No More Heroes Review
No More Heroes was an action video game released for the Wii in 2007, with a switch port being released in 2020, by game company Grasshopper Manufacture and was directed by Suda51. Games directed by Suda51 tend to fall into the trend of being somewhat niece, weird games each with unique styles that set them apart of their contemporaries and this game is no exception. This game puts you into the role of Travis Touchdown, a lightsaber (referred to as a bean katana, but the reference is obvious) wielding otaku who becomes an assassin fighting other assassins in a ranked association on his quest to become the number one ranked assassin in the UAA (United Assassins Association). While the switch port does improve the game in a number of ways, most notably the framerate and performance I will be reviewing the original Wii version as I prefer playing it with the Wii controller it was designed for as I feel it is more fun using the motion controls in the way it was designed for the Wii.
The game is predominantly a hack n’ slash title tasking players with going through several stages while killing the enemies thrown at the player beforing facing off with each of the games bosses, each boss representing one of the ranked assassins Travis must kill in order to become number one, however there is a second half of play that will be talked about later. During the stages, the game plays like a simple yet very viscerally satisfying hack n’ slash action game using the Wii controls. While the game can me simple and a little repetitive the way the game uses its audio-visual style and the minor use of motion controlled makes it very satisfying to play at times. Each kill of an opponent will make the player swing the remote to finish off the player, activating a massive geyser of blood and coins to explode out of the enemy and then activate a slot machine. The slot machine give the player a random chance to activate a special power up that turns you into an unstoppable killing machine for a little bit which is always a fun change of pace while fighting normal enemies. It is also possible to use stun moves to allow Travis to perform wrestling moves on enemies and bosses, which does good damage to the bosses and allows for instakills on the enemies.
The other half of the game is set in the open world of Santa Destroy. There the player can look for collectibles such as Lovikov Balls, balls scattered around the map that can unlock special bonus abilities if you get enough, look for buried treasure, check inside dumpsters for cash and t-shirts, go to various stores for clothing or beam/character upgrades, and lastly perform various side objectives or missions to get more cash. The side missions are a very important part of the game as you will need to do plenty of them to both get most of the gameplay upgrades to power up your character and their weapons and also because each level must be unlocked by paying a fee each in order to progress. There are two kinds of jobs, one of them is part-time jobs where you do normal everyday minimum wage jobs like trash cleanup, lawn mowing, and coconut collection. These all play like mini games using different gameplay than the normal levels. The other kind is actual assassination missions where you take on some sort of mini gameplay challenge in the hack n’ slash style. Players will get very familiar with these jobs due to how many times they’ll need to do them to get enough money to beat the game.
I have always consider this game to be one of the best examples of how to do bosses right in gaming because they don’t just try to make fun fights but the bosses themselves are memorable additions to the story and tone of the game. Not only does each boss get proper build up of suspense before you actually meet them, the design and personality of the bosses are some of my favorite parts of the game as they all stand out from each other. The fights on their own are still fun, with the fights as they become harden become some of my most memorable boss fights. Each fight is based around patience, you must keep an eye out for the next attack so you can avoid it and then go in for some damage, but then you need to know when to jump back and crate distance again. Especially on Bitter (Hard) mode where the bosses hit hard so you can’t afford to take to many hits.
For the most part the game does not have a very involved story, with the bosses carrying the game and all the levels. The game is mostly focused on Travis’ interactions with the various characters and bosses the player will face over the course of the game. The characters however, is where this game shines. The cutscenes with the bosses are the most memorable parts of the game, each boss has a unique design and personality that I often found to like them more than Travis, due to their charasma and style. One aspect of the game I find interesting is the underlying meta and satirical aspects of this game. There are plenty of interactions that people have made about how this game is secretly a game about games as a whole and the pop culture surrounding them, the most obvious thing talked about is how Travis is a representation of a stereotypical geek/gamer character who is trying to act like a cool main character in a video game or anime, but is really just a total loser who’s only interesting thing is that he bought a lightsaber off eBay. The game does do a lot of interesting things near the end that leave off on an interesting finale.
The primary issues this game has is the overworld is mostly empty and grinding for money to continue can get very repetitive with you just doing the same jobs over again to get more money. While I do like how this builds anticipation before each level, it does wear thin and get old eventually. And while the gameplay is very stylish and satisfying, the lack of options can be annoying to some players who aren’t grabbed by the presentation and charm the game offers.
The game does have good replay value, with completion unlocking a new game plus mode where you can use your upgrades and new weapons from the start. There is also a new harder difficulty mode only available on NG+ which makes the game much harder to beat.
Visually the game is somewhat alright but the heavy and dark why the game uses shadows really adds something to the look and feel of the game for me. It creates this sort of darker comic book-noir vibe. Also the powerups you get from the dead enemy slot machine all have their own stylish change in the visual/color palette which adds in the fun of getting them. All in all, I would definitely recommend this game to players who like fun and a bit out there action games because while this game is flawed, for the right person the good points will greatly outweigh the negatives.
