For all the success the Wii has achieved, numerous third party developers have been vocal and concerned that they’re not reaping those benefits. It may have to do with the fact that most of the games are just ports or remakes with a franchise name slapped on the box. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is not one of those games. With the amount of gore, intense action, bizarre dialogue, it seems too good of a game to be on the Wii and not made by Nintendo.For the fans, everything good about the first game returns with some improvements. Biggest improvement-combat. It’s just as viscerally stimulating and mind blowingly amazing. The big changes were a new dash swing that’s activated by swinging the remote, opening the door for more combos. Katanas can be changed in any battle-a great addition that allows for all the cool beam weapons to be used. Adding to the combat is the Dark Side meter. As opposed to scoring kills to activate the slot for a power-up, which still exists, it’s changed to a tiger meter that builds up and can be activate Travis’s Dark Side mode, allowing for a frenetic rush of sword slashing and visual razzle-dazzle and it makes for most of the combat a lot easier for some boss fights.
Speaking of boss fights, the story, with its colorful characters and hilarious dialogue, is as bizarre and incomprehensible as the first game. It’s never explained why Travis left, but Travis is sucked back into the UAA by Sylvia and has 51 assassins to go through to reach the top for revenge. While the humor focused mainly of the otaku and gamer lifestyle with tons of pop-culture references in the first game, it returns but it seems slightly less shocking around. By the end of the game, there will be tons of plot holes to scratch your head over. While it’s not a total spoiler, I’m personally wondering what the UAA really considering the revelation about the organization at the end of the first game.
Another thing I loved about the first game was the amazing soundtrack with its diverse array of punk, rock, and electro compositions. While Masafumi Takada didn’t return, Jun Fukuda more than picks up the slack as the tunes all throughout the game are infectious.
The 8-bit minigames, which received a lot of attention, are the new side jobs in this game. A brilliant homage to a the late 80s with simplistic controls and limited depth. Players will spend a lot of time with these games, which is a mixed blessing. Since players no longer need money to enter ranking battles, money will only be spent on new katanas and clothes. However, not a lot of money can be earned from ranking battles. Also, with the training minigames, needed to beef up stats (necessary in the second half of the game), requiring money, even if players fails, you’re still grinding like the last game, changing what could’ve been a sublime experience into a rather tedious one.
For all the haters, the open world exploration is gone. Freeing up the horsepower to have better visuals this time around, easily makes this one of the best looking games on the Wii. While No More Heroes 2 is on the perfect road to greatness, there are some baffling road blocks.
For starters, the boss battles, which contained most of the charm and excitement in the last game, are still fun to play. But most of them feel pretty cheap and while the controls are for the most part excellent, the dodge and block mechanics don’t work as good as they should and downright falter when you need them. And most of the fights leading up to the ranking battles either go on for too long or don’t exist at all, making the game run at an uneven pace.
I haven’t mentioned Shinobu and Henry, yet as they are playable characters, but its mainly as a gimmick. Had it not been revealed earlier, they could’ve came off as a bigger surprise as they just act as a breather. Henry and Shinobu do add some mild excitement, but Shinobu’s jumping is so clumsy.
Another of my biggest complaints is the way Ubisoft handled the marketing. Besides the E3 trailer some videos released back in October, there was zero marketing. For all the complaints publishers have about not selling well on the Wii, they seem to ignore that a game can’t itself, no matter how good it is. But that’s for a different blog.
In conclusion, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle seems to be a game made by gamers: it’s fun, frenetic, and fascinatingly hypnotic. For every Wii owner who complains about the lack of ‘core’ game, there’s no excuse for not picking it up. The action is intense, the violence is extreme, the laughs are plentiful, and the gameplay’s solid. Despite Ubisoft’s tard-like treatment of the game, No More Heroes 2 is an amazing sequel. Buy this game now.
Grade: A
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