No More Heroes Review

No More Heroes Review Starring Travis Touchdown

You read that right: a man named Travis Touchdown is the character you control. Your objective is to kill the top ten assassins so that you, Mr. Travis Touchdown, can become the number one assassin in the world. You roam the game world of Santa Destroy on your motorcycle or by walking, looking for your next job or your next hit. Your hit could be the next top assassin or just a small hit in order to make some money, which you will need in order to pay for the data for the next top assassin you need to kill.

So you might be wondering what kind of gun you'll use. Well, to kill your hits, you use a beam katana. If you are thinking lightsaber, then you have a pretty good picture of what you are using. The saber uses batteries so you must charge the thing every once in a while.

Controlling It All

Most of the actions in this Wii game require the use of the A button. The katana uses the Nunchuk and Remote to swing, slice, and dice. The katana was mostly responsive when it came to pressing the A button, but it lagged a split second behind when it was time to chop or wield it into someone.

Besides the weapon, you can also do hand-to-hand combat. You can serve a Death Blow, or if you get creative with the B button and controller maneuvering, you can turn into the ECW and perform a few wrestling moves that can do just as much damage as the katana.

Driving the motorcycle isn't anything to tout. You only get to drive the bike when you are free-roaming the city and that's it.

Cel-Shaded Or Not?

The graphics are crisp and kind of pseudo-cel shaded. While Killer 7 was mainly cel-shaded graphics, No More Heroes uses something in between. The backgrounds are cartoonish while characters can look realistic.

One issue with the graphics was the slowdown when there was lots of action happening at the same time on screen, like cutting up a bunch of bad guys (or indifferent guys since Travis Touchdown is sort of a baddie). Once, when a Tsunami of blood shot from one victim, the frame-rate decreased dramatically and the controls would not respond correctly.

It's Supposed to Be Funny

Laugh, it's okay. While this No More Heroes review may not be funny, the game should elicit a chuckle or two. One of the best things to see, which may or may not make you laugh, is the slow-motion camera when you split an adversary in two. A) You get to slice someone in half and B) you get to see it in slow-motion. The storyline alone deserves the laughs because Travis Touchdown suddenly has the urge to become the best assassin... after realizing he is running out of money to buy action figures and collector cards. To earn some of that money, you will find yourself mowing lawns, stacking coconuts, and working at the local gas station filling up tanks of the elderly. You don't do that in Halo.

Not for the Kiddies

No More Heroes fills a large void of adult games for Nintendo and a No More Heroes review fills the void of adult game reviews for the Wii. The Wii is a great party system and one that is still geared towards children, but there's nothing wrong with having a solid single player action game with lots of blood, killing, and coconut collecting. The over-the-top plot and the tongue-in-cheek humor make No More Heroes a worthy purchase for your Wii.