Video Game Review – No More Heroes for the Nintendo Wii

Here’s the next game I own from the mad mind of Suda 51.  This is the second game in the “obscure 3” game series I mentioned that were created by him.  As the first game drew from the suspense and drama you’d find in an episode of Twin Peaks, this game comes chock full of meta-humor, inside jokes, and random references to pop culture this side of a nerdy discussion.  Oh, and it’s also rife with violence through swordplay, gunplay, professional wrestling, and the like.  To put it as generally as possible, this game is as close to a Quentin Tarantino movie as one would think.  If it were one such movie, it would most likely be Kill Bill, but that’s only due to the structure of the narrative and the subject matter at hand.  It’s Suda 51’s approach to a Quentin Tarantino flick, I’d say.  In turn, you’ll get a lot of Tarantino, and a few spots that are reminiscent to Japanese anime, which seamlessly tie together.  It’s No More Heroes.  It’s also a ground-breaking title for the Nintendo Wii as it openly promotes itself as one of the first M-rated games for the system, even to the point where some would say that if it got too out of hand, it would be worse.  Thankfully it didn’t.  And now, here’s the review

Graphics

The graphics for this game, when compared to Killer 7, are a vast improvement.  It still shares that cel-shaded look on three-dimensional sprites, but they are more polished and not as polygonal in their outlook.  If they are, the Wii’s capabilities along the lines of anti-aliasing (which has been a great addition to Nintendo systems) have been phenomenal.  When it comes to in-game cinema or cut-scenes, the game looks much better than that of Killer 7.  A nice little nuance to the game’s graphics is the inclusion of a pseudo-style involving 8-bit graphics.  The game has icons, symbols and such that look like they are in an eight-bit graphical form, but in turn, it’s still the game at its full graphical capacity, just lowered in resolution and drawn or animated to look like such.  Oh, and did I mention that there are icons within the game world that are 3-d versions of 8-bit icons?  This game loves giving a nod to the mod.  Are there any issues with the graphics?  Yes, albeit slight ones.  There is graphical slowdown when there are many people on screen, although not much, especially when you are given the chance to dispose of enemies while there are many people, and the speed doesn’t falter too much.  Also, there are some graphical miscues in clipping when you perform different melee moves and the camera angle changes.  Still, it’s not a severe game breaker.

Sound

This game’s musical score is not just catchy, but it’s also very appropriate for the scenarios that involve them.  Sadly, the music does not change much in certain stages as you will hear the standard theme song for No More Heroes more times than often.  But, when you don’t, you get an eclectic mix of music styles that cover various styles.  You’ll get some electronic, mixed with some alternative rock, with chip tunes here and there that has made it rounds in the culture of video gaming.  For those wondering, chip tunes are musical adaptations of scores or actual musical scores made and played sounding exactly how it would on an older video game system.  Just as actual music groups can re-orchestrate some classic video game tunes with actual instruments, so can music developers take actual musical scores and re-orchestrate them to sound synthesized as if it were for the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Other than that, the voice acting is pretty solid as Robin Atkin Downes does an amazing job as Travis Touchdown.  For the one-game vocal replacement for Yuri Lowenthal in Prince of Persia: The Warrior Within, he’s actually a pretty solid actor.  Unfortunately, he sounds the same doing every character he’s voiced, but we’ll forgive him.  The world needs character voice actors, too.  Also, if you’ve got a good enough ear, you can hear the comments made by your enemies while you battle them.  It makes for some funny dialogue to say the least.  Other than that, the sound effects are on point, while the inclusion of a cell phone mechanic where you talk to Sylvia and hear the conversation on the Wiimote’s internal speaker makes for a nice touch.

Control

Now, I can just tell some of you are cringing already, thinking that the Wii and motion control, as novel an idea as it sounds, would do this game severe harm.  In truth, it’s far from that.  The motion you need to worry about is how you hold the Wiimote.  You attack with the A and B buttons, but which direction these attack will be in determines if you hold the Wiimote at eye level or below the belt.  Respectively, you will do upper body strikes or lower body strikes, which vary in speed, power and precision.  Other than that, you will be prompted to move the Wiimote and Nunchuk to do combo-ending wrestling slams, or you will have to rotate the Wiimote very fast if you lock weapons with your opponent.  I did find problems with the responsiveness of these motions, but it wasn’t so bad that it hurt the game.  The other buttons have other uses, which include targeting, running, or even charging your motorcycle, the schpeltiger.  All in all, the buttons are mapped well to the Wii’s controller and the motion aspect isn’t as hampering or as annoying as one would think. 

Etc.

The story behind No More Heroes sounds simple enough.  It’s when you delve deeper into the game that you see the insanity surrounding the game.   Travis Touchdown lives in a run-down motel and is in need of some money.  As he’s drinking his sorrows away, he’s approached by a beautiful French woman named Sylvia Christel, who offers him a chance to make some money.  All he has to do is defeat and kill a gunman named Helter Skelter.  What he doesn’t know is that by killing him, he’s now ranked as the #10 assassin on the UAA scoreboard.  This means he has to kill the other assassins ahead of him and become #1.  This also means that there are people under his rank looking to promote themselves into a higher rank by killing Travis.  As the story progresses, you’ll see some interesting insight to Travis’ character, along with Sylvia’s, not to mention not one, but two boss twists you will encounter (to get the second twist, you have to obtain every weapon in the game).  The extras to consider in this game just mainly boil down to game completion.  You have trading cards to find that define the characters in the game, along with showcase concept art from the game’s development.   You pick up video tapes pertaining to wrestling to learn different wrestling moves to finish combos and you can find Lovikov balls to return to a man named Lovikov to learn different tactics that will make life a little easier, like running.  Finishing the game on normal will unlock a harder difficulty, and as stated earlier, if you obtain every sword, you can get the second twist ending.  But, this has to be done by finishing the game.  Other than that, you can do assassin jobs and odd jobs to gain money to buy swords as well as clothes.  Oh, and going to the gym and finishing the challenges will power you up in different physical areas, like stamina.  The game’s lasting appeal mostly lies in finding random items for collection purposes, buying swords and clothes, and battling your opponents.  Unfortunately, it is only 10 assassins to fight, so once that is done, the game is over.  So, it would seem that a rental would be the best course of action.  However, the level of charm in this game, surrounded with the over-the-top violence, humor, and unique playing style will keep you coming back, over and over again, looking to finish the story with great speed, or just with the need to enjoy the story.  Yes, the game is short, and outside of battles, there isn’t much to do save for searching for collectibles, making it seem like a stripped-down open world game.  However, the game’s strength isn’t as an open world game, but as a hack-and-slash game (i.e. a beat-em-up with swords and weapons) that’s short and to the point, allowing for more replays, like Final Fight or Golden Axe.  Sometimes it’s not the destination, it’s the journey.

Final thoughts

Suda 51 hits another one out of the park with No More Heroes.  It’s simple enough for any gamer to pick up and play.  Yet, it’s obscure enough to keep your interest piqued at almost every turn.  It will definitely appeal to the gamer in you that loved to spend lots of money running through bad guys until you got to the boss at the local arcade.  The graphics are stylized enough to make it unique with a sound that lends itself well to the scenarios.   Controls are easy to manage, and the story is clever enough to keep you interested, even if you don’t think there needs to be one.  This is another must-have title in your gaming library.  And, don’t worry if you don’t have a Wii.  They released an updated version of this game for the Xbox 360 and the PS3.  Punk’s not dead, according to Suda, and thanks to No More Heroes, neither is decent gaming with a classic gaming feel.