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Spectacular, the best original third-party Wii title yet

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 34 / 39
Date: January 23, 2008
Author: Amazon User

From the makers of Killer 7, No More Heroes is the anxiously awaited bloodbath that mature Wii owners have been praying for. Playing as eccentric assassin Travis Touchdown, you are armed with your trusty beam katana as you set out to become the best in the business. There is much more to the story than that though, but without giving too much away regarding the game's surprisingly deep and complex story, let's just say that things don't always go as planned for Travis. The first thing you'll notice are undoubtedly the excellent, cell-shaded graphics that No More Heroes sports, along with the best use of the Wii motion controls to come from a third-party yet. The game also features some GTA-inspired free roaming with Travis on a motorcycle, and while it isn't as open-ended as one would hope, the game's serious sense of style and just plain insane story and gameplay elements more than make up for it. The game also has a somewhat jittery frame-rate that can become quite noticable when the action picks up a lot, but this is only a minor complaint thanks to the stylized, over the top action, along with flawless sound design and elements that really take advantage of what the Wii can do, despite the fact that the console isn't a technical powerhouse. All in all, No More Heroes is the absolute best, original third-party title to debut on the Wii yet, and is an absolute essential purchase for Wii owners craving a mature-themed game that leaves a lasting impression.

Oozes Style and Baditude

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 17
Date: March 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I just got to the very end of No More Heroes and thought a review was in order. In one word: fantastic. I haven't had this much fun with a video game since I can't remember when. Sure, there are technically better games, but I don't know of any that are as stylish and flashy without losing good gameplay. It's just outright fun and cool. A bit short, yeah, but I managed to stretch it out to over eighteen hours somehow. (By struggling on bosses and buying more stuff than necessary.)

Let me take on the various arguments against the game:

"The overworld is boring and the bike controls suck."

The overwolrd is not meant to be like Grand Theft Auto. It's just a map for you to traverse to get from one place to another. It's not supposed to be fun, it's just there to link the main areas of the game. It's also kind of a way of putting the boredom of the daily commute against the fantastical life of being an assassin. But yeah, the bike does control badly, but if you don't go too fast or use the running dash in stead, it's not a problem.

"The story doesn't make any sense."

You've never played Killer7 if you think NMH's story makes no sense. The storyline doesn't make sense because at first it's not explained all of what's happening. Seventy percent of the backstory comes in the last mission or so. Then it all becomes clear. Well not clear, but mostly understandable.

"The fighting controls are bad."

Not really. You tap A to do normal attacks and B to do a stunning kick or grapple and finish off opponenets with a flick of the Wii Remote. You hold the Wii Remote up or down to switch between a high or low stance. It's like any button-masher of old but more fun and intuitive, and those button-mashers weren't accused of having bad controls.

The game goes at a somewhat linear fashion. You slay your way through a boss's lair or general area, take him or her out, take his or her rank, go to the overworld, earn money through jobs and small-time killing gigs to pay for the next match, and repeat. But the bosses themselves are spectacular. They require precise timing and patience to beat. You can't just rush in and swing your sword wildly. You have to learn all their moves, take advantage of their recovery times, and be like the Samurai Travis wishes he was. The bosses are also interesting and unique from a guy that dresses up as a technologically-powered super-hero to a revolver-toting stadium singer. And some of the fights go completely against everything you expect from a standard boss battle. I especially liked rank number 3.

And the music and sound? It goes perfectly with the type of game. Electric instrumentals and driving beats line the halls as you slay your enemies and almost every boss battle track could be considered a favorite of mine. Much of it is very similar to that type of music used in Killer7.

Content-wise, this game's M-rated for a reason. Characters drop the F-bomb on several occasions and there's blood and lots of it. But the graphics are cell shaded and so unrealistic that the violence becomes almost whimsical and never really borders on the side of gory. Honestly, the stuff you see in C.S.I. is worse. And when every few enemies you dispatch yell "My spleen!" it's hard to take it very seriously.

Overall, as I just said, this is a fantastic game. Some may say it's not for them--that it's just not their kind of game, but it sure is my kind of game. And maybe yours, too. From the killer combat system to the plethora of memorable bosses, the sneaked-in 8-bit graphics to Travis's pet cat, I give No More Heroes a Frank Miller's Sin City out of Viewtiful Joe.

Slick and Stylish

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 20
Date: February 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Pros:
+A tolerable storyline
+Fantastic Gameplay
+Beautiful Cel-Shaded graphics
+Good soundtrack
+Good voice overs

Cons:

-Incredibly short game
-Side jobs inbetween the main missions aren't exciting
-The game is on the easy side
-Despite good Cel-shaded Graphics, more detail could've been put into Santa Destroy

No More Heroes is a stylish game. A game that isn't aimed at the kids by any means but the adult gamer instead. It manages to do so. The humor is crude and the game is incredibly violent. Parents, that's your warning.

In No More Heroes you play the role of Travis Touchdown. As Travis Touchdown you are the newest member of the United Assassins Association. After the battle with the rank ten assassin, Travis decides that he has to be number one. Your goal is pretty simple. Defeat all the assassins and become the number one assassin in Santa Destroy.

No More Heroes lives up to its M Rating perfectly well. Much of the core gameplay is centered around slashing through the levels to the boss at the end. Your main weapon is a Beam Katana. Despite how some third party games have faired in the past, No More Heroes makes excellent use of the Wii's controls. The A button simply swings your Beam Katana while B is used to make kicks. Whenever you reduce an enemies life gauge down, the game enters deathblow mode. In Deathblow Mode, an arrow appears on the screen and you must wave the Wii Remote in that direction to execute a killing blow. Despite which way the arrow points you can really swing the Wii Remote anywhere. There's more to the motion sensor controls. You can grab enemies and perform wrestling moves by shaking the Wii Remote and Nunchuck, and you can get into weapon clashes where you must wave the Wii Remote in order to win. These moments are involving. The game has a fine balance between the motion sensor controls and the normal everyday gameplay.

After your first mission and you're officially admitted into the UAA, you'll have to start paying to partake in the games main missions. This is where No More Heroes slows down considerably. The rank missions are expensive. There are ways to make money around Santa Destroy by doing part time jobs for people, but they're hardly fun. They're mundane jobs like collecting coconuts or mowing lawns. You can do assassination jobs for the UAA which will allow you to be involved in more action, but these missions go by quickly. Finally, there are missions you can go to where the objective is to kill all the bad guys without getting hit once. These missions, however, are over in a flash.

Even worse is exploring Santa Destroy itself. You can cruise around on your stylish bike but there's really nothing to do in Santa Destroy. You can go train around or buy some clothes to change into or you can buy parts for your Beam Katana. Unfortunately, Santa Destroy is a pretty boring place. You can't interact with the denizens and the city is actually relatively empty. You can also hang around your apartment and watch videos to learn new wrestling moves or play with your cat and the like.

However, when you get to play the main missions, the game is a lot of fun, and the missions are long and satisfying, especially the boss battles at the end. The bosses are some of the most fun to be had in the game. They aren't really that hard, however. In fact, the entire game isn't that hard. It's also pretty short. Any devoted gamer should be able to finish the game within a couple of days.

In terms of graphics, No More Heroes opts for style over substance. The cel-shaded graphics look good. A few nostalgic 8-bit moments come out as well, which is obviously part of the style. Despite how good the graphics are, much more could've been done with it. Particularly with the outdoor environments. At least the game sounds good. With some catchy tunes and good voice overs. There are moments when the dialog can be grating but it's tolerable nonetheless.

No More Heroes is one of the best titles you can buy on the Wii. While the moments in between missions are slow, the main game itself is fantastic with some good production values. A little more could've been done to improve the game overall, but the end result is fantastic.

Style and Personality

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 16
Date: January 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

First of all, this is a mature title and it's a welcome change of pace from all the "casual" games out there on the Wii. There is blood and mature language, but it's in the style of of what you may have seen in the Kill Bill films. This game is totally over the top and it's funny. It's all about the intense combat, strange characters, witty dialog, wicked sense of humor and overall visual anime-style look of the game.

There are tons of combat maneuvers you can perform with the Wiimote and Nunchuck. Make sure to do the beginning tutorial as once you are done, you will have the controls figured out. The combat is a mix of sword fighting with wrestling type maneuvers (Suplex, Piledriver, Powerslam, etc). The combat never gets boring due to all the variations and moves you can perform (and upgrades). You can charge up your sword swings, stun, block, evade, grab and throw along with combos. It's incredibly refreshing and fun. When you defeat an enemy using a finishing move, little slots at the bottom of the screen start to spin (like a mini jackpot machine) and if you match three slot icons, you will go into 1 of 5 special uber modes for a short period of time. Very cool and different.

After defeating the first boss (shortly after the beginning tutorial), you won't have enough money to pay the Entry Fee of the next Boss fight. So, you will have to do side-jobs, free fight and assassination missions to earn money. You drive your motorcycle around the city to get to the various jobs and missions and stores. I want to point out that this "over world" is strictly to allow you to get from mission to mission or various shops and it's not intended to be like Grand Theft Auto where it's an open "sandbox" where you can do anything you want. But, after defeating the second and third bosses, you will find that there is a lot to do in the city as quite a bit is opened up to you by then.

You can customize your character by going to the clothing store (named Area 51) and purchasing new T-shirts, Jackets, Jeans, Belts and Sunglasses. You can purchase beam Katana upgrades or different types of Katana's from Naomi's lab. You can upgrade your character by learning new wrestling grapple moves (learn by renting videos). There is even a fitness club where you upgrade your strength, health and amount of combos you can pull off. What is unique is that it makes you do all the training movements like lifting the Wiimote and Nunchuck as if they are fitness equipment (Dumbbell, Squats, Bench Press and more).

There are a few hidden items to find by exploring the environment such as Lovikov Balls (used to increase your abilities at a trainer) and money.

You can go back to your motel and just hang out and put on different clothing and watch videos (first one available is the original trailer for the game). You can go to the video store (Beef Head Video) and purchase other videos.

Definitely check this game out. NOTE: After you defeat the second boss, a lot of stuff opens up for you to do in the environment - basically, the game keeps giving you more to do after each boss - you will not get bored. This game has style and personality and you will have not played anything like this before. It's that original. You can tell that the developer, Suda 51 put a lot of heart and soul into this game and truly enjoyed making it.

A breath of fresh bloody air for the Wii

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: January 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

While the fighting controls aren't as in-depth or varied as I'd like it to be, overall this is a great game. It's in-your-face, fun and a nice change of pace from all the shovelware that is out for the Wii. Support 3rd party developers for the Wii bu buying this game!

Serious fun, but at a price.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

No More Heroes is the most stylish game to yet grace the wii. The action is fast,and fun without getting boring. The level design is wonderfully original. And the boss fights are among the best you'll ever have the pleasure to play. The only problem is getting there.

To afford the fantastic ranking missions you have to navigate through a huge,and largely empty,city to complete boring side jobs with no retry option. If you lose these often frusturating jobs you have to go back to the agency, re-apply, drive back to the mission site, and try again. this gets old fast.

But if you can ignore this minor issue you are in store for one of the most hardcore, visceral, and enjoyable games you will ever play.

So much fun!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 9
Date: January 24, 2008
Author: Amazon User

If you guys have been waiting for a true mature videogame for the Wii and don't think remakes like RE4 Wii and Umbrella Chronicles are cutting it for you, No More Heroes is where you want to be.

Man this game is awesome and so much fun. Travis Touchdown is going to be among the most quoted videogame characters for the rest of 2008 and the over the top violence is just a blast.

The graphics are like Killer7 but the gameplay is much better and it never gets old swinging your wii-mote around decapitating the evil henchmen of the assassins. It's so totally worth you money!

Finally, a mature game for the wii thats just oodles of fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: February 11, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game is a must for any wii owner who loves action oriented games, but not so much action that its pointless hack and slash. No More Heroes has implemented the wiimote perfectly, and is a constant thrill.

Basiclly you use the nunchuck scroll pad to move around, and A on the wiimote to slash. However, depending on how you are holding the wiimote at all times, your slash will be high or low. The enemies are guarding themselves high or low, so its up to you to break their, well guard to hit them. You may also try to stun them with the B button, and if you press B again you can do a "wrestling" move on them, where you must jerk both the wiimote and nunchuck in a certain direction, although both directions may be different so be careful not to smash your fingers together :P

Another bonus is the ability to do wacky side jobs like cocoanut collecting or lawn mowing in order to earn extra money (Because it aint free to do ranked battles, and youre sure to get tired of your outfit, so youve got to buy a new one) You can buy new sunglasses, pants, belts, tshirts and weapons/weapon upgrades. Thats how far Ive gotten so far, there may be more.

You get around town by cruisin around on your bike, and if you flip the wiimote you can do wheelies :P

During fights it should be noted you occasionally have to recharge your beam katana, but it only adds to the fun. Enemies release $ when killed (and a lot of blood)

If you like action games, this is beyond worthy of a purchase. Get it, you wont regret it.

No More Life

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: January 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I discovered this game about 6 months ago or so on Wikipedia, and I've been waiting for it ever since. I have to say it definately fulfilled my expectations and is an awesome, addicting game. Probably the best out there right now so I encourage everyone to get it.

You probably know the story by now, so I'll skip going over that again, and dive right in. The motion controls are great. I know someone said that you just waggle the wiimote or nunchuk, but I found that not to be true to a degree. I say to a degree, because most people don't realize the Wiimote and nunchuk use motion sensing by something in them. There's something in them, and when you move them, that thing moves in the opposite direction and presses against something. So if you move it down, the thing flies up and hits a sensor/button. So if you move it too hard, the thing will fly down then fly up once you stop your motion, causing it to think you've moved it down. This can sometimes trigger the motion (I've only had it during the dumbbells or squats in the game, but it happens in Madden if you snap the ball too hard). But I've never had this in combat, and trust me, I sometimes twist the wiimote or nunchuk and swing it, and it wouldn't register, but seeing that was my stupid fault, I wasn't mad. It was nice that the motion controls kept me having to do it right.

The combat is fun. You fight huge groups of people with your bemam katana and wrestling moves. You can pretty much kill the people two ways. Slash em until their life falls and a finishing move can be done (slashing the wiimote in a direction) or doing a wrestling move (done by moving the nunchuk and wiimote in a, sometimes separate, direction) and then killing them when they're out. You can also lock swords and stuff with people and need to move the wiimote in a circle to force em back and stuff.

The main assassination missions are great. They get longer and harder as you progress. The one I just completed (making me #7) took me 52 minutes. The bosses are over the top and great, each one being different so you don't just hack and slash throughout, you have to learn a pattern and fight them. Something else that's nice, the fights are actually styled and kind of movie like. Normally games require movies for that, but this game doesn't. It's nice. The side missions aren't as boring as some people make them, and there's always assassination or free fight missions too that will give you a nice change.

Now, there are some short comings, but being that this is Suda's first Wii game, there's room to grow. Look at GTAIII (since the game keeps incorrectly being compared to GTA), it's lacking compared to VC and SA. Sometimes when driving around the city, the graphics kinda seem blocky and jump a bit. The city also is kind of dead, but if there's a sequel, this stuff can easily be fixed. Besides, the main game provides enough fun that it's not that big a deal. Get this game!

This game rocks!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: January 28, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This is a game the older Wii game players will love. If I had to sum it up to someone it would be Kill Bill meets Grand Theft Auto. The game looks great and has a sense of Japanese style to it. If you are looking for a fun action game with a ton of blood...a ton...then pick this up! It's well worth it!

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