Controversy is something you usually find in the video gaming industry, particularly with the most recent of titles. One of the more notable controversial titles released in 2005 was Killer7, a game written by famed Japanese producer Goichi Suda, know...
Controversy is something you usually find in the video gaming industry, particularly with the most recent of titles. One of the more notable controversial titles released in 2005 was Killer7, a game written by famed Japanese producer Goichi Suda, known as Suda51 by his fans. The game presented several confronting issues including violence and several socio political issues. So, here we are, almost 3 years later, with Suda and his development studio Grasshopper releasing No More Heroes, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. Although it’s nowhere near as confronting as Killer7, it’s notably more enjoyable and still retains some of the challenging imagery. No More Heroes is essentially a dedication to all those people who love to play games and appreciate their gaming heritage, featuring several allusions to the 8-bit era of video gaming and somewhat old school gameplay revived with a fresh jolt by the revolutionary control system of the Wii.
No More Heroes puts players in the role of Travis Touchdown, a stereotypical otaku who loves pro-wrestling and anime. After winning a “beam katana” off an online auction, Travis is tasked with eliminating the Drifter, a mysterious assassin, known as Helter Skelter in previous trailers. After Travis defeats him, he is congratulated by Silvia Christel, a mysterious yet sexy woman who works for a company known as the UAA, the United Assassins Association. She informs Travis that “The Drifter” was ranked 12th best assassins in the world, and as Travis defeated him, Travis is now rank 12th. Silvia then entertains the possibility of Travis defeating the other 11 assassins to battle to the top. Our fearless yet geeky protagonist does it not only to earn the endless amounts of cash, but also because Silvia promises him she’ll “do it” with him. And I’m not kidding either. Thus, Travis Touchdown’s quest begins! That being said, the story of No More Heroes is very average, though has a fair share of decent twists and turns. Furthermore, the game retains the humour we’ve come to know and love from games by Grasshopper. Travis himself is a very funny and lovable character, and the atmosphere of the environment (Santa Destroy) adds to this humour. No More Heroes is a game that will have you at least jerking a smile to some of the funny tongue in cheek moments. All the characters add to the story with excellent personalities and several share this same sense of humour as the rest of the game – leading to a lot of fun moments.
Graphically, gamers may recognise No More Heroes to be similar to Grasshopper’s last game, Killer7, for the Gamecube and PS2. Besides that, the engine has been reworked and re tweaked to make it an open ended adventure, something that makes it a far-cry from Killer7 itself. The game is a bit of a mixed bag graphically, as Travis himself is a well-modelled character, and in keeping with the art style of the game, looks pretty damn fine especially on the Wii hardware. Travis’s environment and the shadowing look fairly decent though a few very obvious corners have been cut in order to make the game run at a silky smooth 60fps (though it does run into the occasional slow down). The city of Santa Destroy, which Travis can freely roam between missions, is somewhat bland and very barren. This is no GTA city, there are hardly any pedestrians and the cars look like they have been lifted out of an N64 game, sporting both low res textures and poly counts. That being said however, Santa Destroy is quite a large city, with a lot of distinctive landmarks. With almost no load times, it’s amazing how Grasshopper got this game running seamlessly between closed environments and large open ones like this. Overall kudos must be given for creating such a large-scale city and eliminating elongated load times. Character design in No More Heroes is also of the highest quality, featuring some very memorable characters though it is a shame they are killed off, as they are very unique. From a ganguro schoolgirl samurai to a defunct superhero, No More Heroes has one of the most eclectic casts ever seen in a video game.
In terms of the gameplay, No More Heroes is split into two segments. The first is the in between parts of the game, and the second is the assassinations themselves. The first segment is the time between each assassination in which Travis must earn enough money to “enrol” to fight against the next ranked assassin. This is done by depositing the required amount of money into an ATM. Travis must earn this money by completing various tasks as well as several “low-key” assassinations for third parties. Typically, you won’t be repeating these mini games too much and the game doesn’t ever quite get to the point of feeling repetitive and tedious, as there is enough variety in the chores Travis must perform. Each of the chores can be regarded as mini-games, as they are small but utilise the Wiimote features in novel yet clever ways – though none of it ever feels forced or tacked on. Chores range from simple activities such as lawn mowing and rubbish collection to more strange and obscure tasks such as scorpion extermination and land mine disarming. All up, there are approximately 9-10 part time jobs Travis can undertake and repetition is not common in a single play through. On top of this, Travis can also accept contracts to perform low key assassinations which usually entail killing X amount of enemies in Y amount of time, and aren’t really anything to write home about, yet do bring in cash faster depending on which ones you undertake and your skills.
During these segments, the player is given a free roam of the fictional city Santa Destroy. In this city, plays can ride Travis’ motorbike around the city in order to complete these jobs and find other missions to do for cash. Also available in Santa Destory is yet another mysterious femme fatale, Dr Naomi who can provide upgrades to Travis’ beam katana as well as provide him with entirely new models. Secondly, you can visit Thunder Ryu, a retired wrestler turned Yakuza who provides his gym for Travis to work out in. Working out uses the Wiimote functions once again, and extends several vitality related aspects to Travis, including strength, maximum health and the maximum amounts of strikes in your standard beam katana combo. Thirdly, Travis can buy T-Shirts, jeans, jackets, belts and sunglasses from the local clothes store in order to give each player their own custom Travis Touchdown – a nice feature. Finally, Travis can also purchase videotapes from his local video store, which contain pro wrestling moves. Watching these in Travis’ motel room gives Travis new moves to perform in combat during his next assassination. If shops aren’t the players thing then Santa Destory can be explored for several bonus t-shirts and money too, which are hidden throughout streets and alleys.
The second segment of the game is the assassinations themselves, and this is probably where the player will have the most fun. Assassinations essentially consist of several rooms filled with bad guys who must be killed to progress to the next room. At the end of the standard enemies and just before the final assassinations segments, Silvia will phone Travis and inform him about his current position and further prospects. These phone calls are all played through the Wiimote speaker too, so it’s an interesting yet fun mechanic that Grasshopper included. The combat in this game is what makes it so much fun. Standard attacks are performed by pressing the A button on the Wiimote, while physical attacks are performed with the press of the trigger. Travis can hack and slash through enemies in either a high or low stance, which gives the combat system a degree of depth in that high attacks can only be blocked by high blocks and vice versa. Player can switch between high and low style simply by attacking while pointing the Wiimote upwards or by pointing it at the screen. Once Travis whittles down the opponents health, on screen prompts tell the player to wave the Wiimote in a certain direction. Doing so finishes the enemy in what can only be described as an over the top Kill Bill-style action sequence. Finishing blows range from standard decapitations to completely splitting the enemy in half. This game isn’t for the lighthearted simply because there is blood spraying everywhere during combat. Lock on can be performed using the Z trigger on the nunchuk, while the D-Pad on the Wiimote allows for evasive manoeuvres. Also included in Travis’ attacks repertoire are pro wrestling moves. In order to pull these off, the player must use physical attacks to stun the enemy and then grab them using the same button. Once this happens, a mini cutscene initiates in which the player must move both the nunchuk and wiimote in different directions in order to execute the attack. Wresting moves are somewhat harder to pull off but are much more powerful in knocking enemies to the ground.
All in all, the gameplay of No More Heroes is fun, fast paced and action packed. The controls are extremely accurate for a game of this type, and they hardly ever falter in the heat of the battle, in fact they never do. No More Heroes has done an excellent job in the implementation of the Wii’s unique motion style controllers, and despite this it is foreseeable that some gamers may not enjoy the combat as it may seem repetitive. Though, with the introduction of new combos with new types of katana’s, the games combat system continues to feel fresh regardless. No More Heroes gameplay is a great call back to the arcade style games of the 8-bit era.
Unfortunately, although No More Heroes is more or less one of the best Wii games available, it does have its fair share of disappointments. The first and major disappointment is the implementation of the free roaming city. Although the free roaming city doesn’t really detriment the experience, it doesn’t really add a lot to the mix either. Sometimes players may be shied away by the frustrating treks that the player may have to make to collect several of the game’s collectibles as well as to begin missions. Sure, the motorcycle can shorten the travel times but even then, the motorcycle doesn’t control conventionally and as such seems more like a hindrance than a help unless the player makes an effort to get used to the somewhat stiff controls. It must be asked why the developers felt a need to include such a feature – maybe to appeal to the western GTA audience? Either way, this reviewer praises the open world experience but can see considerable faults that may put off other players, as outlined above.
No More Heroes doesn’t really offer a lot to do with it once you’ve finished it. Besides unlocking a harder mode (known as “Bitted Mode”), there really isn’t any incentive for players to return to the game other than to collect several collectibles such as T-Shirts and Trading Cards which don’t really serve any other purpose other than simply being collectibles. None the less, the main quest will have you going for about 12-15 hours if you do a bit of exploring, though it could easily extended with heavy exploration of every street and alley in the city.
Grasshopper Manufacture Inc. and Suda51 have done an excellent job in bringing a unique and fresh experience to Nintendo’s little white console. Although it may shy away some younger consumers due to its violent and sexual nature, No More Heroes is a game that almost everyone should try out at least once if they own a Nintendo Wii (and, just to be politically correct – are old enough). To put it quite simply, I can safely say it’s probably one of the best and most fleshed out third party titles developed for the Wii. An absolute gem.