No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Blog Post: No More Heroes 2 Review

seb100172 — Wed, 15 May 2013 12:43:00 GMT

I can practically hear my Wii dying when it is loading a game. Thankfully, like Bruce Willis, it refuses to do so. Nintendo deserves some props for making a console that is quite resilient. No More Heroes 2 was a game that I had backlogged for quite some time, and I am grateful that I did not decide to throw out my Wii before playing that masterpiece. Gone are my most hated aspects of the first game, such as the open world. As expected, the story and characters are outlandish (although with a slightly more serious tone), the graphics improved, the combat over the top and this is emphasized by way smoother and more exaggerated animations. Because NMH2 was released due to the fans, Suda51 also includes a huge amount of fan service. References to the first game are made left and right. Some new flaws do appear, but it would be surprising if No More Heroes 2 disappointed anyone.

The story is pretty much exactly the same thing as before, with a twist. Travis Touchdown, the main character, was the reigning assassin champion in the city of Santa Destroy (this all occurred in the first game). He suddenly vanished to leave it all behind. However, for an unexplained reason, Travis returns to Santa Destroy and becomes part of the competition once again. The twist is that after the first fight, an event occurs that makes the battles this time a personal business. As a character, Travis is explored much more than in the first game. Players can really see the effect that so much seemingly senseless killing had on him, giving his sudden disappearance after the first game some sense. Because of all these serious themes, NMH2 ends up being much more serious than the first. Still, the expected ridiculousness is there, just to a bit lesser extent.

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Although he was the champ, Travis has to work his way up to number one yet again. This time, the battles have become huge events that are the main source of income of Santa Destroy, so this also means that there are way more bosses. There are fifty ranked assassins now. You won’t be fighting fifty bosses, but the number of them offered is many. Moreover, there is much less cannon fodder that stands between the player and the main attractions: boss fights. Like in the first game, the their characters overflow with personality even with the few minutes they have in the spotlight. There are returning bosses and characters that are some of that great fan-service that I talked about. On a personal note, I preferred most of the first game’s bosses’ characters. NMH2’s overall story is better portrayed and effectively conveys the themes that the first game only attempted to, but less attention was given to those characters. Maybe it was because there were so many that it became harder to, or because they were simply not the central point of the story anymore. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed the banter exchanged between Travis and his soon-to-be victims. More attention was given to the other characters though, like Travis’ brother, Sylvia, and, surprisingly, Shinobu. They all go through great character development, much like Travis. There are better jokes, and a superior script. Improved animations also mean better slapstick humor during the cinematics, which will make you laugh.

This is actually a pretty fun minigame

Unlike the story, which follows a successful format, many gameplay aspects have had a huge overhaul in No More Heroes 2. There is no longer an open world. That in itself is arguably the greatest improvement. Many side-jobs still have to be done, but they are not tedious to get to or frustrating to complete. In fact, one of the greatest parts of the game is the side-jobs’ mini-games. It is easy to spend hours on end simply enjoying this aspect of No More Heroes 2. Mini-games resemble the classic games of the 8-bit era, and are a blast to play. If you aim to buy all the katanas and max out Travis’ stats in the gym, you will need to replay the mini-games. However, I never minded because I enjoyed chasing after my high scores. Some of the mini-games are still lame or frustrating, unfortunately. For some odd reason the developers kept a horrible mini-game from the original game, and the strength training game at Santa Destroy’s gym is exceedingly difficult. Thankfully, the devs do not force the players to complete all mini-games, so it is entirely optional to do so. Whenever the players are ready to go to the next ranking battle, the can simply select the location and enjoy the experience. Before the actual fight, you have your basic cannon fodder: weak enemies that fall pretty quick. Overall, there is not much of them, so they do not feel like tedious obstacles for the main events, this being the boss fights.

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The combat’s format in the original NMH was also successful, but Suda51 aimed to have faster paced, large scale battles this time around, and the new controls serve the purpose. Once again, the player wields beam katanas and cuts enemies in half with them. There are strong and light hits, which have a much more varied effect than last time; one can really feel the consequence and benefits of using either. The strong hits are slow and leave you open to be attacked, but deal way more damage. On the other hand, the light hits are quick but weak. In addition, you no longer need to be locked on to dodge; you can do it with the d-pad. Unfortunately, this leaves the player with no way to control the camera while in combat except with the c button to center it, which is uncomfortable. Some new additions are the ability get close to the enemies by shaking the Wii remote, which deals a great amount of damage at the same time. Switching swords can now be done while in combat. The advantage to this is that you do not have to recharge a blade, you can just switch it, and since every katana has different speeds and combos, this brings variety to fights. Also, the super-powered mode that Travis goes into can now be activated at will when a meter that is recharged by killing enemies is filled. These additions make the action much more fluent. Travis’ actual attacks do seem quicker too, and this helps deal with the large number of foes thrown at him at the same time.

I almost forgot to mention this boss

All in all, No More Heroes 2 attempts to right the wrongs of its predecessors while innovating at the same time. It is lovely to see that it does so effectively due to the developers devotion to pleasing his fans. There are so many little improvements and additions that I either don’t want to spoil or do not want to write in this review because it would end up being twice as long. Some noteworthy mentions include the improvement of the graphics and loading times. Slicing enemies in half looks as gloriously bloody as it ever has. A great way to spend your time is also in the minigame at Travis' apartment called Bizarre Jelly 5.

My favorite part of the game

After finishing this game excellent game, I played a few others on my decaying Wii. Officially I have put my Wii into retirement because I got a WiiU, and it might be dangerous to be near that thing. Nonetheless, I will always have fond memories of that console thanks to No More Heroes 2. Ironically I won’t remember it as the family friendly console that everybody led me to believe. In a good way.

Blog Post: A No More Heroes fan's Review

Romars — Wed, 27 Oct 2010 20:18:00 GMT

This is the sequel for the people who didn't like the first one. Not to say the real fans won't like or even love this game, but you might find some of the stuff you love missing.

To start with, let me end this miss understanding, No More Heroes was a good game. A great game even. No offense to GI, but let's agree on majority rule. It's meta score was in the 80s, so let's leave it at that.

Now that that's out of the way, let me paint a review for the people who didn't think the first game was broken. NMH2 is a great game, but a number of the differences may leave you wanting.

First up is combat. NMH2 trades the original's impressive enemy count for smaller, more strategic encounters. More strategic in the sense that you'll have to think about evasion and defense and you won't be able to just button mash your way to victory anymore. I think the trade off is fair, but having both would have been the most preferable. And I can't really understand switching out coins for bills in the blood spray effect, it really isn't as awesomely absurd. And the recycled enemy responses are a disappointment, even though they were awesome in the first, it just feels worn to have to listen to that old schtick again.

Boss battles, on the other hand, are almost universally better. They feel remarkably more tight and ingenuitive, not that they were broken before, but I can really sense a step up in ai.

Second, mini games. The 8 bit games are hit and miss. Some are almost good enough to be dlgs, while others should be qualifyed as mearly time wasters. They also included my least favorite 3d one as the only holdover from nmh1. I actually loved most of the 3d originals, but my only real complaint with the new ones are that they don't facilitate immersion.

For the revenge missions, which replace the old games assasination missions, I share Koller's sentiments that these should have been more story driven. It feels like a real let down not to hand it to the killers in boss fights and have Travis express the appropriate amount of disdain in movie scenes.

Then there are the driving sections where you drive Travis' new motorcycle. These parts have noticeabley gone down hill from the last game, do to less functionality. But they're not too grating, and they're few and far between.

Now for the biggest change, no more over world. Yeah, it's completely gone. I feel it's kinda like 'throwing the baby out with the bathwater', since I believe only a modicum of improvements would have been needed to turn it into an enthralling diversion. But the new system does decrease any wait time. So it's a somewhat fair trade off, though I'd like to see it improved and returned [but also with an insta travel option] for the next one.

And finally, story and style. This is probably the most important thing in the game to me, but I'm sorry to say that Desperate Struggle never really matches it's predecessor. The story, the bosses, even the events are never as surprising nor as epic as in the original.

There are some things to blame, cutting the 'death monologues' in favor of madworld style motion control finishes for instance. Whose bright idea was that anyway? Every boss fight had that Psyco Mantis style epicness to it in the first, but sadly most of the bosses never really click like that and this change certainly didn't help.

Also, the plot, it doesn't hold a candle to the original. I'm sure it sounded pretty novel on paper, and it still does thinking about it now, but there was no 'Jeane moment', if you know what I mean.

In the end, No More Heroes 2 is a more depthy fighter, with a more stream lined approach, but is also 'toned down' in some ways. But still a remarkable an enjoyable experience. A must buy for anyone wanting something more mature for their wii.

Let's just hope we can have our cake and eat it too next time though.

Blog Post: Wish it was on the PS3

Panther — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:23:00 GMT

I enjoyed play the first one on the Wii, but would really hope it could have been shared to the Ps 3.

Blog Post: Tedious and enraging, but fun otherwise

Fonso Verde — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 06:10:00 GMT

Gonna keep it short, i had high hopes for this games and some of them were fullfilled. im actually only about half way through it but *** this game seriously pisses me off. first of all, the in combat camera blows dudes profesionally and the lock on movement is combersum at best; but i could look past all that. what really pisses me off is the friggin gym training missions and a few of the *** side jobs. the strength mini game has you dodging kisses and punching and kicking dumbells. it sounds easy but by the 4th level its rediculously, controller throwing-ly, hard. im the type of gamer who likes to fully level up whenever possible but i also dont like doing the same agrevating task in repetition; i dont know how some people can. aside from that, i dont know if i missed something or what have you, but i have no idea how to block.

on the up side, the story is rather entertaining and a lot of the side jobs are nastalgic and enjoyably; they also have funny names. the combats is fun when you can actually see it. other then that i wouldn't recomend this game to anybody easily angered such as myself because this game has a lot in it that could possibly send your wii-mote into a loved one's face. also i beat and love demon's souls so if that gives you any extra insight into the type of game this is.

Blog Post: The Desperate Struggle

PaperCamm — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:19:00 GMT

With the removal of the boring s--- from the first game, NMH2 shines as an action title that anyone who owns the wii should play

Blog Post: Socker

luke johns — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:45:00 GMT

It rocks my socks

Blog Post: Suda51 Finally Strikes A Balance

Phil Kollar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:35:00 GMT

Suda51 and his development studio, Grasshopper Manufacture, have always struggled to balance high ambitions with accessibility. Case in point, the original No More Heroes -- a brawler that parodied anime and video games, but included frustratingly boring side missions that were required to gain money to unlock progression.

In interviews about the game, Suda51 implied that he was reluctant to do a sequel -- usually a bad sign -- but perhaps forcing his team to focus on refining a single idea was the best thing that could have happened. In No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, they have crafted everything fans could want out of a sequel. All the bad stuff from the original is gone or fixed in some way, and all of the good elements are magnified and improved.[Excerpt]

The bland open world is ditched in favor of allowing players to jump between locations by selecting them on a map. Opening up ranking battles -- the game’s main missions -- no longer requires cash, so side jobs are now optional since money is only used for purchasing upgrades or new clothing. That said, the side jobs are worth playing this time around even without the necessity. While you’re still tasked with mundane chores like collecting coconuts, filling in as a cook at a local restaurant, or plumbing in the city’s sewers, this manual labor is presented in the form of charming 8-bit vignettes complete with a tiny, pixelated version of protagonist Travis Touchdown and NES-style music that would make Capcom jealous.

Despite the removal of time wasting in the open world, No More Heroes 2 is just as long as its predecessor -- if not longer -- thanks to the significantly increased size and number of missions. Instead of working through 10 ranking spots, Travis must now slowly wind his way up a list of 50 assassins to prove that he’s the best killer in town. Without giving too much away, there aren’t anywhere near 50 boss battles, but the game still feels crammed full of levels and enemies that are more detailed and visually interesting than last time around. As a bonus, two returning characters are also playable for a handful of levels, each bringing unique special abilities to the mix.

Travis also ups the otaku fever dream quotient with a number of new weapons and moves, most impressively a dual-beam katana nicknamed “Rose Nasty.” Strangely, beyond the opening cutscene, Travis is treated much less like a joke in No More Heroes 2. The game is still a parody, and the writing is much funnier and more lucid than the previous game, but the humor gets sidetracked too often by noir-ish recurring flashback sequences and monologues that come dangerously close to taking themselves seriously.

The game never gets too heavy though; the simple-but-fun beat-em-up combat and ridiculous boss scenarios rise above any minor remaining issues with No More Heroes 2. A few of the later boss battles and levels that attempt to mix things up contain some of the frustrations that dragged the first game down, but for the most part this is yet another third-party Wii exclusive of which Nintendo faithful can be proud. Finally, Suda51 delivers a game that almost anyone can appreciate.

File: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Phil Kollar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:30:00 GMT

Travis Touchdown returns to Paradise City in this Wii-exclusive sequel.

File: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Phil Kollar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:30:00 GMT

Travis Touchdown returns to Paradise City in this Wii-exclusive sequel.

File: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Phil Kollar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:30:00 GMT

Travis Touchdown returns to Paradise City in this Wii-exclusive sequel.

File: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Phil Kollar — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 20:09:00 GMT