No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (NSW) Review

It's kill or be killed!

 

 From famed developer Suda51 and his studio Grasshopper Manufacture, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is the sequel to 2007's sleeper hit, No More Heroes. Seeing the return of fan-favorite character Travis Touchdown in a brand new adventure, it was among the Wii's most unique games when it debuted back in 2010.  It's also a rare one that wasn't easy getting online without paying for above average prices. Now in anticipation for No More Heroes III, Grasshopper has released ports for No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2 out of the blue late last month. Now giving fans a chance to play the earlier games in the series, I quickly bought a copy of No More Heroes 2 since it's the only game in the series that I've been waiting for years to get my hands on. Is the game as good as the original and does it improve upon it? Let's check it out.

 Three years after the events of No More Heroes, we find our protagonist Travis Touchdown has retired from the assassination game after his achieving his goal of being #1 and is living quietly in the town of Santa Destroy. However, when his best friend, Bishop, is killed due to his previous actions, Travis finds himself back with a vengeance to reclaim his throne after being demoted to #51 and must kill whoever is responsible for Bishop's death. The story was just as crazy as the first game as continues his over-the-top antics while meeting new assassins and even old faces make a return. Desperate Struggle retains the dark humor, satirical writing, and fourth-wall breaks, which were entertaining and I'd consider the best parts of the story. It's a shame that some of the new characters felt one-note and plain, especially the main villain, who lacked the depth of the first game's final boss. 

Travis is back with a vengeance.

 Like its predecessor, No More Heroes 2 is a hack and slash game where you control Travis, who wields his trusty beam katana as you slash through hordes of enemies in each level till you reach the target boss fight at the end. Along the way, you fight various types of enemies like your typical gunner and brutes, which shouldn't be a challenge for the beam katana. Aside from that, Travis can also pull-off neat wrestling moves when enemies are dizzy and can even get insanely powered up when the "Ecstasy gauge" gets filled up. There are also hidden extras in treasure chests scattered throughout levels, these include wrestling books that allow you to learn new moves, anime collectables for Travis' room, and extra money, so it's worth exploring the game's rather linear levels for them.

The gameplay is fast and fun, but tends
 to get old quickly.

 By the time you're at the end of a level, you can save your game at bathrooms (a series signature) and prepare yourself for the actual boss fight, which are way over-the-top this time around. You'll be fighting another slew of cold-blooded killers in various weird fashions like having a mech fight in a high school stadium and fighting a clown-faced, chainsaw-wielding manic in a haunted house. Most of the boss were pretty short as you can just combo them to death with your beam katana and others were pretty clunky like the Samurai boss fight. All in all, a pretty average line-up. 

Drop a nice save.

 The game does away with the open-world map of the first game in favor for a streamlined menu screen that lets you quickly move from one area to the other, with little load times in between. I kind of miss the charm of exploring Santa Destroy in Travis' oversized bike, but the menu does a solid job of getting you where you need to go without much hassle. Part-time jobs make a return and they come in 8-bit mini-games where Travis will take on a specific job in exchange for money. The likes include "Pizza With A Vengeance", where yo must deliver pizzas while riding a bike, Hang-On style. "Man the Meat" is another cool one where you must cook a steak based on the customer's request without getting a fork thrown in your face and "Bug Catcher" has you exterminating bugs in each level while watching out for the poisonous ones. The money you earn from these jobs will allow you to outfit Travis with new clothes, buy new beam katanas from Naomi's lab, and go to the gym where you can increase Travis' health and attack power.

Perform mundane side-jobs in charming 
retro-style!

 The game took over 7 hours to beat overall, with my playthrough including finishing the Jeane the cat mini-game, finishing all of the revenge missions, and getting nearly all of the extras for Travis' room. There's some replay value with going for the "Bitter" difficulty, which packs tougher enemies, though not much else. The game gets on the repetitive side as you'll be mowing down the same types of enemies using the same moves for minutes on end, which tended to drag a level's length more than it's worth. Making this worse is that the camera system gets in the way a lot, and you'll be fighting with it often to get a better view of the action.

 Visually, No More Heroes 2 looks fine for a decade-old Wii game. The new character models are a step-up from the original's and I enjoyed looking at the new areas of Santa Destroy. I really wished Grasshopper would've updated the game's graphical performance like having an increased frame rate and smoother textures in the form of a remaster than just a straight up port-job, as the game looks shoddy in some areas. Speaking of that, enemies tend to clip entirely through objects a lot, which was pretty frustrating when you're trying to pull-off a finisher. The voice work is fantastic, with Robin Atkin Downes reprising his role as Travis and delivering a banger of a performance. The supporting cast also deliver equally awesome performances as well. Composed by Silent Hill composer, Akira Yamaoka, the soundtrack is good, packing some catchy tracks. It was still odd that some levels were devoid of music and felt empty as a result. Still, my favorites were obviously Travis' theme, "It's Kill or Be Killed!", "Philistine", and the ending theme "No More No".

The game has style, though it's
pretty rough on the edges at times.

 Overall, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is a good sequel that improves over the original in some aspects while having problems of its own. The story's just as entertaining with some memorable moments though the new characters weren't all that interesting, the gameplay is good though it's shorter in length, and the presentation has aged decently though could've used a lot of polishing. For every good thing, there's always a catch with No More Heroes 2, which holds it back from being great. For $20 on the Switch, fans will obviously have a blast with Travis' second adventure (especially those who missed out on the game like me) while newcomers should watch a few gameplay videos before stepping into Santa Destroy.