One of the larger hornet’s nests I’ve stirred up in my time as a critic revolves around Killer 7. That was the game that really introduced the world, particularly North America, to the unique style of Grasshopper Manufacture and its director, Suda 51. Some hailed it as innovative and fascinating; I thought it was a game with an interesting concept but terrible execution. At any rate, it certainly left me a bit distrusting of future efforts from the studio. Apparently, Capcom felt the same way, and it was up to UbiSoft to bring their most recent effort, No More Heroes, out to fans across the world. Of course, this also came with plenty of argument about its ultra-violent bent and the natural controversy following on its heels. So I was looking at a game from a controversial developer, and I couldn’t stand their big title before this. This couldn’t end well, right?
No More Heroes brings us the story of Travis Touchdown, a geek with a cat, some vaguely defined depression at the beginning, and a hole in his bank account thanks to having bought a beam katana off an Internet auction. Into this scenario enters Sylvia Christel, who offers Travis a way to make a quick buck – becoming an assassin. The opening credits feature a voiceover where Travis describes becoming the nation’s 11th-ranked assassin, and the game begins with Travis breaking into the home of Death Metal, who is ranked number 10. As a member of the game’s assassin’s guild, Travis realizes he’s in too deep, and his only hope is to charge forward and achieve the number one ranking.
At first, you end up laughing at the game’s story, because it’s exactly how you would imagine someone from Japan making a stereotypical American game. Lots of blood and violence, a complete geek who is overly cocky as the hero, his goal to become an assassin, his contact being a French seductress who believes bras should be seen and not hidden under shirts... All of the elements of the game, when you first hear them, sound like a poor man’s idea of satire.
However, to the game’s credit, it moves well away from that. It starts fairly early on, when you start getting hints even as of the battle for the ninth rank that there’s something going on beyond Travis just hunting down assassins. Eventually, more of Travis’ life before buying the beam katana comes out, from his feelings towards women to the actual reason he bought a weapon and became a killer. It’s a rather bold move – creating a scenario just to take it apart and reveal the humans behind the caricatures. For the story elements, it really all comes to whether or not the game manages to pull it off.
And to be perfectly blunt? It does it in style. I had the first inklings that the game would be more than just a celebration of violence and sandbox gaming when I felt pity for Dr. Peace the ninth-ranked assassin, before I fought him. I never thought that I’d like Travis; just tolerate him. And everything that happens from the third ranked battle until the end is completely off the expected rails. Despite what you’d initially expect, you end up feeling pity for the entire, violent mess of them. And because the game shatters so many expectations of both the genre and the setting, it’s not even remotely a surprise when the final battle is prefaced by an utter demolition of the fourth wall. Said demolition includes a shot at Duke Nukem Forever, reference to the ESRB cracking down on certain kinds of content and literally fast-forwarding through some really shocking material, and a blow-by-blow discussion of character archetypes and what Travis should be doing with each one. It’s worth playing through just to see how all of it comes together.
Just as a warning, in case you can't read the ESRB warnings on this one – this game is most definitely for the mature. After all, Suda 51 said that part of his inspiration was to take things further than Manhunt 2. Well, I can't say anything about that, but body parts get lopped off with frequency, blood spurts so frequently that it makes Mortal Kombat look tame, and some of the attacks are just brutal (one boss has a rather drawn-out way of beating you to death if you fall for a trap). And that's not counting the fact that Travis takes a dump to save (and doesn't wash his hands... ew...), regularly gets calls for not returning porn videos, and starts the game's actual dialogue (as opposed to the monologue that frames the back-story at the beginning) with an F-bomb. There's some really great and thought-provoking material here, but it's probably not for anyone who would get hung up in any way over scatological references or sexual innuendo.
Of course, that would all be moot if the gameplay wasn’t there. However, the entire game feels like Suda 51 heard my complaints about Killer 7 and was intent on fixing them. For the most part, you’re now free to wander through the rather expansive town of Santa Destroy, looking for odd jobs to prove your worth, and then assassination jobs to make the good money to be able to afford the entry fee for the ranked missions. The control is like most three-dimensional third-person games outside of combat, and they even make it easier on you by giving you a large bike that can easily traverse the city in minutes. On top of that, when wandering around it’s impossible to kill Travis. Feel free to do all sorts of stuff – run down pedestrians, jump off a bridge, ram your bike repeatedly into brick walls – you have so much freedom that it’s sometimes easy to lose track of the fact that there is a point.
One thing that adds to exploration is that the game has hidden all sorts of bonuses all over the map and for the most part you’re able to get everything immediately. Special items and extra money litter the city, and you even get an auditory clue for when you approach the items that can be traded in for extra techniques. I’ll be honest – I once ditched the plot for three hours to hunt for t-shirts. Moreover, you can do side missions to buy even more superfluous items. Hey, I'll admit to doing a run on the "take out 100 foes in five minutes" mission multiple times just to get the cash for a few new jackets. I mean, I needed just the right jacket to match my "I Heart Chainsaws" shirt, right?
Of course, the prime attraction to the game is the fighting, and for the most part it's rather smooth. You wander around just as smoothly in battle, and mostly time hits with the A button to strike with the beam katana, or smack B to let loose a quick kick to catch enemies off-guard. Once you have done enough damage to an enemy, you get the chance to either use a wrestling move if they're dizzy, or simply a finishing slash if you just hack at them. The former is done by pressing B and moving the nunchuck and Wii remote as indicated, and the latter is performed by just moving the remote in the direction indicated. It's easy, but it's tremendous fun to get into, because it's easy to wrap your brain around and get right into intense action. More advanced moves allow you to do a surprise leaping attack or block bullets, but it really is just as easy as hitting buttons a couple times and a quick swipe of the controller. The most complex it gets is that you attack high or low based on how you're holding the Wii remote – but this just adds to the gameplay, as a slight tilt of the control changes how you fight, and they even tell you on-screen which stance you're using.
One problem, though, is that a few elements of combat could stand tweaking. There are three charge moves done by holding down attack buttons – one for each sword stance and one for a roundhouse kick – and only the kicking one is worth using (and even then, if you can't use your sword due to mission rules or the need to recharge). More often, using the charge moves is just a waste of time as it eats up your sword's power like nobody's business (unless you've gotten the final upgrade to the final weapon) while simultaneously leaving you open for a very easy attack. You're much better off just slashing at foes, especially as some of the finishing slashes for each different beam katana can hit multiple enemies.
One other issue that's minor involves the game's über-special attacks, the Darkside powers. Each named after a character in Travis' favorite anime (the fictional Pure White Love Bizarre Jelly), and they are incredibly devastating. My personal favorite is the Wii remote swinging fury of Strawberry on the Shortcake, but they all have their fun moments. There's three problems with them, though. One is that they won't even be usable at all in free missions or the random contract assassination gigs Travis finds – he can only activate them if he's on a mission to a ranked battle. Given that those fights, while driving the plot, make up less than half the game's action, it feels like a bit of a cop-out. Another is that if there's ever any sort of cutscene, it completely ends the Darkside mode, even if it just initiated (and you know that happened to me roughly half the time I played). But most frustratingly, you activate them at random, by a slot machine you have no control over that appears when you defeat a foe. I would have much preferred if there was a meter I could have built up that would have given me the ability to activate a Darkside power either when I killed enough enemies the right way or collected certain drops from an enemy (or to flash back to other games, either like super meters in the Capcom versus games or like the title weapon in Data East's Heavy Barrel). I really would have thought they would have given you more chance to use the really showy attacks in this game.
One thing that deserves extra credit is that the game is more than willing to mess around with the basic interface to change things up. There are upside-down sections, fighting enemy bikers on the way to a mission, a side-scrolling section, and even a dream sequence in which you play a top-down shooter. Most of these become replayable as well, which is nice as the game manages to keep its smooth controls no matter what sudden shift it undergoes.
One final complaint – until you reach rank 7, the missions the game gives you are, to be honest, fairly weak. I ended up doing the same freaking mission to earn the cash for my first three ranked fights probably about 25 times. While it does present a much better variety later on in the missions you can perform, I would have much preferred to see variants of some of those missions earlier. Admittedly, this can cause the game to drag a bit until you can reach the fun side gigs, but the solid action in the ranked fights definitely keep it going until then.
The graphics mostly live up to the promise that so many claim cel shading has to offer. Because the game is a deliberate caricature of video gaming (particularly sandbox games and American culture in general), cel shading's cartoonish look adds to the game's atmosphere quite well – it reminds me of the Aeon Flux shorts that aired way back on MTV's Liquid Television. Moreover, the various little touches that make Santa Destroy and its inhabitants are well-done. Half-ripped handbills that advertise bands that don't exist, the various designs on Travis' t-shirts, and even the sign on the local gas station, LuchaOil... the game feels like a very rich and detailed adult cartoon. Heck, if they announced a No More Heroes cartoon on Adult Swim, I'd circle the date of the premier thanks to the style of the game.
However, I think they took the "dark" atmosphere a bit too far, and shadows cast extremely harsh darkness. There is no nuance to the shadow – it blacks out everything, even when you're standing in the middle of the street. I can see the idea of making it ironic that the graphics show such stark black-and-white contrast in many instances while the characters themselves wallow in shades of grey. However, there are times where it does become a pain to see (particularly in the two missions that take place in Santa Destroy Stadium). Shadows that fall a bit less starkly would have made it much easier on the eyes at points.
The game's sound is, to be honest, quite minimalist. Heck, if you're wandering around Santa Destroy on foot, you don't even get any music. You get fairly boring music in shops and stores, and you only get some halfway-decent songs when you go into a ranked fight. Given how much there is to the game, I suppose it doesn't really detract from it that you seldom hear any music. However, I think it would have really added to the game if it had a classic soundtrack. I could see Travis listening to an odd mix of random J-pop and oddball 60's and 70s tunes – think mixing an otaku's CD collection with a couple Quentin Tarantino movie soundtracks. Even just combining those styles could have done wonders for the game.
Though to be fair, the voice acting is fairly spot-on. Travis does sound a bit annoying early on, but that's in some ways to the game's merit, oddly – Travis is supposed to be grating at first, until the events of the game break down the entire anti-heroic mystique. Each of the other characters are done well, although I probably could have done without Sylvia's near-orgasmic shout of "Head into... the Garden... of Madness!" right before the ranked fights begin. While there is some reasonable complaining that could be done on the particulars of each performance, it is handled well overall.
One thing to add, as a side note to both the graphics and the sound – the game regularly does little touches to appear like it's a classic eight-bit game. This includes things like the "high score"-style leaderboard that appears whenever Travis moves up in rank, the on-screen symbols for things like save points and objects you can interact with (they literally look like floating 8-bit signage in a modern cel-shaded world), and the little tinny melody that plays when the entrance to a ranked fight appears. It serves several solid purposes. For one, you always clearly notice important gameplay elements – there should never be any confusion where the save points are at (the fact that they're toilets should also be a huge clue). For another, it's to keep reminding you that this is a uniquely video gaming experience – between all the style shifts and different actions you can take, only a video game could really tell this story. Finally, it's to serve as a connection between gaming's present and past – while No More Heroes is radically different than Space Invaders, you can't help but feel the connection between the two, and so many other classics.
Finally, I have to applaud the game for managing to end with so many more questions than answers. Perhaps the aftermath of destroying the fourth wall (and, to be honest, good chunks of the other three walls), you really end the game with more questions than answers. Who wins the final fight? Who should take responsibility for everything? And most of all, will there be a sequel?
The ending actually tries to have that one both ways, but with any justice there will be. It seems at long last, Suda 51 was finally able to take his vision for video gaming and put it in a form that's actually unquestionably fun to play. Are there tweaks that the game needs? Of course. Graphics could be clearer at times, the music needs work, and the pacing is off early on. However, those are periphery issues and not anything that should prevent anyone from playing this. Admittedly, this isn't a game for younger folks, and even quite a few older gamers may miss the actual point of the game. But if you're looking for a solid game that takes apart everything you know about gaming and makes it all look even more fun, this is the game for you. No More Heroes shows simultaneously that the Wii can do a game just like other consoles, and yet do games like no other.
