats to cleaning up graffiti around town. If you pass the easier missions you become more skilled and work on harder (sometimes more interesting) missions. I found these side quests pretty unique. They certainly added a good change of pace to the killing, and added more of a puzzle-style challenge to the game. The harder the task, the more you get paid.
And don't let me understate the importance of money in this game. You not only need large sums to pay the UAA for your entry fee to fight the next ranked assassin, but you also use cash for a wide array of other necessities. These include: upgrading and buying new Katana swords, buying new wrestling videos (to teach you special fighting techniques), or buying some new outfits to hit the town in. You also need money if you want to train in the gym to upgrade your strength and abilities.
Unlockable and Bonus Material
There are some really cool upgrades and bonus material in the game. One thing is the outfits. Across town you can discover new t-shirts and in your wardrobe at home you can change your attire. This is surprisingly detailed; you can pick everything from your jeans to your sunglasses. And you can always spend some of your hard earned cash at the clothes shop to try out some new styles.
After progressing through the game, you can buy upgrades for your Katana blade, or buy a new blade altogether. This doesn't come cheap, so start saving that coin. The blades all look and perform differently, and as you get to some really high levels the blade is significantly more powerful than your original sword. These upgrades are pretty essential to efficiently beat the later foes and bosses. I can't even imagine how hard it would be to try to beat the game without upgrading your Katana (but of course if you're curious you can always try -- Travis stores all of his previous blades under his bed).
As I touched upon earlier, you can also upgrade your strengths and abilities in the gym. After you tell the creepy gym owner that you want to learn new techniques (instead of some of the less pleasant ideas he seems to hint at), you can pay to upgrade individual talents. Again, this will cost a pretty penny. And it doesn't come easy either, you actually have to work for it. Yes, thats right, you, the video game player have to work out. The game takes advantage of the motion sensors in both the Wiimote and the Nunchuck to train Travis. This can be from bench-pressing, doing squats, or curls. Timing and speed are everything. You have a chance to do this every so often as you move through the game and you should take advantage of it.
Wii Remote Interaction
This game is one of the few I have owned that really uses the Wiimote to its full potential. As you'll learn in the tutorial the first time you play, your enemies can attack at you in different ways, and to effectively counter their strikes you have to position the Wiimote up or down accordingly. And in different parts of the game you need to perform different actions with the Wiimote (like shaking it to charge your Katana power). I was impressed with how much the Wiimote was incorporated in the game.
The Downside
There are several things that detract from the game. First of all: the graphics. The graphics in this game are supposed to be cartoonish, and I do appreciate that, but overall, they're just disappointing. The graphics look like they should be on gamecube, not the Wii. Of course, if you were only interested in graphics you wouldn't have purchased a Wii in the first place so its probably not a big deal when considering this game.
Another downside is the repetition of fighting. In the beginning, slashing people in half and being showered in blood is amazing. But as you play through the game you have to fight so many people that in the end it starts to feel a bit monotonous. I'm not saying you'll get bored playing, but the novelty of fighting with the Katana does wear off a bit. You can always spice it up by learning new sword attacks (though its a secret how this is done and I'll let you find out for yourself). You can also learn Professional Wrestling moves to mix in with your sword play which are fun and useful for certain bosses.
One more thing I will mention are the character voices. The characters who don't have the main roles in the game, such as store owners, or minor opponents are voiced by their original Japanese actors. They don't know English very well, so this makes it extremely difficult to understand what they're saying in the game. If their words weren't written on the screen, I would not be able to know what they are saying to me as I leave their store or slice them in pieces. This doesn't affect the gameplay, I just wish they had gone the extra mile and gotten a full American voice team.
Summary
Overall, this is a really fun game. It takes full advantage of the Wii remote to make fighting enemies interactive and exciting. Its filled with blood and excessive violence for those of you who need that in a game. And there are underlying sexual themes throughout the game, especially in the developing romance between Travis and one of the main characters. The graphics are a little lacking, and the fighting can get to be a bit repetitive, but that doesn't stop No More Heroes from being quite a fun and unique game.
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