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The last time we left Santa Destroy, Travis Touchdown (the guy you played as) was in mid battle with a fighter known as Henry before the scene was ended abruptly as their swords clashed. So what has happened between the first and second title? While explanations are kept to a minimum (the game even goes out of its way to break the forth wall from time to time and make fun of itself for not elaborating on the events passed) the city has been overtaken by big corporate companies, leaving it thriving with assassin competition. Travis now makes his return only to have his best friend shot and beheaded. Vowing revenged the Johnny Knoxville lookalike must now battle his way from rank fifty taking on fighters left right and center until he can reach the top and avenge his fallen buddy. It’s a simple storyline, but it’s the weird and wonderful cutscenes and at times downright hilarious dialogue that keep you glued to the screen wanting to find out what happens next.
No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle is part retro and part beat-em-up adventure. Starting off at rank fifty one you must defeat a series of increasingly difficult and weird bosses in order to progress higher until you’re number one. These matches start off with a small portion of exploring areas and taking down waves of followers before getting to the meaty battle. Then you have the side jobs that take the form of retro games that wouldn’t feel out of place on a NES. Delivering pizzas, laying tiles, cooking steaks are all great fun in their 8-bit glory and will keep you coming back again and again to earn more cash. It’s just a shame that there are only four stages in each as most could easily stretch out to double that.
Accessing these ranked battles, revenge fights and jobs is done via an extremely simple overview map. Rather than racing around an empty city (like in the last game) you can jump right into the action. The game is full of so many little random things to try. Money that you earn can be used to purchase new katanas (although more would have been appreciated) clothing and increase your health and strength giving you reason to keep replaying jobs. See a nice jacket you like then why not go and help with the pest control company so you can afford it. If you’re tired of jobs and fighting then you can go to your motel room and try out new outfits and help your pet cat lose weight. That’s right, a game about killing and slaughter has a selection of mini games based around training your p***y cat. And don’t worry you still save by relieving yourself on the toilet. These small additions may sound random and odd but all fit together surprisingly well to create a brilliant adventure.
Gameplay remains the same as the original with the A button swinging your sabre and the B button performing kicks and punches. Any time an enemy is near death an on screen command will appear pointing in a direction to swing the remote and deliver the finishing blow. The same applies to wrestling moves that require both the remote and nunchuck to be moved in specific directions. It’s still just as fun as it was in the first game and it was definitely a wise move to use buttons than have to constantly swing to perform moves, especially considering the number of foes you’ll find yourself up against.
The game is a treat visually. The characters look and animate great and while the environments look a little basic at times, the overall style and presentation is without doubt some of the best I’ve seen in a Wii game yet. Whether it’s the punk like transitions between scenes, the awesome animated cutscene that is almost like a Japanese Power Rangers or just the extreme over the top gore, No More Heroes excels. In a time when games are trying so hard to better themselves in terms of graphics and complication, No More Heroes embraces the retro period and I love it for that. The music too is also fitting to the action orientated nature of the game. But it’s the voice acting that stands out. As before Travis is wonderfully voiced taking a jerk, someone funny and a nerd and combining it into one. The interactions between the other characters are always amusing and every cutscene has its moments. In terms of length, the game lasted me a good ten to twelve hours on the medium difficulty which may seem short, but that’s considering not one point felt like filler. If I had one complaint, its that the game teases what could have been fifty epic battles for top rank, but what you get is more around the fifteen mark. With half the competition being taken out in one battle and another handful being killed for you later on, it feels a little cheap. However it was a great experience while it lasted and an excellent continuation of the first game.
Desperate Struggle takes the original and fixes the things that didn’t work to create a much faster paced, streamlined adventure. It’s full of gore, sexual innuendos, swearing, retro mini games, toilets and p***y cats which in turn creates one of the most weird yet oddly stylish games to date. And you know what? I wouldn’t want it any other way!
The last time we left Santa Destroy, Travis Touchdown (the guy you played as) was in mid battle with a fighter known as Henry before the scene was ended abruptly as their swords clashed. So what has happened between the first and second title? While explanations are kept to a minimum (the game even goes out of its way to break the forth wall from time to time and make fun of itself for not elaborating on the events passed) the city has been overtaken by big corporate companies, leaving it thriving with assassin competition. Travis now makes his return only to have his best friend shot and beheaded. Vowing revenged the Johnny Knoxville lookalike must now battle his way from rank fifty taking on fighters left right and center until he can reach the top and avenge his fallen buddy. It’s a simple storyline, but it’s the weird and wonderful cutscenes and at times downright hilarious dialogue that keep you glued to the screen wanting to find out what happens next.
No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle is part retro and part beat-em-up adventure. Starting off at rank fifty one you must defeat a series of increasingly difficult and weird bosses in order to progress higher until you’re number one. These matches start off with a small portion of exploring areas and taking down waves of followers before getting to the meaty battle. Then you have the side jobs that take the form of retro games that wouldn’t feel out of place on a NES. Delivering pizzas, laying tiles, cooking steaks are all great fun in their 8-bit glory and will keep you coming back again and again to earn more cash. It’s just a shame that there are only four stages in each as most could easily stretch out to double that.
Accessing these ranked battles, revenge fights and jobs is done via an extremely simple overview map. Rather than racing around an empty city (like in the last game) you can jump right into the action. The game is full of so many little random things to try. Money that you earn can be used to purchase new katanas (although more would have been appreciated) clothing and increase your health and strength giving you reason to keep replaying jobs. See a nice jacket you like then why not go and help with the pest control company so you can afford it. If you’re tired of jobs and fighting then you can go to your motel room and try out new outfits and help your pet cat lose weight. That’s right, a game about killing and slaughter has a selection of mini games based around training your p***y cat. And don’t worry you still save by relieving yourself on the toilet. These small additions may sound random and odd but all fit together surprisingly well to create a brilliant adventure.
Gameplay remains the same as the original with the A button swinging your sabre and the B button performing kicks and punches. Any time an enemy is near death an on screen command will appear pointing in a direction to swing the remote and deliver the finishing blow. The same applies to wrestling moves that require both the remote and nunchuck to be moved in specific directions. It’s still just as fun as it was in the first game and it was definitely a wise move to use buttons than have to constantly swing to perform moves, especially considering the number of foes you’ll find yourself up against.
The game is a treat visually. The characters look and animate great and while the environments look a little basic at times, the overall style and presentation is without doubt some of the best I’ve seen in a Wii game yet. Whether it’s the punk like transitions between scenes, the awesome animated cutscene that is almost like a Japanese Power Rangers or just the extreme over the top gore, No More Heroes excels. In a time when games are trying so hard to better themselves in terms of graphics and complication, No More Heroes embraces the retro period and I love it for that. The music too is also fitting to the action orientated nature of the game. But it’s the voice acting that stands out. As before Travis is wonderfully voiced taking a jerk, someone funny and a nerd and combining it into one. The interactions between the other characters are always amusing and every cutscene has its moments. In terms of length, the game lasted me a good ten to twelve hours on the medium difficulty which may seem short, but that’s considering not one point felt like filler. If I had one complaint, its that the game teases what could have been fifty epic battles for top rank, but what you get is more around the fifteen mark. With half the competition being taken out in one battle and another handful being killed for you later on, it feels a little cheap. However it was a great experience while it lasted and an excellent continuation of the first game.
Desperate Struggle takes the original and fixes the things that didn’t work to create a much faster paced, streamlined adventure. It’s full of gore, sexual innuendos, swearing, retro mini games, toilets and p***y cats which in turn creates one of the most weird yet oddly stylish games to date. And you know what? I wouldn’t want it any other way!