No More Heroes was truly one of the most unique games to hit Nintendo's 'clean' console, the Wii. Controlling an otaku by the name of Travis Touchdown as he slices through the ten assassins of Santa Destroy with his trusty beam katana while spewing as much blood, crude, lewd and asburd personality never got old. The gameplay was solid, the narration was solid, the witty humor behind No More Heroes was heavily praised and above all else, it was unique. Two years later Suda-51 delivers a sequel so ironically named 'Desperate Struggle.' The core material that No More Heroes a success remains while adding more to the formula and removing others for a bloody, yet satisfying ride.
After standing tall as the No. 1 assassin in Santa Destroy, Travis Touchdown simply walked away. Unfortunately his feat increases the attention and entertainment of the United Assassin Association which does not bode well for the people of Santa Destroy. Bishop, Travis's best friend from the first game is murdered in cold blood by order of a man called Pizza Batt Jr. (who ironically is the no. 1 assassin in this game) out for revenge for what Travis did to his family in the last game as well. Full of rage, Travis must work his way through the top 50 assassins of Santa Destroy (15 bosses in total to be exact) to extract the revenge that he desperately wants.
For those who are unfamiliar with the first game, No More Heroes is an arcade hack-n-slash with style. Armed with a beam katana, one must cut their way through various enemies before the epic encounter with the boss of the stage. Regular enemies are more varied in the game ranging from guys wielding steel pipes, low-life thugs fighting with knives, fat guys wielding axes that pack a painful punch, chainsaw maniacs and various katana wielding warriors combined with annoying enemies with guns that attack from afar. As far as uniqueness is concerned, it comes down to gameplay. Attacking enemies is as simple as pressing the 'A' button on the Wiimote (or the Classic Controller) in sequential intervals to deal damage. Just as you deliver the final blow, a prompt appears on the screen telling the player to swing the Wiimote in that direction for a brutal yet satisfying finishing attack, causing the poor sap to lose his head or a good portion of his upper torso spewing blood all over the screen and raining down money. Dark Side mode is also back, allowing Travis to either slice through enemies in lightning quick speed, shoot projectiles from afar and even transforming into a TIGER and obliterating everyone that stands in his way. It was satisfying to do all of this in the first game and it's just as satisfying in this one.
After getting rid of the baddies, it's time to take down the big bad boss at the end of the level. Now this is where No More Heroes 2 hits its first obstacle. The 13 new bosses (two of them make a comeback) of this game lack the kind of charisma or personality that the original 10 did in the first one or are very bad imitations of them (the 9th ranked assassin has nothing on Dr. Peace) not to mention that some of the bosses are very cheap. That's just one of the minor setbacks that prevent No More Heroes 2 from surpassing its predecessor.
One of the new features added to the game is 'Weapon Change.' Travis can now carry four beam katanas at his disposal as opposed to only being able to carry one and can easily swap between them during combat. Each weapon does not feel similar to the other and has their strengths and weaknesses like any other weapon system in any game. For example: one katana is linked to the amount of time you go through a level without taking a single solitary hit and is extremely powerful yet Travis is sluggish with it while with another it is slightly better than the default Blood Berry in terms of power, handle and battery life. And while Travis is not engaging in fighting assassins, you can now take control of two other characters from the first game in former rank 8 assassin Shinobu and final 'secret' boss Henry. Both play differently from Travis and one another (Shinobu can jump whilst Henry dashes to create more combo capabilities). It's great to play as both characters though the time with them is extremely limited unfortunately.
Gone are the constant grinding that plagued the first game. You can now choose wherever they want to go on the newly updated map. Nor do you have to worry about assassin fees either as all fights are automatically as you progress through the game. The job minigames that were a blast to play have all been revamped into 8-bit style (minus one that rears its ugly head), throwing a big piece of nostalgia to those who still remember the glory of NES days. Jobs include cooking steaks, pizza deliveries and pest extermination are all rather fun to play plus the payoff is pretty suitable as well. Currency is needed to buy Travis some new threads as he cuts through the ranks of Santa Destroy (literally) and train to make him even stronger and more durable to attacks (with all 2 training exercises also rendered into 8-bit style) which are a must for the last few assassins in the game.
Graphics and sound wise, No More Heroes 2 can easily boast about the structures of them both being vastly improved from the first one. The cel-shaded style is more colorful, the animation is more fluid and the game easily has one of the most inducing soundtracks for any game on the Wii. Music ranging from the hip-hop community to Gothic rock blast through your speakers as you make your way through the levels to take down the individual that killed Bishop.
Unfortunately, No More Heroes 2 desperately struggles with one notion: a faulty camera system. The camera in the first game may not have been perfect but it did not get in the way nor made several fights more tedious than they should be. Plus the fact that is 'fixed' with gamers having no control of it whatsoever was not a smart idea. Sometimes the camera has a hard time trying to navigate itself into an angle suitable for the player which leads to a few problems in a few boss fights. The one thing that really hurts a game is a bad camera system, which this game definitely has sadly.
Despite the bad camera, minimal amount of gameplay with Shinobu and Henry along with bosses with any kind of personality and cheapness, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is still a worthy sequel to its cult classic predecessor. New improvements to the combat and weapon swapping on the fly create more ideas on how to tackle certain areas and the 8-bit minigames are a retro blast to get a high score or perfect for currency. It's not perfect but a great game nonetheless. Anyone who owns a Wii and enjoyed the first No More Heroes should give Desperate Struggle a try in the near future.