playing this game is self harm
Cok kolay sıkıyo la belli biyerden sonra hele bi bölüm var arabalar sürekli geliyo adamlar çıkıyo falan amınızakoyim kim yaptı onu zikem suda 51 i
in which grasshopper desperately struggles to make a no more heroes game without suda's full attention. barely 8 hours, bad levels, bad bosses, great music, too much fanservice, just mediocre overall imo
One time I was speaking to this pathetic loser about the original No More Heroes, he said that he only played the first game, he loved it due to how "badass" he thought the idea of an otaku assassin was, but how disappointing it was that he didn't get the girl in the end. This game was made for people like him, so take that as you will.
The bosses are not as good as the first game but the removal of the boring city parts is a blessing.
Final boss so bad i watched the ending cutscene on youtube
While NMH2 is not as good as the first game, it still manages to provide epic assassin fights and characters with some interesting gameplay changes that were aiming to provide variety to the game. I actually enjoyed the 'shallow' retro-looking minigames for what they were although they do start getting stale later in the game after playing them for so long.
This was an enjoyable Travis Touchdown adventure and hit some interesting and wacky points in terms of the story in pure Suda51 style.
This was an enjoyable Travis Touchdown adventure and hit some interesting and wacky points in terms of the story in pure Suda51 style.
With No More Heroes 1 I was incredibly glad I waited as long as I did to play it as it was a game I surely would not have fully gotten at my stupid 14 year old age. In total opposition I wish I played this 10 years ago because this is dumb as shit and I would've totally overlooked that.
this game makes me so fucking mad its comprehension of the original is just baffling
also the literal only reason i beat it was to listen to the soundtrack more
also the literal only reason i beat it was to listen to the soundtrack more
No More Heroes 2 is an odd sequel. It had very little involvement from Suda51, the writer and director of the first game. His lack of involvement can be felt throughout the entire game, culminating in an experience that's inferior to the first, but not without some fun to be had.
One the surface, the narrative is similar to the first game, Travis is out to be the top of the UAA, this time for revenge. The plot explores this idea of revenge and the cycle of violence that it causes. On paper, this is a really cool idea, there are many ways could be explored with a character like Travis. Unfortunately, it somewhat diminishes the execution with bizarre a bizarre tone and random humor. The first game had wacky humor too, obviously, but it also had grit and felt somewhat grounded. Desperate Struggle leans way too hard into the comedy, with stuff like mech fights and ghosts, which makes it hard to take the darker moments seriously. I also take issue with how Travis himself is portrayed. In the first game he's a pathetic loser who tries to act cool. In this game however, he's he's treated as some legend among other assassins and is fairly successful with women. Perhaps it was to show his growth, but something about it felt off. He's still charismatic and has excellent interactions, so I can't complain too much.
The gameplay is puzzling to me. Feels a lot worse to play than the first. Attacks feel clunky, you have less control over the camera and it's constantly getting in the way. The worst thing, is that almost every attack seems to knock you down. It's just obnoxious. Enemies take way to long to kill, even when you max out your attack. It's baffling, the first game had simple combat, but felt really satisfying to cut people down, so I don't know how they messed up this badly. The boss fights, which used to be a highlight, are mostly terrible. A majority of them are easy and rely too much on stupid gimmicks. There's only two that I'd consider to be pretty good, the rest are disappointing. That's to say nothing of how the bosses are now poorly built up and characterized. In the original game, there was some build up and Travis got bantered with his opponents before the fight, giving some insight into their character. It's actually impressive how well they're characterized in those brief scenes. Here, there's some banter before the fight, but not usually anything as insightful, leaving them to be largely unmemorable. I should mention the final boss, which is considered to be very disappointing to many. Quite honestly, I must respect it from a thematic standpoint, even if the fight itself is awful. The minigames this time around are abysmal. The first game had bad minigames, but this is a step below even that. They're themed around being like NES games and visually look nice, but actually playing them is often a miserable experience. The money you get from doing them doesn't exactly feel worth it either. Not that you'd need much money, as
there's not overmuch you need to buy. The lack of an open world is another thing which seemed to upset some people, but I see it as a positive. Less wasted time driving to a different location and it allows them to refine the visuals in the main areas you'll be going to. There was an attempt to give variety by allowing you to playa as other characters for a limited time. Most notably, Shinobu, a boss from the first game. the idea of playing as her is cool, but strangely, she has a gimmick where she's able to jump, which they try to utilize this during boss fights. This is obviously a complete disaster, the platforming for these sections is atrocious and they're some of the most annoying bosses. In addition, Henry is playable, and he's a lot more fun. He can dash, which is helpful. Sadly, he's only used for a single boss.
If there's one genuinely positive thing about No More Heroes 2 that shines even brighter than its predecessor, it's the music. It's all fantastic and sets up the atmosphere and conveys the emotions of the scenes extremely well. It's enough to motivate you through the most frustrating aspects and elevates the game significantly.
This review may sound negative, but I still think No More Heroes 2 is rather decent and worth playing. It's simply that all these flaws add up and are bothersome. It makes it feel like a downgrade in many respects, even if it isn't exactly a horrible game.
One the surface, the narrative is similar to the first game, Travis is out to be the top of the UAA, this time for revenge. The plot explores this idea of revenge and the cycle of violence that it causes. On paper, this is a really cool idea, there are many ways could be explored with a character like Travis. Unfortunately, it somewhat diminishes the execution with bizarre a bizarre tone and random humor. The first game had wacky humor too, obviously, but it also had grit and felt somewhat grounded. Desperate Struggle leans way too hard into the comedy, with stuff like mech fights and ghosts, which makes it hard to take the darker moments seriously. I also take issue with how Travis himself is portrayed. In the first game he's a pathetic loser who tries to act cool. In this game however, he's he's treated as some legend among other assassins and is fairly successful with women. Perhaps it was to show his growth, but something about it felt off. He's still charismatic and has excellent interactions, so I can't complain too much.
The gameplay is puzzling to me. Feels a lot worse to play than the first. Attacks feel clunky, you have less control over the camera and it's constantly getting in the way. The worst thing, is that almost every attack seems to knock you down. It's just obnoxious. Enemies take way to long to kill, even when you max out your attack. It's baffling, the first game had simple combat, but felt really satisfying to cut people down, so I don't know how they messed up this badly. The boss fights, which used to be a highlight, are mostly terrible. A majority of them are easy and rely too much on stupid gimmicks. There's only two that I'd consider to be pretty good, the rest are disappointing. That's to say nothing of how the bosses are now poorly built up and characterized. In the original game, there was some build up and Travis got bantered with his opponents before the fight, giving some insight into their character. It's actually impressive how well they're characterized in those brief scenes. Here, there's some banter before the fight, but not usually anything as insightful, leaving them to be largely unmemorable. I should mention the final boss, which is considered to be very disappointing to many. Quite honestly, I must respect it from a thematic standpoint, even if the fight itself is awful. The minigames this time around are abysmal. The first game had bad minigames, but this is a step below even that. They're themed around being like NES games and visually look nice, but actually playing them is often a miserable experience. The money you get from doing them doesn't exactly feel worth it either. Not that you'd need much money, as
there's not overmuch you need to buy. The lack of an open world is another thing which seemed to upset some people, but I see it as a positive. Less wasted time driving to a different location and it allows them to refine the visuals in the main areas you'll be going to. There was an attempt to give variety by allowing you to playa as other characters for a limited time. Most notably, Shinobu, a boss from the first game. the idea of playing as her is cool, but strangely, she has a gimmick where she's able to jump, which they try to utilize this during boss fights. This is obviously a complete disaster, the platforming for these sections is atrocious and they're some of the most annoying bosses. In addition, Henry is playable, and he's a lot more fun. He can dash, which is helpful. Sadly, he's only used for a single boss.
If there's one genuinely positive thing about No More Heroes 2 that shines even brighter than its predecessor, it's the music. It's all fantastic and sets up the atmosphere and conveys the emotions of the scenes extremely well. It's enough to motivate you through the most frustrating aspects and elevates the game significantly.
This review may sound negative, but I still think No More Heroes 2 is rather decent and worth playing. It's simply that all these flaws add up and are bothersome. It makes it feel like a downgrade in many respects, even if it isn't exactly a horrible game.
really tried to force myself to finish this because i thought there'd be anything of worth here but outside of takada's soundtrack (which might actually be some of his best work) there really isn't.
it's like a suda game made by people who think suda's games are only composed of random movie references (90% of Sylvia's scenes in this are just an awful Paris, Texas pastiche for no real reason other than shoving her tits on your face) and over-the-top "what were they on making this 🤣🤣" humor. without suda's manic character writing and personal reflections on alienation with the repetition and aimlessness of daily life (which the methodical structure and mostly empty open world of the first game contributed to) it just feels like a cheap and exploitative power fantasy. it's noticeable suda was more hands-on with TSA because just from what i've played of it, it already feels way more self-reflective and well thought-out than this dreck.
it's like a suda game made by people who think suda's games are only composed of random movie references (90% of Sylvia's scenes in this are just an awful Paris, Texas pastiche for no real reason other than shoving her tits on your face) and over-the-top "what were they on making this 🤣🤣" humor. without suda's manic character writing and personal reflections on alienation with the repetition and aimlessness of daily life (which the methodical structure and mostly empty open world of the first game contributed to) it just feels like a cheap and exploitative power fantasy. it's noticeable suda was more hands-on with TSA because just from what i've played of it, it already feels way more self-reflective and well thought-out than this dreck.
This review contains spoilers
this is my second time playing this game and I'll be honest, i like it less. I'm gonna list what i dislike about this game, it will be kinda scattered, but whatever.
This game completely fails to understand what made the first game so great and just falls apart. Everything the first game does well, this game does poorly. there's more bosses, and most of them are bland and forgettable save for about 3. The humor in this is crude and forgettable. The first game had plenty of crude humor but it was all with purpose and written well. Travis jerks off his beam katana cause he thinks its funny and the fact that a grown man finds it funny is whats funny. It also accurately reflects his character; a loser. in this game the joke is that the battery meter is a dick, its like a boner, do you get it? They also make travis out to be some fucking cool guy that is badass and what not. I know in the first game he says cool one liners and kills people but travis was still a loser, its what makes him stand out and what makes him endearing. in this i really dont find his character unique. in the first game, sylvia is shown teasing travis as a means to further get him to murder and she is also always shown as sexual when talking to travis, and it always has to do with the story, this game turns sylvia into a brutally, poorly written, 1 note character who only serves to be fanservice. (granted i appreciate that they end up together). The first games jobs were "boring" (i found them extremely fun) and mundane because the life travis lives outside of being a killer is boring and mundane, it reflects that life can be boring and you can live your whole life without purpose. this game trades that for annoying, far too long snes games that are just sooooo bad imo. This games story is also really poorly written, since its just a less good version of the first game. Also, what is the point of making shinobu almost kiss travis, whats that serve? As far as combat goes, yeah i guess technically it is better, but the first one has a special charm to it that i absolutely adore, this one has alot of really spongy enemies and the wrestling moves are far less hype. In the first game, you could ride around town with your bike, the town was really unpopulated and the town felt dead. this really added to the atmosphere of everything and really made Travis's life feel boring, its all intentional. The second game removes that, which, i get it, some people don't care about the artsy or the meta aspects of the first game, they find it boring. but i dont, i loved that apsect, it makes the game soooo special and unique. Here's something that might be nitpicky, how the fuck did henry get beat by a boss he literally one shots in the first game?????? what was up with that??? speaking of STRANGE fucking decisions, why have travis kill 2 completely innocent black women, and say absolutely nothing, and then kill like 25 white cheerleaders and claim to feel bad for killing them. Whether or not thats intentionally racist as fuck isn't important, its just really REALLY bad writing and is also racist. Level design in this is also less good, every area in the first one felt really interesting, and cool. i couldnt wait to see what was next. this one every area kinda blends into one and other or just feels bland. the enemy design never changes and the bosses dont get introduced at the start of the level, hell most of them dont even have flashy names, they're just called "charlie mcdonald" or "chole walsh". I really do not like how this game presents its levels. I also can't for the life of me figure out what the fuck is up with sylvias weird "sexy" cutscenes. i truly don't know what the point of that is. The style in this game feels gross, and poorly done. Also i have no idea if this is a bug but at the start of every level, music doesnt play and i do not know why. truthfully, from a non die hard fans perspective this game is like a 2.5 or something, but to me, its a 1 because of how disappointing it is. This game is such a disappointment to me because i love the first one with all my heart and this one just does not understand what made the first one so great. it's a shame really.
This game completely fails to understand what made the first game so great and just falls apart. Everything the first game does well, this game does poorly. there's more bosses, and most of them are bland and forgettable save for about 3. The humor in this is crude and forgettable. The first game had plenty of crude humor but it was all with purpose and written well. Travis jerks off his beam katana cause he thinks its funny and the fact that a grown man finds it funny is whats funny. It also accurately reflects his character; a loser. in this game the joke is that the battery meter is a dick, its like a boner, do you get it? They also make travis out to be some fucking cool guy that is badass and what not. I know in the first game he says cool one liners and kills people but travis was still a loser, its what makes him stand out and what makes him endearing. in this i really dont find his character unique. in the first game, sylvia is shown teasing travis as a means to further get him to murder and she is also always shown as sexual when talking to travis, and it always has to do with the story, this game turns sylvia into a brutally, poorly written, 1 note character who only serves to be fanservice. (granted i appreciate that they end up together). The first games jobs were "boring" (i found them extremely fun) and mundane because the life travis lives outside of being a killer is boring and mundane, it reflects that life can be boring and you can live your whole life without purpose. this game trades that for annoying, far too long snes games that are just sooooo bad imo. This games story is also really poorly written, since its just a less good version of the first game. Also, what is the point of making shinobu almost kiss travis, whats that serve? As far as combat goes, yeah i guess technically it is better, but the first one has a special charm to it that i absolutely adore, this one has alot of really spongy enemies and the wrestling moves are far less hype. In the first game, you could ride around town with your bike, the town was really unpopulated and the town felt dead. this really added to the atmosphere of everything and really made Travis's life feel boring, its all intentional. The second game removes that, which, i get it, some people don't care about the artsy or the meta aspects of the first game, they find it boring. but i dont, i loved that apsect, it makes the game soooo special and unique. Here's something that might be nitpicky, how the fuck did henry get beat by a boss he literally one shots in the first game?????? what was up with that??? speaking of STRANGE fucking decisions, why have travis kill 2 completely innocent black women, and say absolutely nothing, and then kill like 25 white cheerleaders and claim to feel bad for killing them. Whether or not thats intentionally racist as fuck isn't important, its just really REALLY bad writing and is also racist. Level design in this is also less good, every area in the first one felt really interesting, and cool. i couldnt wait to see what was next. this one every area kinda blends into one and other or just feels bland. the enemy design never changes and the bosses dont get introduced at the start of the level, hell most of them dont even have flashy names, they're just called "charlie mcdonald" or "chole walsh". I really do not like how this game presents its levels. I also can't for the life of me figure out what the fuck is up with sylvias weird "sexy" cutscenes. i truly don't know what the point of that is. The style in this game feels gross, and poorly done. Also i have no idea if this is a bug but at the start of every level, music doesnt play and i do not know why. truthfully, from a non die hard fans perspective this game is like a 2.5 or something, but to me, its a 1 because of how disappointing it is. This game is such a disappointment to me because i love the first one with all my heart and this one just does not understand what made the first one so great. it's a shame really.
i have an immense respect for this game but goddamn is it not actually that good
this game kinda sucks. I cant really lie. Really neat ideas but its kinda just ass.
Something about it just lacks the same soul that the first one had
i spent most of my playthru having fun but tbh kinda bewildered! this does not have the immediately appreciable high level thruline of the original, which ig is the result of suda not being the director? everything feels much more isolated, moving from island to island of maximalist pulp, disrupting the endless cycle repeatedly with formula twists and suprises. it only rly started to make sense when i decided to focus on the Commodification aspect, a sort of texas chainsaw massacre 2 take where everything is louder and grosser and more colorful because now all the horror is being sold for mass entertainment.
its pretty good, but i think it might work less as a capital s Statement (even compared to the original, which i can understand ppl finding a bit Passe in current year) and more like...a decently sturdy framework on which to hang all the big varied colorful bosses and setpieces. as excuses go, and the even further collapsing of the reality of the world into pure abstraction (thru among other things, the removal of the hub world and lack of tactility to the 8 bit minigames), u could do a lot worse, and if the game lives or dies on the big setpieces with a slight (and ever increasing) Nightmarish Tint, it mostly works. the boss sequencing and general ramping of drama and tone in the runup to the finale is particularly striking, and makes the whole game feel more cohesive in hindsight,,,,alice is probably the best boss and best dramatic samurai movie moment in either of these, but even she wouldnt be as felt without the immediately preceding fights setting the stage so well.
theres an almost Snyder Watchmen quality to this where im wondering if im underrating this because, as it engages with the original material as essentially pure pulp, it may understand it and its appeal better then i or anyone else who just wants to wax about it does. i think that might explain and add vibrancy to a lot of things. maybe not the self-parodic levels of lecherousness tho, which i never rly got along with (tho all other aspects of the cutscene direction are stellar, perhaps even eclipsing the original). all this said, u get to play with the cat, thats gotta be worth something
(advice to anyone playing these on pc, the bizarre Running In Windows 7 Compatibility Mode trick fixed the crashing in both games for me)
its pretty good, but i think it might work less as a capital s Statement (even compared to the original, which i can understand ppl finding a bit Passe in current year) and more like...a decently sturdy framework on which to hang all the big varied colorful bosses and setpieces. as excuses go, and the even further collapsing of the reality of the world into pure abstraction (thru among other things, the removal of the hub world and lack of tactility to the 8 bit minigames), u could do a lot worse, and if the game lives or dies on the big setpieces with a slight (and ever increasing) Nightmarish Tint, it mostly works. the boss sequencing and general ramping of drama and tone in the runup to the finale is particularly striking, and makes the whole game feel more cohesive in hindsight,,,,alice is probably the best boss and best dramatic samurai movie moment in either of these, but even she wouldnt be as felt without the immediately preceding fights setting the stage so well.
theres an almost Snyder Watchmen quality to this where im wondering if im underrating this because, as it engages with the original material as essentially pure pulp, it may understand it and its appeal better then i or anyone else who just wants to wax about it does. i think that might explain and add vibrancy to a lot of things. maybe not the self-parodic levels of lecherousness tho, which i never rly got along with (tho all other aspects of the cutscene direction are stellar, perhaps even eclipsing the original). all this said, u get to play with the cat, thats gotta be worth something
(advice to anyone playing these on pc, the bizarre Running In Windows 7 Compatibility Mode trick fixed the crashing in both games for me)
The story and bosses were better in the first game but besides these two, this game is superior in every way.
The epitome of missing the point.
Travis' character is pitifully written, where the original clearly paints him as a pathetic loser that thinks he's cool, the sequel ditches this in exchange for an explicit player fantasy where he canonically gets the girl and sheds some blood in the name of revenge for a character that really wasn't given much depth prior.
The gameplay is barely an improvement to the first, as every boss fight devolves into walking away and baiting them to attack, because if you play hyper-aggressively they'll dodge ad infinitum.
At the very least, the music still bangs, but I can't really give it much outstanding praise outside of that.
Travis' character is pitifully written, where the original clearly paints him as a pathetic loser that thinks he's cool, the sequel ditches this in exchange for an explicit player fantasy where he canonically gets the girl and sheds some blood in the name of revenge for a character that really wasn't given much depth prior.
The gameplay is barely an improvement to the first, as every boss fight devolves into walking away and baiting them to attack, because if you play hyper-aggressively they'll dodge ad infinitum.
At the very least, the music still bangs, but I can't really give it much outstanding praise outside of that.
The first No More Heroes successfuly created an antithesis of action games with a profound tale of an assassin falling deeper into a world of violence and coming to terms with his own identity. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is not only mediocre, but it also goes back on much of what made the first so unique and interesting. It barely warrants as much detail as my review for the first.
The gameplay is significantly worse, with less variety despite multiple weapons being equippable. There's simply no incentive to use anything besides the beam katana. The lack of fees for ranking missions makes the side-jobs absolutely unnecessary and thrown to the side. The game is insultingly easy, even in the highest difficulty with a few spikes that are barely a bother to deal with. Slashing up your enemies is as fun as it has ever been in No More Heroes, but the stages have such a lack of variety and so much repetition you can beat the game in one sitting, which is what I did.
The story is weak, with forgettable villains and bosses and a main antagonist that is quite literally an afterthought. The collection of tracks for the OST save this game from being bad, as it has the best music in the series so far. The themes and profoundness are gone, in exchange for a generic action game, which is ironic considering No More Heroes 1 was critcizing and parodying those games.
The gameplay is significantly worse, with less variety despite multiple weapons being equippable. There's simply no incentive to use anything besides the beam katana. The lack of fees for ranking missions makes the side-jobs absolutely unnecessary and thrown to the side. The game is insultingly easy, even in the highest difficulty with a few spikes that are barely a bother to deal with. Slashing up your enemies is as fun as it has ever been in No More Heroes, but the stages have such a lack of variety and so much repetition you can beat the game in one sitting, which is what I did.
The story is weak, with forgettable villains and bosses and a main antagonist that is quite literally an afterthought. The collection of tracks for the OST save this game from being bad, as it has the best music in the series so far. The themes and profoundness are gone, in exchange for a generic action game, which is ironic considering No More Heroes 1 was critcizing and parodying those games.
A sequel to a game that never warranted one. No More Heroes 2 is a decent title in its own right, as the hack-n-slash combat still feels pretty good. However, it feels more flawed than the original game (whereas it should've been a step-up), and the story itself feels a little too in-your-face with its characterizations in lieu of a profound narrative.
Still, there's a lot to appreciate, such as the great soundtrack, unique boss designs, and it overall bares some of that blazing style that Grasshopper Manufacture is known for.
Still, there's a lot to appreciate, such as the great soundtrack, unique boss designs, and it overall bares some of that blazing style that Grasshopper Manufacture is known for.
Travis was sent to horny jail for nine years after this game
Devil May Cry 2: Grasshopper Manufacture edition.
Though I do not particularly enjoy doing this, for this review I will primarily be comparing this game to other titles. I believe this game doesn’t really form its own distinct identity outside of “The Sequel of No Mo Heroes” and as a result it’s really difficult to talk about it as though it were an independent work that stands on its own.
No More Heroes, like many SUDA51 games, is an incredibly multi-faceted work with brilliant commentary on a wide range of topics relating to video games and human life, but No More Heroes 2 lacks any of this clever writing and game design that has made Grasshopper Manufacture such an endearing company up until this time. It makes sense since SUDA51 did not serve as director and his role of writer is somewhat ambiguous as well for this game, and it shows.
In my review of No More Heroes, I specifically focused on the game’s commentary on the repetitive nature of video games and how it uses an intentionally poorly structured game loop to highlight this repetitiveness among other things. This structure is completely changed in this game. Now, you are able to directly go into the rank battles one after another without having to pay the ranking fee. The side jobs are still present in the game, but are completely optional. The annoying unfun side jobs of the original which mirror jobs in real life have been replaced by much funner 8-bit style arcade games. What these changes do is make the game much better paced and better structured from a gameplay perspective, but ruins some of the artistic goals of the original.
This wouldn’t be a problem if the game made up for it with its own ideas and themes, but it does not. This is why I say that this game has no separate identity outside of simply being the sequel of No More Heroes. Its primary theme, revenge and the cycle of violence, is something already present in the original. It is just far less subtle in this game. All the humor, the characters, and the tone of the original is preserved and dumped directly into this one as well. In fact, in some ways this game is even a flanderization of No More Heroes. The sexuality has gone waaay up and so has the general ridiculousness. This game WILL make you look at Sylvia’s breasts and even if you avoid one cutscene with a zoom up on them it will eventually catch you slacking.
Even the core narrative of this game is, frankly, a rehash of the original that lacks any of the deliberate commentary of the original. No More Heroes 2 copies No More Heroes whenever it can and makes reckless changes without really thinking very hard for why the original is designed the way it is. This is why at the top of this critique, I compared this game to Devil May Cry 2. They are actually decently similar games in many ways. Both lack the director of the original game they’re a sequel to, both are far more ridiculous than the original in their events (DMC2 has demon tanks and helicopters and this game has mech battles and weird giant batman parody babies), both are pretty pointless sequels, and both completely misunderstand what made the original good in the first place.
Now of course, DMC2 and this game is not a 1 to 1 comparison. No More Heroes 2 is far better than DMC2 and succeeds in many of the aspects the latter fails, and I honestly might be stretching a lot with this comparison, however I feel like they fall into similar pitfalls.
Despite all of this, I still reasonably enjoyed my time with this game. Even if it does not quite have the wit of the original, it most certainly has its charm, and that may be enough for me. The gameplay is still extremely button mashy but so much fun, Travis is still a loveable jackass, and you’re still able to play with Jeane the cat though she’s gained a bit of weight. Most of the things I enjoyed about this game were already in the original, however. Still, 3 whole extra stars to this game for making playing with Jeane more interactive. Very excited to see what SUDA51 does with her in NMH3!
Though I do not particularly enjoy doing this, for this review I will primarily be comparing this game to other titles. I believe this game doesn’t really form its own distinct identity outside of “The Sequel of No Mo Heroes” and as a result it’s really difficult to talk about it as though it were an independent work that stands on its own.
No More Heroes, like many SUDA51 games, is an incredibly multi-faceted work with brilliant commentary on a wide range of topics relating to video games and human life, but No More Heroes 2 lacks any of this clever writing and game design that has made Grasshopper Manufacture such an endearing company up until this time. It makes sense since SUDA51 did not serve as director and his role of writer is somewhat ambiguous as well for this game, and it shows.
In my review of No More Heroes, I specifically focused on the game’s commentary on the repetitive nature of video games and how it uses an intentionally poorly structured game loop to highlight this repetitiveness among other things. This structure is completely changed in this game. Now, you are able to directly go into the rank battles one after another without having to pay the ranking fee. The side jobs are still present in the game, but are completely optional. The annoying unfun side jobs of the original which mirror jobs in real life have been replaced by much funner 8-bit style arcade games. What these changes do is make the game much better paced and better structured from a gameplay perspective, but ruins some of the artistic goals of the original.
This wouldn’t be a problem if the game made up for it with its own ideas and themes, but it does not. This is why I say that this game has no separate identity outside of simply being the sequel of No More Heroes. Its primary theme, revenge and the cycle of violence, is something already present in the original. It is just far less subtle in this game. All the humor, the characters, and the tone of the original is preserved and dumped directly into this one as well. In fact, in some ways this game is even a flanderization of No More Heroes. The sexuality has gone waaay up and so has the general ridiculousness. This game WILL make you look at Sylvia’s breasts and even if you avoid one cutscene with a zoom up on them it will eventually catch you slacking.
Even the core narrative of this game is, frankly, a rehash of the original that lacks any of the deliberate commentary of the original. No More Heroes 2 copies No More Heroes whenever it can and makes reckless changes without really thinking very hard for why the original is designed the way it is. This is why at the top of this critique, I compared this game to Devil May Cry 2. They are actually decently similar games in many ways. Both lack the director of the original game they’re a sequel to, both are far more ridiculous than the original in their events (DMC2 has demon tanks and helicopters and this game has mech battles and weird giant batman parody babies), both are pretty pointless sequels, and both completely misunderstand what made the original good in the first place.
Now of course, DMC2 and this game is not a 1 to 1 comparison. No More Heroes 2 is far better than DMC2 and succeeds in many of the aspects the latter fails, and I honestly might be stretching a lot with this comparison, however I feel like they fall into similar pitfalls.
Despite all of this, I still reasonably enjoyed my time with this game. Even if it does not quite have the wit of the original, it most certainly has its charm, and that may be enough for me. The gameplay is still extremely button mashy but so much fun, Travis is still a loveable jackass, and you’re still able to play with Jeane the cat though she’s gained a bit of weight. Most of the things I enjoyed about this game were already in the original, however. Still, 3 whole extra stars to this game for making playing with Jeane more interactive. Very excited to see what SUDA51 does with her in NMH3!
+I get that the open world of the original is meant partially as parody, but honestly I'm glad they removed it from this one. cuts down on the fluff and filler for sure
+I personally think ignoring much of the latter half of the first game's plot works to the sequel's benefit. then again, I'm not sure how they would've even rationalized a sequel otherwise...
+on that note, this game is much easier to follow than the first. the narrative trickery is kept to a minimum, and the fourth-wall breaks are much more tasteful in this game as well. I think this series is better off as just stupid fun without the thematic trappings of the original
+dual-wielding beam katanas... entirely a game-changer. like actually so fun to use
+I really like the NES-style side jobs and gym minigames, they overall have more depth than the brainless minigames from the original (though the scorpion job came back for some reason)
+overall I prefer the bosses in this game over the first, and there's more of them too. many of the bosses remind me more of shinobu from the first one, with many ways to approach the battle and new moves as the fight goes on, except without the OHKOs and other frustrating gimmicks from the first. I actually felt like I was having a proper swordfight in a few of them!
+in fact, most of the frustration from the first one overall is gone. there's no long hallways of gunmen anymore, no damage sponge boss encounters (or rather, the peony alleviates that)
+in terms of progression it feels like the fat has been trimmed tremendously. there's no need to continue playing the side jobs once you've gotten both weapons and all the gym upgrades, so you can blast through combat sequences after that
+the tiger transformation in this game rules, and also speeds up many of the long endgame levels
+the run of bosses from ryuji to alice is so good. it really makes you wish the first game had something similar
-combat still retains many of the issues of the first game, specifically how poorly the camera behaves with lock-on. I may be wrong but I think there were many more destructable environment objects in this one, and you can easily get caught
-some of the bosses feel very underdesigned, especially in the first half. letz shake, cloe walsh, and million gunmen especially felt like unfinished pushovers
-how did they fuck up a motorcycle battle, like it's really not fun (boss battle afterwards is quite good though)
-getting to play as shinobu is very cool, too bad her platforming is stiff and frustrating
-getting to play as henry is very cool, too bad your first time using him is in a boss battle with no time to learn his combos or get a feel for his dash
-no gardens of madness call... the boss battles in general are given very little lead-up, which is a big drop down from the first game. I'm neutral on the peep show sequences as well
-the level pacing is a little funky, with the first half of the game having very short pre-boss levels and the second half of the game having very long ones. I don't mind the length though, I'm happy to slice-and-dice, and I put up with the same thing in the yakuza games
this game does a solid job trimming the fat from the first, improving the main draw of the game (the interesting bosses), and giving fanservice to those who loved the original. it's still very rough around the edges, but I'm just glad the first one got a worthy follow-up that capitalized on the unique world and designs to make something that is a joy to play. I can't say I enjoyed every minute of it (god no) but I had a fun time blowing through this one in a weekend
+I personally think ignoring much of the latter half of the first game's plot works to the sequel's benefit. then again, I'm not sure how they would've even rationalized a sequel otherwise...
+on that note, this game is much easier to follow than the first. the narrative trickery is kept to a minimum, and the fourth-wall breaks are much more tasteful in this game as well. I think this series is better off as just stupid fun without the thematic trappings of the original
+dual-wielding beam katanas... entirely a game-changer. like actually so fun to use
+I really like the NES-style side jobs and gym minigames, they overall have more depth than the brainless minigames from the original (though the scorpion job came back for some reason)
+overall I prefer the bosses in this game over the first, and there's more of them too. many of the bosses remind me more of shinobu from the first one, with many ways to approach the battle and new moves as the fight goes on, except without the OHKOs and other frustrating gimmicks from the first. I actually felt like I was having a proper swordfight in a few of them!
+in fact, most of the frustration from the first one overall is gone. there's no long hallways of gunmen anymore, no damage sponge boss encounters (or rather, the peony alleviates that)
+in terms of progression it feels like the fat has been trimmed tremendously. there's no need to continue playing the side jobs once you've gotten both weapons and all the gym upgrades, so you can blast through combat sequences after that
+the tiger transformation in this game rules, and also speeds up many of the long endgame levels
+the run of bosses from ryuji to alice is so good. it really makes you wish the first game had something similar
-combat still retains many of the issues of the first game, specifically how poorly the camera behaves with lock-on. I may be wrong but I think there were many more destructable environment objects in this one, and you can easily get caught
-some of the bosses feel very underdesigned, especially in the first half. letz shake, cloe walsh, and million gunmen especially felt like unfinished pushovers
-how did they fuck up a motorcycle battle, like it's really not fun (boss battle afterwards is quite good though)
-getting to play as shinobu is very cool, too bad her platforming is stiff and frustrating
-getting to play as henry is very cool, too bad your first time using him is in a boss battle with no time to learn his combos or get a feel for his dash
-no gardens of madness call... the boss battles in general are given very little lead-up, which is a big drop down from the first game. I'm neutral on the peep show sequences as well
-the level pacing is a little funky, with the first half of the game having very short pre-boss levels and the second half of the game having very long ones. I don't mind the length though, I'm happy to slice-and-dice, and I put up with the same thing in the yakuza games
this game does a solid job trimming the fat from the first, improving the main draw of the game (the interesting bosses), and giving fanservice to those who loved the original. it's still very rough around the edges, but I'm just glad the first one got a worthy follow-up that capitalized on the unique world and designs to make something that is a joy to play. I can't say I enjoyed every minute of it (god no) but I had a fun time blowing through this one in a weekend
Shinobu is hot
What the fuck happened here?
If no more heroes replaced its obscene amount of filler and bad ideas with the potential the things blatantly left on the cutting room floor had, It could be close to as good as the first game. Would probably still be a messy game that really didnt seem to get the original, but I think there's room in this world for such a gratuitous, cathartic game to exist.
A few individual components of NMH2 absolutely slap. The soundtrack is legitimately fantastic in a way that's different to the first game, and has some absolute belters, particularly "kill or be killed" and "philestine". The combat has been dramatically improved, and there's a handful of good boss fights. The new movesets are fun, The presentation is generally good and the budget has clearly massively increased this time round.
But boy is the connective tissue of this game terrible. The throughline of the plot alone relies on a severe stretching of a relationship from the first game and travis' personality, and it doesn't work. On top of that, the sequence of events is just all over the place, with things just happening one after the other. Travis has very little agency in a plot that is meant to be a personal revenge... thing.
NMH is really a shift. NMH1 is carried by theme and vibes, of which NMH2 has basically nothing. There's some gesturing towards... things but there's no time to dwell, most of the bosses barely say a word and the open world of santa destroy - a character in it's own that gives a grounding to the events of the game, is barely even a factor.
So the game's core strengths shifts to bombast and catharsis, in the improved combat and the bonkers set pieces. And about half of them are good. But again, they're completely all over the place, probably in the wrong order, and the pacing is bizzare.
For instance, late in the game, one of the best boss fights, with a great Vocal music track, and a good level before her - is proceeded by an outright bizzare 20-minute long fight against endless mooks in a car park without any music at all.
This car park fight is so remarkably, blatantly terrible and pointless that it almost makes me wonder if it's making a point, that the whole game is this deliberate kusoge mishmash about riding highs or something. I think that would be some serious Copium abuse though, frankly.
All said, NMH2 doesn't work. It's a very, very weak sequel to the original and is more interesting to disect than ponder. But for a short, wild ride, it's got enough bombast and absurdity to carry it for it's 5 hour runtime. And that's pretty much it.
If no more heroes replaced its obscene amount of filler and bad ideas with the potential the things blatantly left on the cutting room floor had, It could be close to as good as the first game. Would probably still be a messy game that really didnt seem to get the original, but I think there's room in this world for such a gratuitous, cathartic game to exist.
A few individual components of NMH2 absolutely slap. The soundtrack is legitimately fantastic in a way that's different to the first game, and has some absolute belters, particularly "kill or be killed" and "philestine". The combat has been dramatically improved, and there's a handful of good boss fights. The new movesets are fun, The presentation is generally good and the budget has clearly massively increased this time round.
But boy is the connective tissue of this game terrible. The throughline of the plot alone relies on a severe stretching of a relationship from the first game and travis' personality, and it doesn't work. On top of that, the sequence of events is just all over the place, with things just happening one after the other. Travis has very little agency in a plot that is meant to be a personal revenge... thing.
NMH is really a shift. NMH1 is carried by theme and vibes, of which NMH2 has basically nothing. There's some gesturing towards... things but there's no time to dwell, most of the bosses barely say a word and the open world of santa destroy - a character in it's own that gives a grounding to the events of the game, is barely even a factor.
So the game's core strengths shifts to bombast and catharsis, in the improved combat and the bonkers set pieces. And about half of them are good. But again, they're completely all over the place, probably in the wrong order, and the pacing is bizzare.
For instance, late in the game, one of the best boss fights, with a great Vocal music track, and a good level before her - is proceeded by an outright bizzare 20-minute long fight against endless mooks in a car park without any music at all.
This car park fight is so remarkably, blatantly terrible and pointless that it almost makes me wonder if it's making a point, that the whole game is this deliberate kusoge mishmash about riding highs or something. I think that would be some serious Copium abuse though, frankly.
All said, NMH2 doesn't work. It's a very, very weak sequel to the original and is more interesting to disect than ponder. But for a short, wild ride, it's got enough bombast and absurdity to carry it for it's 5 hour runtime. And that's pretty much it.
Quite possibly one of the worst experiences a video game can offer in which the previous game is all at once disregarded, constantly referenced to, spring-boarded off of, and completely ignored.
What minor improvements are made to missions, side-jobs, and combat (and I truly mean minor) are more like apologies for what a wet noodle of a game this is.
Bosses are some of the most miserable encounters since they vary from being mediocre to genuinely infuriating. Everything that is said for this games story or philosophy, or what it has to say about Travis is vapid and even if done purposefully so it's still leaves you wondering what the fuck happened to the pitiful loser that drove any interest in the first game.
This game's biggest crime is what they did to Naomi and pretty much every characters re-design good god. It's like they got Eiichiro Oda to purposefully bastardize what good can be found.
Still completely necessary to the KTP collection, even if it takes that to a whole new level of metatext
What minor improvements are made to missions, side-jobs, and combat (and I truly mean minor) are more like apologies for what a wet noodle of a game this is.
Bosses are some of the most miserable encounters since they vary from being mediocre to genuinely infuriating. Everything that is said for this games story or philosophy, or what it has to say about Travis is vapid and even if done purposefully so it's still leaves you wondering what the fuck happened to the pitiful loser that drove any interest in the first game.
This game's biggest crime is what they did to Naomi and pretty much every characters re-design good god. It's like they got Eiichiro Oda to purposefully bastardize what good can be found.
Still completely necessary to the KTP collection, even if it takes that to a whole new level of metatext
No More Heroes 2 is a strange beast.
It doesn't understand the first one. The power fantasy that the original makes a joke with becomes the fantasy the sequel sells for the player. Henry who was a Vergil parody for a hack and slash parody now becomes Vergil but the version of DmC, Shinobu becomes a fetishized character and Sylvia who was the way of the game literally says to the player that the game is a joke now becomes a kinda of femme fatale and a fetishized character too. And Travis even if the game start with him being a anime hero for the sake of the power fantasy, by the end becomes a character more aline with the way of Suda's writing. I could go on and on about this because it's all you see for the first half of the game, the minigames were turned into a way of grinding instead of a nice way to make the game flow better, the way the game deals with sexual content is way worse and so on. But at the same time, No More Heroes 2 does a lot of cool stuff.
The combat is amazing, as good as the first one. Melee being a full playstyle makes all Fire Pro Wrestling references cooler, the scenery being a big part of the fights makes everything so more dynamic and cool, the juggle combos. Is just very good, even more so with the multiple swords. Is just not as smart as Travis Strikes Again and No More Heroes 3 with the enemies and bosses. But the boss battles in No More Heroes 2 are usually in between mid and very good, for some reason when you got the Ryuji fight the game decides to make every boss just as good as the first one and is in the final half that the game becomes great.
The power fantasy left, Travis becomes more like Travis, the text and cutscenes becomes good. Is like the devs suddenly remembered what makes No More Heroes 1 great and they decided to try that but with a vengeance story while dealing with the way those characters interacts with violence. And even the final boss is interesting, he is like Iwami from Yakuza 6, a shit guy trying to play the cool guy with a shit fight because he couldn't do anything.
Nobutaka Ichiki did a cool work, sure I would love to see Suda51 version (even more after discovering that the game was supposed to be inspired by Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2) but I liked his take and I hope someday he get a chance to make a big project of his own.
It doesn't understand the first one. The power fantasy that the original makes a joke with becomes the fantasy the sequel sells for the player. Henry who was a Vergil parody for a hack and slash parody now becomes Vergil but the version of DmC, Shinobu becomes a fetishized character and Sylvia who was the way of the game literally says to the player that the game is a joke now becomes a kinda of femme fatale and a fetishized character too. And Travis even if the game start with him being a anime hero for the sake of the power fantasy, by the end becomes a character more aline with the way of Suda's writing. I could go on and on about this because it's all you see for the first half of the game, the minigames were turned into a way of grinding instead of a nice way to make the game flow better, the way the game deals with sexual content is way worse and so on. But at the same time, No More Heroes 2 does a lot of cool stuff.
The combat is amazing, as good as the first one. Melee being a full playstyle makes all Fire Pro Wrestling references cooler, the scenery being a big part of the fights makes everything so more dynamic and cool, the juggle combos. Is just very good, even more so with the multiple swords. Is just not as smart as Travis Strikes Again and No More Heroes 3 with the enemies and bosses. But the boss battles in No More Heroes 2 are usually in between mid and very good, for some reason when you got the Ryuji fight the game decides to make every boss just as good as the first one and is in the final half that the game becomes great.
The power fantasy left, Travis becomes more like Travis, the text and cutscenes becomes good. Is like the devs suddenly remembered what makes No More Heroes 1 great and they decided to try that but with a vengeance story while dealing with the way those characters interacts with violence. And even the final boss is interesting, he is like Iwami from Yakuza 6, a shit guy trying to play the cool guy with a shit fight because he couldn't do anything.
Nobutaka Ichiki did a cool work, sure I would love to see Suda51 version (even more after discovering that the game was supposed to be inspired by Battles Without Honor and Humanity 2) but I liked his take and I hope someday he get a chance to make a big project of his own.
This review contains spoilers
this game has never clicked with me, and, for a long time, i used to think of it as more of a personal failing than anything qualitatively wrong with this game. i recall very few things about my first playthrough of this game. i don't remember exactly when in my life that i played it (just that i was a teenager). i don't recall how i felt about playing the game while actually playing it. all i really remember is that, ironically, i forgot most of it. i remembered the grocery store, the final level and boss, and i vaguely recalled the fights that led up to it. but i didn't remember them in the way i remembered NMH1. there wasn't any shinobu, a boss that demanded i learn not only competency with the game's systems, but also with punishing when bosses left themselves open. i'm not saying there aren't bosses like that in the game, just that i don't remember even doing that learning process. i remember "it's kill or be killed", a few jokes, and that's it. for all intents and purposes, this game was completely disposable to me for a long time. no more heroes 1 is one of my favorite games of all time; you can see how i would want to equate this more to me being a distracted and immature teenager rather than this game being just that exceptionally devoid of impact.
and now, having replayed it, i get it. i get why i didn't remember this game. it's because it's not memorable.
okay, i know that was a lot of build-up to a relatively tame insult, but work with me. regardless of how you felt about no more heroes 1 as a video game, there was essentially one thing you couldn't deny about the game: it had flavor. it was doing something unique. the execution is for all to argue and debate, but you couldn't point to many contemporary games on the wii that were doing something like NMH1. of all the things you could possibly fuck up in a NMH1 sequel, removing the memorability from it has to be the singular worst mistake you could make. it also begs the question of how could you do that? how is it even possible to syphon the personality out of a NMH game and make it feel forgettable?
you can't explore santa destroy anymore, a change i suspect was largely motivated by the bevvy of critiques against the game for having an empty open world. it was ironic and satirizing the trend of open worlds with nothing actually happening in them, but i get it, you got a lot of dings against you for that one. the problem is that in removing this world, you have to replace it with. . . something. and NMH2 doesn't. so you don't have to pay for fights anymore, meaning money serves less of a purpose, not to mention naomi has a grand total of Two (2) things to sell you in the entire game. all you really need money for are the upgrades ryan'll give you. so, you're far more likely to barely spend any time in between missions dicking around. NMH1 had pacing inherent to the game with making the player get money. it made the combat sections that much more memorable because they were separated by mundanity. some people hated it and said it made the game boring, but they missed the point in that the mundane elevated the profane. when you don't have that time to ponder and anticipate, you lose payoff. it doesn't help that the mini-games in this game are far more hit-or-miss, and while they have slightly more retro-game charm to them, that doesn't excuse how awfully some of them play (i.e. the coconut and space mini-games). you're going to more than likely just go from assassination mission to assassination mission and it will likely blur together like it did for me.
and when it does come to the assassination missions, they leave much to be desired. the game starts out pretty strong with its first few levels, but then slowly it starts to decline. eventually you get to levels that have no music playing during them, or are just empty "drive along this road for 3 minutes and reach the boss" moments. some assassination missions don't even have levels. i eventually had to look up what the dev period for this game was. it had about 2 years, which is not terrible by any means. i get that not every single part of the game can be a home-run, but there's such a gigantic lack of content relative to the first game. let me repeat: there's no open world, less worthwhile mini-games, no collectibles, less levels, no sylvia phonecalls, and less to buy. again, i don't subscribe to the theory that sequels need to be bigger and grander than their predecessor, but NMH2 cuts out so much content and replaces it with nothing. i can't help but feel like this is just a hollowed out game as a result.
the assassins in this game suffer the most in regards to lack of personality. i think this problem is more systemic than "they really struck out on bosses this frequently", because most bosses have next to no lines of dialogue, little build-up, and are disposed of with little impact to travis. they try to have a holly summers moment with ryuji, but considering that ryuji literally does not speak once and has no introduction beyond "im on a motorcycle and japanese 😤", why should i care? i mean, holly didn't have that many lines, but you still got a very strong idea for who she is and the fact that she chose her own death and the way she did it made her memorable. ryuji dies because. . . he lost to travis and sylvia wanted to troll. okay. complete flop of a moment, and they linger on travis' reaction to try and imply that this is some turning point for him. it just doesn't work.
the real kiss of death here is that i actually detest a large portion of the boss fights in regards to gameplay. let's just come right out and say it: this game is mostly bad boss fights with very few good ones. in the spirit of 13 sentinels, i will now go over every fight individually and delineate things about it that stand out to me.
helter skelter: awful fight once you get past the tutorialized section of it. i firmly believe most people tend not to notice how bad this fight is because by the time you actually start it, he has half health. he suffers from a common problem in this game, which is "has a no wind-up or tell move that comes out extremely quickly that can break your guard and often leads to a follow-up attack that will do a lot of damage". you can dodge the follow-up attack typically, but there is no way you're capable of reacting in time for the lead-up. almost every boss in the entire game has it, so this is more a universal complaint than unique, so i won't mention it in the following summaries. but still, fuck man. outside of that, he's just a boss where you have to wait for him to use the one combo that leaves him vulnerable, and if you exercise any level of proactive aggression, he punishes it immediately. it's a very boring and poor fight to start with.
nathan copeland: i mean, at least he's better than the guys he's sandwiched between. he's appropriately easy as far as early bosses go, only real difficulty comes from when his environmental hazards start stunlocking you. i barely remember anything he actually does because he's so easy to just whale on without him retaliating much.
charlie macdonald: literally not even a fight. the gimmick wears thin almost immediately and is brainless to overcome. why even include this in the game.
kimmy howell: definitely one of the few fights i like in the game. has a fun and quirky introduction that makes her honestly the most memorable character introduced in this game. only complaints i have for her is that her moveset is fairly simple, and her projectile is such a nonfactor. it definitely feels like she could've stood to have maybe a little more complexity, she's very easy to solve and her AI lacks aggression. but, again, this is a fight i like, if only because i remember it pretty vividly.
matt helms: hey look, one of the worse fights in the game! his molotov attack is buttfucking stupid in regards to him not being interruptible while using it + it breaks guards + it lingers on the ground. all you need to do is subtract one of those things and the attack becomes balanced and fine. in general i just dislike his whole adult baby vibe and the fight itself is one of the rare cases of "spamming attacks and being mindlessly aggressive is in your best interest" for the duology. his lore is completely lame too, you couldn't come up with something more interesting than "he's a spooky ghost who killed his parents!!!"?
cloe walsh: nothingburger of a boss both in aesthetic and fight. she has such low HP that you can cream through her fairly quickly, meanwhile her attacks are so telegraphed that you have to be not paying attention to be in any real danger. you'd think her being both in a high security prison and also having magical poison abilities would give her at least a little room to talk about who she is or what her deal is, but the game seems to want to get rid of her as quickly as possible.
dr. letz shake: fun idea to have him come back, but then you run into the obvious problem of "how are you going to make fighting a giant machine work in this type of game?", and, ultimately, they don't. he has only 3 attacks, one of which is just a basic "get off me" move. the joke outstays its welcome because it wasn't even particularly funny in the first place.
million gunman: cool fight theme, literally nothing else remarkable about him outside of him being possible to infinite (low attack into 2-3 high attacks will make him take some damage, then start dodging, and then he'll try to retaliate with a move you can punish before it launches, repeating the cycle).
new destroyman: hey look! another god awful fight! having one of the destroyman halves spam projectile moves is infuriating to deal with, difficulty be damned. i know the cheese strat of hiding in the upper right corner so that you can isolate the red eye and blue eye just does nothing, but that doesn't fix the fight. even when you do it that way, you're still going to have to play grabass with the blue eye half for at least 5-10 minutes, if not longer. all of this is exacerbated by the fact that shinobu's combos have such terrible finishing lag that your only safe option is to just spam sonic sword. either way, it's an objectively horribly designed fight.
ryuji: on this replay, i distinctly remember thinking "this is the first actual boss fight that feels like it could belong in NMH1"; that only really applies in terms of his fight's design, though. ryuji, as mentioned, is another nothingburger. i would probably like his fight if his shiteating dragon wasn't such a liferuiner. i've had the damn thing pinball me back and forth between hit boxes while guarding until my battery ran out and i died. trying to do anything to ryuji while the dragon's summoned is futile because you might as well be playing smash bros. with items on at that point. you can lock him down in a combo and the dragon will zoom into you without warning. you're better off just waiting until it disappears, so add that to the list of bosses where waiting is the most reliable strategy. ryuji himself has a decent moveset and learning how to answer his attacks genuinely feels good, it's just that shitty dragon that's the problem. . . what's that? motorcycle fight? no, we're not even going to talk about that.
mimmy: is it bad that i like this fight. i feel like it's bad because it's the easiest fight in the entire game. just spam charge attacks and use the invincibility frames to avoid damage. at least it has a good fight theme.
marge: i've never understood the hype behind marge. the location is gorgeous from an aesthetics point of view, but her fight is so stupidly easy it feels like a genuine error to place it this late. it slots in better between like, kimmy and matt helms. she genuinely does such little damage and the attacks she has are very obviously telegraphed. combine that with the abundance of health drops that spawn (excluding bitter mode obviously) and i can't imagine many people died to her. she's one of the endgame bosses and she feels like babymode. i mean, i do still like her fight, but it always feels like i'm bullying someone with a handicap.
captain vladimir: completely worthless fight. why is an astronaut an assassin. why is he floating. whatever. he has probably the "least likely to ever hit you" instakill, can shoot very easily dodged lasers, and can throw rocks at you. that's about it. it's also comedic at the game's expense when they try to have an emotional moment when he dies. who is this fucking random soviet astronaut and why is he #3.
alice twilight: going to say nothing revolutionary when i say that she's far and away the best boss in the game on every front. great cutscene introducing her that gives us the idea that she has an interior life that we'll never get to know + a fight that's designed very well + a unique fighting style + an extremely great fight theme. the only bad thing i can say about this fight is less at the fight's expense and more the game's: why play this game for this fight when heroes' paradise already has it? lol
jasper batt: everything wrong with this game can be traced back to this character. both in design and also in lore. and also yuri lowenthal. genuinely one of the worst final boss fights in a game that i've played in recent memory, potentially in the top 5. i would literally prefer if the game just ended on a fake-out with no fight than this shitshow. teleporting punch moves that have no telegraph and will break your guard? Fuck you.
these fights suffer from being either too gimmicky or too unbalanced (both for and against the player). i think you can also argue that personality-wise so many of these fights fall short because we're given nothing to work with on any level. who is cloe walsh? why should i care? who is million gunman? why should i care? who is captain vladimir? why should i care? hell, matt helms and ryuji share the exact same boss theme despite being complete polar opposites both in setting and design. i'm not going to say that every single boss in NMH1 was a winner (even though i unironically think they were), but at least i could describe them with more than like, two adjectives. i truly could not say the same thing about most of NMH2's bosses. what this ultimately means is that when there's so few boss fights i actually like, i have next to nothing to look forward to in the game. it's just "oh i have to THAT fight now, great" over and over again. ironically, despite having 15 bosses, the game feels so much shorter and less developed compared to the first game's 10. you can argue quality > quantity, and surely that's part of it, but i think another part of it is just that NMH2 lives in the shadow of the first game.
NMH2 has this huge issue of being up its own ass. it takes itself far too seriously when the first game was going in nearly the opposite direction. sure, 1 had plot twists and serious moments, but they were always underlined by how absurd the setting is. the characters play everything straight, it's the fact that they exist in this world that not only allows deathmatches, but makes it this mundane bureaucratic exercise. hell, one fight in the game gets prevented just because travis wasn't following protocol. contrast this with NMH2, where travis is suddenly viewed as a god by everyone and even gets his face painted as a mural che guevara style. the assassins you fight will literally talk about how they've been waiting to be killed by him in this cultish way, and it all doesn't work when the first game's ending reveals that the UAA was all a scam set up by sylvia to milk travis for money, not to mention that travis was a gigantic loser for falling for it. in NMH1, travis is a tragic yet pathetic character. in NMH2, travis is the opposite, an epic force meant to change the world for the better. it's so out of place and unfitting for the setting of santa destroy. you exchanged nihilism and apathy for optimism and redemption without any of the work to earn it.
it's one thing for a game to have a bad sequel, but i think going from where NMH1 left off, you were doomed no matter what. you literally sequelize the game that said "too bad, no sequel for you", where do you go from there? it's equally baffling because suda was involved in both projects, so we can't sit here and say it was a case of losing the visionary of the series. what happened? not only does this game take itself too seriously, it's about as funny as a fucking funeral. i just want so badly to find anything about this game to like, but it feels ironically a victim of its own malaise. NMH1 made fun of itself so much that it's impossible for me to take this setting as seriously as 2 wants me to. NMH1 wanted me to take this wacky setting for what it is and see what happens when people play it straight. NMH2 wanted to franchise it.
and now, having replayed it, i get it. i get why i didn't remember this game. it's because it's not memorable.
okay, i know that was a lot of build-up to a relatively tame insult, but work with me. regardless of how you felt about no more heroes 1 as a video game, there was essentially one thing you couldn't deny about the game: it had flavor. it was doing something unique. the execution is for all to argue and debate, but you couldn't point to many contemporary games on the wii that were doing something like NMH1. of all the things you could possibly fuck up in a NMH1 sequel, removing the memorability from it has to be the singular worst mistake you could make. it also begs the question of how could you do that? how is it even possible to syphon the personality out of a NMH game and make it feel forgettable?
you can't explore santa destroy anymore, a change i suspect was largely motivated by the bevvy of critiques against the game for having an empty open world. it was ironic and satirizing the trend of open worlds with nothing actually happening in them, but i get it, you got a lot of dings against you for that one. the problem is that in removing this world, you have to replace it with. . . something. and NMH2 doesn't. so you don't have to pay for fights anymore, meaning money serves less of a purpose, not to mention naomi has a grand total of Two (2) things to sell you in the entire game. all you really need money for are the upgrades ryan'll give you. so, you're far more likely to barely spend any time in between missions dicking around. NMH1 had pacing inherent to the game with making the player get money. it made the combat sections that much more memorable because they were separated by mundanity. some people hated it and said it made the game boring, but they missed the point in that the mundane elevated the profane. when you don't have that time to ponder and anticipate, you lose payoff. it doesn't help that the mini-games in this game are far more hit-or-miss, and while they have slightly more retro-game charm to them, that doesn't excuse how awfully some of them play (i.e. the coconut and space mini-games). you're going to more than likely just go from assassination mission to assassination mission and it will likely blur together like it did for me.
and when it does come to the assassination missions, they leave much to be desired. the game starts out pretty strong with its first few levels, but then slowly it starts to decline. eventually you get to levels that have no music playing during them, or are just empty "drive along this road for 3 minutes and reach the boss" moments. some assassination missions don't even have levels. i eventually had to look up what the dev period for this game was. it had about 2 years, which is not terrible by any means. i get that not every single part of the game can be a home-run, but there's such a gigantic lack of content relative to the first game. let me repeat: there's no open world, less worthwhile mini-games, no collectibles, less levels, no sylvia phonecalls, and less to buy. again, i don't subscribe to the theory that sequels need to be bigger and grander than their predecessor, but NMH2 cuts out so much content and replaces it with nothing. i can't help but feel like this is just a hollowed out game as a result.
the assassins in this game suffer the most in regards to lack of personality. i think this problem is more systemic than "they really struck out on bosses this frequently", because most bosses have next to no lines of dialogue, little build-up, and are disposed of with little impact to travis. they try to have a holly summers moment with ryuji, but considering that ryuji literally does not speak once and has no introduction beyond "im on a motorcycle and japanese 😤", why should i care? i mean, holly didn't have that many lines, but you still got a very strong idea for who she is and the fact that she chose her own death and the way she did it made her memorable. ryuji dies because. . . he lost to travis and sylvia wanted to troll. okay. complete flop of a moment, and they linger on travis' reaction to try and imply that this is some turning point for him. it just doesn't work.
the real kiss of death here is that i actually detest a large portion of the boss fights in regards to gameplay. let's just come right out and say it: this game is mostly bad boss fights with very few good ones. in the spirit of 13 sentinels, i will now go over every fight individually and delineate things about it that stand out to me.
helter skelter: awful fight once you get past the tutorialized section of it. i firmly believe most people tend not to notice how bad this fight is because by the time you actually start it, he has half health. he suffers from a common problem in this game, which is "has a no wind-up or tell move that comes out extremely quickly that can break your guard and often leads to a follow-up attack that will do a lot of damage". you can dodge the follow-up attack typically, but there is no way you're capable of reacting in time for the lead-up. almost every boss in the entire game has it, so this is more a universal complaint than unique, so i won't mention it in the following summaries. but still, fuck man. outside of that, he's just a boss where you have to wait for him to use the one combo that leaves him vulnerable, and if you exercise any level of proactive aggression, he punishes it immediately. it's a very boring and poor fight to start with.
nathan copeland: i mean, at least he's better than the guys he's sandwiched between. he's appropriately easy as far as early bosses go, only real difficulty comes from when his environmental hazards start stunlocking you. i barely remember anything he actually does because he's so easy to just whale on without him retaliating much.
charlie macdonald: literally not even a fight. the gimmick wears thin almost immediately and is brainless to overcome. why even include this in the game.
kimmy howell: definitely one of the few fights i like in the game. has a fun and quirky introduction that makes her honestly the most memorable character introduced in this game. only complaints i have for her is that her moveset is fairly simple, and her projectile is such a nonfactor. it definitely feels like she could've stood to have maybe a little more complexity, she's very easy to solve and her AI lacks aggression. but, again, this is a fight i like, if only because i remember it pretty vividly.
matt helms: hey look, one of the worse fights in the game! his molotov attack is buttfucking stupid in regards to him not being interruptible while using it + it breaks guards + it lingers on the ground. all you need to do is subtract one of those things and the attack becomes balanced and fine. in general i just dislike his whole adult baby vibe and the fight itself is one of the rare cases of "spamming attacks and being mindlessly aggressive is in your best interest" for the duology. his lore is completely lame too, you couldn't come up with something more interesting than "he's a spooky ghost who killed his parents!!!"?
cloe walsh: nothingburger of a boss both in aesthetic and fight. she has such low HP that you can cream through her fairly quickly, meanwhile her attacks are so telegraphed that you have to be not paying attention to be in any real danger. you'd think her being both in a high security prison and also having magical poison abilities would give her at least a little room to talk about who she is or what her deal is, but the game seems to want to get rid of her as quickly as possible.
dr. letz shake: fun idea to have him come back, but then you run into the obvious problem of "how are you going to make fighting a giant machine work in this type of game?", and, ultimately, they don't. he has only 3 attacks, one of which is just a basic "get off me" move. the joke outstays its welcome because it wasn't even particularly funny in the first place.
million gunman: cool fight theme, literally nothing else remarkable about him outside of him being possible to infinite (low attack into 2-3 high attacks will make him take some damage, then start dodging, and then he'll try to retaliate with a move you can punish before it launches, repeating the cycle).
new destroyman: hey look! another god awful fight! having one of the destroyman halves spam projectile moves is infuriating to deal with, difficulty be damned. i know the cheese strat of hiding in the upper right corner so that you can isolate the red eye and blue eye just does nothing, but that doesn't fix the fight. even when you do it that way, you're still going to have to play grabass with the blue eye half for at least 5-10 minutes, if not longer. all of this is exacerbated by the fact that shinobu's combos have such terrible finishing lag that your only safe option is to just spam sonic sword. either way, it's an objectively horribly designed fight.
ryuji: on this replay, i distinctly remember thinking "this is the first actual boss fight that feels like it could belong in NMH1"; that only really applies in terms of his fight's design, though. ryuji, as mentioned, is another nothingburger. i would probably like his fight if his shiteating dragon wasn't such a liferuiner. i've had the damn thing pinball me back and forth between hit boxes while guarding until my battery ran out and i died. trying to do anything to ryuji while the dragon's summoned is futile because you might as well be playing smash bros. with items on at that point. you can lock him down in a combo and the dragon will zoom into you without warning. you're better off just waiting until it disappears, so add that to the list of bosses where waiting is the most reliable strategy. ryuji himself has a decent moveset and learning how to answer his attacks genuinely feels good, it's just that shitty dragon that's the problem. . . what's that? motorcycle fight? no, we're not even going to talk about that.
mimmy: is it bad that i like this fight. i feel like it's bad because it's the easiest fight in the entire game. just spam charge attacks and use the invincibility frames to avoid damage. at least it has a good fight theme.
marge: i've never understood the hype behind marge. the location is gorgeous from an aesthetics point of view, but her fight is so stupidly easy it feels like a genuine error to place it this late. it slots in better between like, kimmy and matt helms. she genuinely does such little damage and the attacks she has are very obviously telegraphed. combine that with the abundance of health drops that spawn (excluding bitter mode obviously) and i can't imagine many people died to her. she's one of the endgame bosses and she feels like babymode. i mean, i do still like her fight, but it always feels like i'm bullying someone with a handicap.
captain vladimir: completely worthless fight. why is an astronaut an assassin. why is he floating. whatever. he has probably the "least likely to ever hit you" instakill, can shoot very easily dodged lasers, and can throw rocks at you. that's about it. it's also comedic at the game's expense when they try to have an emotional moment when he dies. who is this fucking random soviet astronaut and why is he #3.
alice twilight: going to say nothing revolutionary when i say that she's far and away the best boss in the game on every front. great cutscene introducing her that gives us the idea that she has an interior life that we'll never get to know + a fight that's designed very well + a unique fighting style + an extremely great fight theme. the only bad thing i can say about this fight is less at the fight's expense and more the game's: why play this game for this fight when heroes' paradise already has it? lol
jasper batt: everything wrong with this game can be traced back to this character. both in design and also in lore. and also yuri lowenthal. genuinely one of the worst final boss fights in a game that i've played in recent memory, potentially in the top 5. i would literally prefer if the game just ended on a fake-out with no fight than this shitshow. teleporting punch moves that have no telegraph and will break your guard? Fuck you.
these fights suffer from being either too gimmicky or too unbalanced (both for and against the player). i think you can also argue that personality-wise so many of these fights fall short because we're given nothing to work with on any level. who is cloe walsh? why should i care? who is million gunman? why should i care? who is captain vladimir? why should i care? hell, matt helms and ryuji share the exact same boss theme despite being complete polar opposites both in setting and design. i'm not going to say that every single boss in NMH1 was a winner (even though i unironically think they were), but at least i could describe them with more than like, two adjectives. i truly could not say the same thing about most of NMH2's bosses. what this ultimately means is that when there's so few boss fights i actually like, i have next to nothing to look forward to in the game. it's just "oh i have to THAT fight now, great" over and over again. ironically, despite having 15 bosses, the game feels so much shorter and less developed compared to the first game's 10. you can argue quality > quantity, and surely that's part of it, but i think another part of it is just that NMH2 lives in the shadow of the first game.
NMH2 has this huge issue of being up its own ass. it takes itself far too seriously when the first game was going in nearly the opposite direction. sure, 1 had plot twists and serious moments, but they were always underlined by how absurd the setting is. the characters play everything straight, it's the fact that they exist in this world that not only allows deathmatches, but makes it this mundane bureaucratic exercise. hell, one fight in the game gets prevented just because travis wasn't following protocol. contrast this with NMH2, where travis is suddenly viewed as a god by everyone and even gets his face painted as a mural che guevara style. the assassins you fight will literally talk about how they've been waiting to be killed by him in this cultish way, and it all doesn't work when the first game's ending reveals that the UAA was all a scam set up by sylvia to milk travis for money, not to mention that travis was a gigantic loser for falling for it. in NMH1, travis is a tragic yet pathetic character. in NMH2, travis is the opposite, an epic force meant to change the world for the better. it's so out of place and unfitting for the setting of santa destroy. you exchanged nihilism and apathy for optimism and redemption without any of the work to earn it.
it's one thing for a game to have a bad sequel, but i think going from where NMH1 left off, you were doomed no matter what. you literally sequelize the game that said "too bad, no sequel for you", where do you go from there? it's equally baffling because suda was involved in both projects, so we can't sit here and say it was a case of losing the visionary of the series. what happened? not only does this game take itself too seriously, it's about as funny as a fucking funeral. i just want so badly to find anything about this game to like, but it feels ironically a victim of its own malaise. NMH1 made fun of itself so much that it's impossible for me to take this setting as seriously as 2 wants me to. NMH1 wanted me to take this wacky setting for what it is and see what happens when people play it straight. NMH2 wanted to franchise it.
We're reaching previously unheard of levels of dripless
Good game but compared to the first one it was lacking alot... Honestly pushed through just for Henry and the soundtrack. Didn't like the ending that much and I wish Shinobu showed up some more. Also what was with all those Sylvia scenes where it just zoomed in on her body?