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No More Heroes Review - Wii

Introduction

No More Heroes is the latest game to be released by Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture (of Killer7 fame) bringing with it a stylish cel shaded world full of action. The game is packed with humor, despite the fairly serious subject matter, this is not a game that’s supposed to be taken seriously. The game is unique for many reasons, so instead of wasting time here, let’s get on with the review.

Gameplay

This is the game’s strongest area. The gameplay is fast, frantic, stylish, and brutal. You take on the role of Travis Touchdown, an amateur assassin with a lust for greatness. Wearing his red jacket, under which he wears a t-shirt featuring his favourite moe anime, and with his beam katana in hand, Travis is an interesting character. The beam katana is essentially a battery powered light saber (even down to the sound effects), and it’s what you’ll be using to take down the many enemies you’ll encounter throughout the game. Travis wields it expertly, slicing and twisting like crazy in an effort to make sure nobody who crosses his path gets away in one piece (literally!). No More Heroes is certainly not for the faint of heart, the violence is pretty intense, you’ll be chopping more than your fair share of opponents in half as you fight. The U.S version of the game adds extra effect to the killings by having blood spurt out of defeated enemies, but the PAL version (the one us Aussies get) has had it removed. Whether this bothers you or not comes down to personal preference.

The game’s main focus is on assassination missions. During the game’s opening, Travis is given the rank of 11th strongest assassin by Sylvia Christel (a woman he met in a bar one night, who appears to have ties to an underground assassins association). From this moment on, Travis becomes a professional assassin, and the only way to go is up. If Travis wants to be Number 1, he’s going to have to slash his way through 10 other assassins to get there. Travis’s first assassination mission (where he attempts to snatch the title of 10th rank assassin) makes up the beginning of the game. Here you’re presented with a brief tutorial teaching you how to attack, block and generally play the game. The beam katana is Travis’s sole weapon, and you get to wield its power by utilising the motion sensing capabilities of the Wii Remote. Standard attacks are executed by pressing the A button on the remote repeatedly to form a combo, but after inflicting enough damage on an enemy, you can go in for the finishing strike. This is where things get interesting. A large arrow (which can be pointing to the left, right, up or down) appears in the middle of the screen, and you have to quickly swing the remote in whichever direction is indicated. Doing so causes Travis to follow through with the same (continued next page)