Home Games No More Heroes

No More Heroes

Action
Releases: 01.22.08
Grasshopper Mafacture
Ubisoft
ESRB: Mature

No More Heroes

The Wii learns some new moves with a grown-up and refreshingly different game.

by Sarah Schutz

On a console fraught with minigames and recycled Nintendo characters from days of yore, it was about time our Wiimote was introduced to something entirely new and a little bit bloody. In a gaming landscape flooded with run-of-the-mill first person shooters and remakes of remakes, the innovation and creativity of No More Heroes is a much-needed thirst-quenching change of pace. Suda 51, creators of Killer7, have again created a game that plays with the categorical norms of gaming and reminds us that video games are artistically note-worthy (take that Ebert). The hyper-stylized avant-garde action game is reminiscent of your favorite Tarentino flick that somehow manages elegance and charm in its over-the-top violence, while also remaining reminiscent of your favorite old-school video game, mocking the old clichés we’ve come to know and love.

In No More Heroes you are Travis Touchdown, a cocky Johnny Knoxville look-a-like wannabe assassin armed with a beam katana that looks eerily similar to the light saber. In efforts to become the number one assassin and win the affections of the beautiful and manipulative Sylvia, you must follow her directions, pay her fees and sequentially defeat all top ten assassins in Santa Destroy. Defeating each of the ranked assassins involves exploring the open world of Santa Destroy and earning your entrance fees to the ranked matches by performing odd jobs like mowing lawns, collecting coconuts or performing less high-profile assassin-type tasks. While the open world is more limited than those expansive worlds we have become accustomed to, between ranked matches you are free to workout to upgrade your fighting abilities, purchase items for your wardrobe, upgrade your katana, search dumpsters for new t-shirts or cash or go home to pet your cat or use the bathroom (read: save your game).

The cheeky references, innuendos, obscenities, satire and side quests only add to the refreshingly different gameplay. The ease and intuitiveness of the Wiimote controls as you hack and slash your way through enemies with your beam katana remind you of the gobs of potential the Wii initially provide . . . and that we still have hope. Before each boss fight Sylvia calls you on your phone (your Wiimote) and as her voice is piped through your Wii remote, you can’t help but smile at its gimmicky, but thoroughly exciting, charm. The boss fights, each ranked assassin, are by far the highlight of the game. Each boss is so starkly different, whether clad in a super hero costume, singing in a baseball stadium or strutting around with a fake leg while firing grenades. While your fighting options are limited to your beam katana and minimal wrestling moves, the game is not really about the fighting gameplay, but rather about the experience of the game with all its idiosyncrasies. The fighting, however, is insanely satisfying with its comically extreme violence and spewing coins.

While No More Heroes does regrettably remind us of the limited graphical capabilities of the Wii with its messy frame rates and frequent pop-ins, it also reminds us that graphics aren’t necessarily paramount in gameplay quality. There isn’t another game on the market quite like this, so it remains something to be seen and the first must-own game of 2008.

Refreshingly different; clever use of Wiimote

Less than next generation (or last) graphics

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