No More Heroes for the Wii

[MX7]

He would be an awesome director.

He would be an awful director. Can you imagine Killer 7 as a film? Of course not. It's a game that realises it's a game. Removing this primary conciet would completely render it worthless. It's not at all 'cinematic' (FMV sequences are not by default cinematic by removing the facet of interactivity). It could only work as a videogame.

I'm guessing No More Heroes will demonstrate the same post modern tendencies.

[nlen83]

I think this game is cool as hell. I have been playing it for the last two days. Most of the gripes i'm sure a lot of reviewers have is with the not so free roaming city you travel in. It works...but its definetely nothing special. It feels more like they needed something to add some depth to the game...to consume some time.

This game is 100% about the combat system. I feel the need to make bruce lee like noises when I fight in this game. It's like combo, combo, combo, hold in b stun kick, grab, suplex, light saber katana stab to the ground death mode. Ya know what I mean?

But you have to give the cutscenes credit as well. Mainly the boss fights. Watching Travis (your character) finish them off sometimes slowly but always painfully is very sweet. Blood showers everywhere.

I dunno...to me, this is the first truly cool Wii game that should hold my interest for a long period of time. If you have felt like the Wii is a pile o shit becuase there is nothing to play on it you should consider getting this game. Overall it makes very good use of the controller and is simply a laughing out loud type of random humor, hilarious death, etc game.

[jp]

I'm ranked #5 right now, and this game is f'ing awesome. I would highly recommend it to anyone with a Wii.

[Necronom]

Hmmm, interesting that so many people enjoy the game while Icy even took the trouble to write a second rant that tackles the parody/homage aspect the Edge review mentions (yeah, the artfags are back...seems he really loves them ).

http://insomnia.ac/commentary/no_more_parodies/

What puzzles me the most is that while he totally trashes the fighting mechanics others really love them. It's not out in Europe yet but I'm seriously curious about the fighting system now. Maybe I'll rent it first...

[Macaw]

What puzzles me the most is that while he totally trashes the fighting mechanics others really love them. It's not out in Europe yet but I'm seriously curious about the fighting system now. Maybe I'll rent it first...

Basically, the fighting looks fancy and 'feels' satisfying, yet has no depth and stuff.

Some people will like that, some will hate it.

I got no input though, never played the game myself.

[CMoon]

I've only put a couple hours in but can say I have mixed feelings about it. The game overall feels rather clunky, but the whole affair feels very intentional at the same time. Still don't know if I have the whole fighting mechanic down, but as said before, it doesn't really feel like there is that much to it.

Why on earth, when you get the 'hyper' that lets you shoot with your sword, are you forced to aim by using the d-pad? Why can't you just aim with the wii-mote?


Oh yeah, but at the same time, the game rides a certain vibe (especially if you are a fan of Seijun Suzuki's movies) that is particularly enjoyable, and that often seems to be the saving grace of the game.

[JoshF]

It's a game that realises it's a game.

post modern tendencies

Whoah!
You just blew my blow dude. Now I'm excited to play Sewer Shark again. It's the wave of the future, you know.

[Erinu]

Do they say "my spleen!" in the US version?

[MX7]

Sewer Shark

I've heard people defend this kind of tripe before. In fact there's a company that's publishing new MCD copies at the moment (Good Deal games, I think). Now that's the kind of game that tries too hard to emulate cinematic conventions and fails miserably as a consequence.

[Zebra Airforce]

Sewer Shark

I've heard people defend this kind of tripe before. In fact there's a company that's publishing new MCD copies at the moment (Good Deal games, I think). Now that's the kind of game that tries too hard to emulate cinematic conventions and fails miserably as a consequence.

Are you dissing Sewer Shark? You obviously can't undertsand the depth of the plot. You probably didn't even get the awesome Spaghetti and Meatballs sidequest that exposes the flaws inherent in the study of science and religion.

[MX7]

It's just too deep for me

[jp]

Sewer Shark

I've heard people defend this kind of tripe before. In fact there's a company that's publishing new MCD copies at the moment (Good Deal games, I think). Now that's the kind of game that tries too hard to emulate cinematic conventions and fails miserably as a consequence.

Are you dissing Sewer Shark? You obviously can't undertsand the depth of the plot. You probably didn't even get the awesome Spaghetti and Meatballs sidequest that exposes the flaws inherent in the study of science and religion.

Lies. I beat Sewer Shark as a kid one day and there were no sidequests. Just glowing yin-yang symbols that ate brains and some fat guy.

In so far as No More Heroes.

Its simple. Its not the most indepth game in the world. But I don't think its supposed to be. I'm ranked #4 right now, and thus far its just been really fun. I never played Killer 7, so I can't really compare, but No More Heroes is really funny, violent, and fun to play. I haven't gotten bored yet. Also

SPOILER



























There's a shmup level.

























</spoiler>

[Twiddle]

http://insomnia.ac/commentary/no_more_parodies/

future truckpump material

[Macaw]

http://insomnia.ac/commentary/no_more_parodies/

future truckpump material

Dont deny it, you secretly love Icycalm!

[jp]

Well, I finished the game. Thoughts!

Up to a point, the rank matches are brilliant. Your opponent is always well thought out and interesting, the fight that ensues is always pretty damn good, and the level you go through to get to the boss isn't too shabby.


Up to a point.

At some point, Grass Hopper got lazy and quit caring. I'd say this takes place around Rank Match #5. And while #4 is a cool enemy... after that its pretty much just downhill.

Of course, my biggest issue with the game comes up in the last 20-40 minutes of it. At the very end, for whatever reason, the plot ceases being somewhat coherent and just turns into a bunch of cliches thrown out in rapid succession. Now, I know Suda51 is just trying to be funny here... but it doesn't work very well. I mean, PARTS of it are funny, but a lot of it just made me roll my eyes. The main problem is, all the "plot twists" have nothing to do with anything. The last bit of the game pretty much makes everything up to it pointless. I don't know, I know that being random and zany is what Suda51 is trying to do, but... he went way overboard.

Overall I liked the game, but I can't help but feel like they just didn't know how to end it, and went in the direction they went in because of that. Its not very well done, and #3 and #2 are both two of the lamest characters in the game (not to mention their respective fights are lame as hell). I will say the "final boss" is quite awesome though, and that person does provide you with a great final duel (which you're going to feel robbed of initially).

At any rate, I think I'm done with ole' No More Heroes for now. So yes...

[Rob]

http://insomnia.ac/reviews/wii/nomoreheroes/

This review is very popular within the GameFaqs community.

Icy rules when he's not trying to guilt trip people into writing reviews.

[CMoon]

I need to say that this game has been steadily winning me over, mostly based on the character Travis Touchdown himself (his is something like a raunchier, cockier, more-of-an-asshole Gene from Godhand. Travis may actually be one of my favorite video game characters now. The fact I can dress him as absurdly as possible as he goes about his sleazy lifestyle is just an amazing joy to me. I'm still laughing at watching him pump gas as he bopped to the music in such an oh-so-restrained way. This game wins for me, but I could see it being a real dog for a lot of people.

[Nuke]

No blood for pal is the fail

[CMoon]

I can't even imagine it without blood. Sometimes the entire screen is filled with blood. Honestly, if you are really going to edit this game, the whole damn game has to be edited. It is an M title after all. What's the point. I love how during Travis's ground stab he often yells out 'Fuck you!' Are they going to edit that?

[Erinu]

I can't even imagine it without blood. Sometimes the entire screen is filled with blood. Honestly, if you are really going to edit this game, the whole damn game has to be edited. It is an M title after all. What's the point. I love how during Travis's ground stab he often yells out 'Fuck you!' Are they going to edit that?

Yeah the american version sounds like it's riddled with slowdown

[CMoon]

Well the slowdown comes when you kill like 5 people at once or something--I actually thought it was intentional.

[Necronom]

I can't even imagine it without blood. Sometimes the entire screen is filled with blood. Honestly, if you are really going to edit this game, the whole damn game has to be edited. It is an M title after all. What's the point. I love how during Travis's ground stab he often yells out 'Fuck you!' Are they going to edit that?

No, they won't because only in the glorious US of A it's OK to shoot somebody while swearing is a big nono
You were asking about "the point" - no blood and decapitations means rated 16 = bigger profit.
Btw, having the same rating for Halo 3 AND Manhunt is a joke...a really bad one.

[CMoon]

Well it is rated M here (17+)

[MX7]

I just finished it after four days of solid play. What a rush. I havn't enjoyed playing a new game so much in years. Essentially its an amalgamation of several games, and it especially rips off Godhand, Shadow of the Colossus and Grand Theft Auto in particular, but its all done so well it could only be done in homage. The game can get slightly repetitive, but it never stops being fun. The story is ridiculous and paper thin, but it's perfectly paced and it gets laugh out loud funny towards the end.

Ultimately, it was just so exciting playing such an intellegent game. I felt that it was tailor made for fans of games rather than people who buy games: Just as Truffaut made Breathless for cinephiles, No More Heroes is a game for videogame buffs. It can be filed along with Ico, Earthbound, Shenmue and Resident Evil 4 as games that are truly perfect.

And it has a manic shmup level. Awesome.

[Ed Oscuro]

Read through Icy's review and...

I like it. Sure, grating as usual, but it's an appropriate response to an apparent glut of outlandish hyperreferentiality and a game unsubtly mocking its audience.

On the other hand, there is something to be gained from such a mix of parody and serious issues. Killer7 - which I played and enjoyed, despite being acutely aware of my general lack of engagement with the game - was most annoying (perhaps not "at its worst") when it presented a view of Japanese/American relations that was by turns insightful and myopic (if taken at face value). But sometimes what could be dismissed as an irritation is an indication one's sleeve is on fire.

If Killer7's style of argument is extended into No More Heroes, it seems that the designers have opted to present an argument multifaceted and difficult to grasp as the ultimate safeguard against the uncouth appearance of making any commentary on society's construction - while playing up its general decay and the confusion of life.

However - and this is not a small reservation - a review predicated on the rejection of postmodern story-centric approaches to game design and an appeal to solid gameplay mechanics would ideally - if this were the only review of the game I'd read* - have some more depth about those mechanics. Those comments are there, I note, and this is also categorized as a commentary, not a review, so again I see no foul.

I also highly doubt Icy failed to note that the use of dictionary definitions within reviews (and within 'net writing in general) has become a terribly overused device, and so the parody theme is extended into the commentary itself, and by association onto "new games journalism" in general. Here we see parodied the often inappropriate use of cultural anchor points out of time or place - or both; the sentence along the lines of "back then, such games were called crap games" could possibly have been a reasonable point to mention a classic kuso-ge on the Famicom) and a willingness to argue along a line of reasoning mostly dissociated from the gameplay itself. We can take the line that those who enjoy parodies are themselves parodies of "an intelligent human" and extend that to those who would look to a review written along these lines for guidance. This is a commentary, however, so that cannot be twisted into a criticism of this piece in good conscience.

Personally, I'd have found it interesting to see a survey of Japanese opinions on the matter, but half the criticism is better than none.

*Thus far, this would be true if this were a review. Barring reader comments, this is the closest thing to a regular published article I've read on the game yet.

[JoshF]

Take another hit and review Kriss Kross: Make My Video.

[icycalm]

lol what is this world coming to

i was just having dinner at this restaurant with a copy of The Gay Science by my side, and musing on this very subject. and i thought: if someone gave me a button to push that would blow up the whole planet, i'd push it without a second thought. putting all these poor bastards out of their misery is the most that can be done about them at this point, i think

[Twiddle]

@Ed:

You forgot that the main point of icyclam's article about no more heroes is "stop making parodies it hurts my feelings and takes my immersion away"

[it290]

Disclaimer: I have not played No More Heroes. I have, however, played Killer 7, and although the 'gameplay' was broken and silly as fuck, I still enjoyed the game and very much appreciated what it was trying to do. It was far more enjoyable in terms of storyline and atmosphere than just about any JRPG, and also superior in terms of actual play.

That being said, I wonder if Killer 7 (and, by extension, No More Heroes, from what I've heard about it) could not also be said to be a better product than, say, any of the Metal Gear Solid games. While the gameplay in the MGS series is highly polished and much better designed than that of Killer 7, the games are mostly driven by and sold on the basis of their storyline and concept, which are (to me) much less interesting and thought-provoking than the world Suda51 has created. I know the whole "they're not games, they're interactive media experiences" excuse is broken and tired, but all the same you can't compare games of this type to anything in the realm of ordinary videogames, and so you have to judge them as art (or else leave them alone). On that level, I don't think Killer 7 succeeds completely, but it's a step in the right direction, and from what I've heard No More Heroes seems to be a more polished attempt.

i was just having dinner at this restaurant with a copy of The Gay Science by my side, and musing on this very subject. and i thought: if someone gave me a button to push that would blow up the whole planet, i'd push it without a second thought. putting all these poor bastards out of their misery is the most that can be done about them at this point, i think

I see... perhaps lay off the Nietzsche for a bit?

[MX7]

On the other hand, there is something to be gained from such a mix of parody and serious issues. Killer7 - which I played and enjoyed, despite being acutely aware of my general lack of engagement with the game - was most annoying (perhaps not "at its worst") when it presented a view of Japanese/American relations that was by turns insightful and myopic (if taken at face value).

This is an interesting point. However, I feel that Killer 7's depiction of the Japanese/American post war relations was deliberately reduced to a blatant binary, with both nations in stark oposition to one another. It made the mix of American and Japanese themes and settings in the game even more incompatable, which in turn accentuated the often exclusionary atmosphere.

No More Heroes seems, on the outside at least, to be taking a completely different tact. While in Killer 7 Japan is a very tangible threat, in No More Heroes, Japans presence is simply as a constant source of pop culture. The central protagonist is a self appointed weeaboo, who jumps at the first opportunity in order to make his life more like a Japanese comic book. Although Travis is a murderous bastard, the game still portrays him as a faily likable character that takes on both Japanese and American traits, although he is ultimately misguided.