Cuts right to the action but that action isn't always worth your time.
Assim, no momento que se faz uma sequencia de um boneco ação que o combate da sequencia é pior, levando em conta que o combate do primeiro é apenas divertido...temos um problema gigante em mãos.
STRAWBERRY ON THE SHORTCAKE
it's like the first one but i liked it more
Não é do nivel do primeiro, mas tem seus méritos, é um jogo legal apesar de parecer menos inspirado.
I'll be real I did spend the majority of my life just assuming Suda had directed this game, when in reality he wasn't as involved as I had thought.
I think the gang at Grasshopper did their best with this, but I do not envy having to make this one. How do you even make a sequel to No More Heroes? The original's narrative shits itself (on purpose) and completely breaks down to make a statement on narrative as a whole. How do you continue that?
I have very conflicting feelings on this, the writing is straight up just not as good and it feels like the meta-narrative of the original was glossed over. One thing that seems to always be in contention is the games whole "fifty assassins" promise which I always thought was kind of funny, like if anything feels distinctly Suda and Grasshopper it's the way the game plays with those expectations. The problem there is there are very few assassins that come close to matching the first games rogue gallery (maybe like four of them I could probably remember)
The gameplay has never really been the draw here but it's clear that something went very wrong during developments, new big bold ideas feel like they were pale imitations of what they were going to be (Great idea to play as Shinobu, no idea why you would introduce platforming and give her some of the worst bosses in the series)
This brings me back to my original question. How do you make a sequel to No More Heroes? Apart from some standout scenes and moments this game feels confused and lost with it's identity, trying to fabricate this zany crazy image that people seem to think the first game was and not including it's griminess and darkness at it's core.
Also the final boss was so bad I just straight up quit and looked at the ending on YouTube, sorry if this affects my gaming cred but what the hell where they thinking.
I think the gang at Grasshopper did their best with this, but I do not envy having to make this one. How do you even make a sequel to No More Heroes? The original's narrative shits itself (on purpose) and completely breaks down to make a statement on narrative as a whole. How do you continue that?
I have very conflicting feelings on this, the writing is straight up just not as good and it feels like the meta-narrative of the original was glossed over. One thing that seems to always be in contention is the games whole "fifty assassins" promise which I always thought was kind of funny, like if anything feels distinctly Suda and Grasshopper it's the way the game plays with those expectations. The problem there is there are very few assassins that come close to matching the first games rogue gallery (maybe like four of them I could probably remember)
The gameplay has never really been the draw here but it's clear that something went very wrong during developments, new big bold ideas feel like they were pale imitations of what they were going to be (Great idea to play as Shinobu, no idea why you would introduce platforming and give her some of the worst bosses in the series)
This brings me back to my original question. How do you make a sequel to No More Heroes? Apart from some standout scenes and moments this game feels confused and lost with it's identity, trying to fabricate this zany crazy image that people seem to think the first game was and not including it's griminess and darkness at it's core.
Also the final boss was so bad I just straight up quit and looked at the ending on YouTube, sorry if this affects my gaming cred but what the hell where they thinking.
I got some down bitches i can call
pretty much a downgrade from the first in every imaginable way. boring gameplay, less interesting characters and themes, but they still got some great interactions between characters at times :D
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.
Weaker than NMH in all aspects, besides graphics and MAYBE combat. Even so, PEAK game.
more like No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle to be a good sequel lmao
It is for sure a step down from the first game, but dammit I love it anyways. It retains the amazing music, tons of memorable boss fights and fun gameplay. The narrative takes a huge hit, although most moments are still decent. The best way to describe it is it has the spirit of the first game, but lacking in the substance to work with it. The enemy variety is annoying and you'll spend most of the game knocked on your ass.
If you loved the first game this is still a high recommendation. Hard not to love it despite it's flaws.
If you loved the first game this is still a high recommendation. Hard not to love it despite it's flaws.
Good game with good gameplay but MAN the story makes me scratch my head and pisses me off thinking about it more
I love to jerk!
I think I prefer the controls and movement in the first game, but this game is still good. There is still glitches in this steam port that might disrupt some parts of the game, but it’s still fun and playable to completion.
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!
It's technically better than the first game... but it's also missing a lot of the spark of the first game. It also has an absolute nightmare of a final boss full of difficult to dodge attacks and instant kill moves.
Better than the first game in literally every way, and it annoys me that NMH fans consider this to be weaker than the first game.
Man I do love this game but its ending is so ehhh music is really good and i love its characters
Downgrade
I fw this game so hard its definitely not as good a game as the first nmh but the dual beam katanas are so peak and the little mini games to earn money are way more fun imo and you dont have to drive around on that piece of shit motorcycle
this is just nmh1 if you took away everything clever about it and cranked the stupid factor up to 11. still fun, but overall a pretty pointless sequel, nmh1 would probably be a little bit better if the direct sequels didn't exist, but i get that the first game has a lot of fans (including me), and most fans want more of what they love, so i guess the sequels were kinda necessary to keep most of the fans happy. i'm glad other people like this game, but i don't.
TRAVIS, IT'S KILL OR BE KILLED
No More Heroes 2 is weird, and in many ways at that. It feels like for every thing it does right, it does another thing very wrong. The sidejobs were made more fun with an interesting style, but their also completely optional. The combat is deeper and more frenetic than the first, but the fun, if flawed, open world was scrapped for a simple world map. The story takes the power fantasy that the first game parodied and plays it rather straight, only to change gears and continue the first game's message on violence, with even more character development for my boy Travis. And the endgame throws 3 amazing and emotional bosses at you in quick succession, only to end the game with one of the dumbest bosses I've ever fought. The entire thing adds up to a mixed bag, but it's a bag I did enjoy. Plus it's got a banging soundtrack and CAPTAIN VLADIMIR!!
No More Heroes 2 is weird, and in many ways at that. It feels like for every thing it does right, it does another thing very wrong. The sidejobs were made more fun with an interesting style, but their also completely optional. The combat is deeper and more frenetic than the first, but the fun, if flawed, open world was scrapped for a simple world map. The story takes the power fantasy that the first game parodied and plays it rather straight, only to change gears and continue the first game's message on violence, with even more character development for my boy Travis. And the endgame throws 3 amazing and emotional bosses at you in quick succession, only to end the game with one of the dumbest bosses I've ever fought. The entire thing adds up to a mixed bag, but it's a bag I did enjoy. Plus it's got a banging soundtrack and CAPTAIN VLADIMIR!!
No esta mal, y me gustan algunos cambios a la jugabilidad del primero, pero deja a deber en los jefes, y varios enemigos se me hicieron molestos.
Una evolución bastante notoria de las mecánicas del primer juego, incluso siento que fueron mejoradas además de la inclusión de diferentes armas lo hicieron bastante ameno de jugar... Pero no todo es color de rosa.
Lamentablemente, Desperate Struggle tiene los jefes más olvidables de la franquicia y una re-escritura de Travis Touchdown que no venía al caso.
Pudo haber sido 100000% veces mejor que hubieran esperado años más en sacar una secuela pero ya escrita por Suda.
Lamentablemente, Desperate Struggle tiene los jefes más olvidables de la franquicia y una re-escritura de Travis Touchdown que no venía al caso.
Pudo haber sido 100000% veces mejor que hubieran esperado años más en sacar una secuela pero ya escrita por Suda.
Pra um jogo que não foi dirigido pelo Suda, até que ele é bem massa e mantém a essência com suas discussões interessantes escondidas por trás de boss fights extremamente malucas e engraçadas. A história não é tão boa quanto a do primeiro, mas continua legal, e a gameplay tb melhorou. Só o loop dela que não, mas enfim
Combat is a severe improvement over the first game, but everthing else is a mixed bag.
The minigames are abhorrent and much prefered the first games minigames when it came to everything.
The story, which whilst has it's touching moments that can be rather profound and deep, really does feel like it's just here for the sake of having a new NMHs game.
The minigames are abhorrent and much prefered the first games minigames when it came to everything.
The story, which whilst has it's touching moments that can be rather profound and deep, really does feel like it's just here for the sake of having a new NMHs game.
This game sucks
No More Heroes 2 é um jogo que infelizmente se escora muito na sombra do seu antecessor, mas que quando utiliza da sua autonomia ele demonstra ser um jogo excelente e bastante subestimado.
Praticamente todo o brilho de No More Heroes 2 está nos elementos novos que ele apresenta em relação ao primeiro, com uma história mais focada e bem construída e um Travis muito diferente do de antes em um bom sentido.
Na review do primeiro jogo eu comentei sobre a maneira que ele comenta sobre a cultura de banalização da violência de maneira bem breve, pois não era o foco do jogo, mas aqui esse é o tema central da história e é pra mim o ponto mais forte dele.
A maneira com que o jogo satiriza isso tornando o Travis em um psicopata ainda maior do que antes perdendo todo o seu humor e só se importando com a vingança é genial, mas não só isso como também a forma que essa personalidade dele é desenvolvida e retratada ao decorrer do jogo. A cada batalha que passa o Travis percebe a futilidade daquela matança até chegar em uma das últimas batalhas onde o jogo diz isso diretamente na sua cara fazendo com que o próprio protagonista perca a cabeça e decida por um fim nisso ele mesmo. Todo o jogo é desenvolvido em torno dessa crítica à cultura do consumismo e como ela criou uma apatia em relação à violência tanto gráfica quanto real e ele desenvolve tudo isso de uma maneira muito incrível e bem feita.
Vale destacar aqui também como a OST desse jogo é uma putaria de boa e que a adição de mais dois personagens jogáveis foi bem legal por mais que seja por poucas missões.
Infelizmente como eu comentei em cima o jogo se apoia muito no primeiro e praticamente todos os elementos que retornam dele são mais fracos aqui. O combate dessa vez realmente não é nada mais do que um button masher, a apresentação de tudo não tem o mesmo carisma que o original (onde a apresentação das coisas era um dos pontos mais fortes) o que por consequência deixa a maioria das boss fights sem graça e esquecíveis, de mais de 10 bosses eu gostei de verdade de menos da metade sendo que 2 desses foram bosses do primeiro jogo retornando. O jogo se baseia no seu antecessor sem entender o que fez ele ser tão bom afinal de contas, e acaba se mantendo muito pé no chão em relação a todos esses elementos.
Essa tentativa de tentar replicar o charme do No More Heroes original mas sem utilizar da mesma excentricidade dele acabou fazendo com que No More Heroes 2 caísse um pouco no meu conceito, mas isso de forma alguma o descredibiliza das suas qualidades, e é nos aspectos em que ele inova onde ele brilha de verdade e revela ser um jogo magnífico e que vale muito a pena ser jogado apesar dos seus defeitos.
Praticamente todo o brilho de No More Heroes 2 está nos elementos novos que ele apresenta em relação ao primeiro, com uma história mais focada e bem construída e um Travis muito diferente do de antes em um bom sentido.
Na review do primeiro jogo eu comentei sobre a maneira que ele comenta sobre a cultura de banalização da violência de maneira bem breve, pois não era o foco do jogo, mas aqui esse é o tema central da história e é pra mim o ponto mais forte dele.
A maneira com que o jogo satiriza isso tornando o Travis em um psicopata ainda maior do que antes perdendo todo o seu humor e só se importando com a vingança é genial, mas não só isso como também a forma que essa personalidade dele é desenvolvida e retratada ao decorrer do jogo. A cada batalha que passa o Travis percebe a futilidade daquela matança até chegar em uma das últimas batalhas onde o jogo diz isso diretamente na sua cara fazendo com que o próprio protagonista perca a cabeça e decida por um fim nisso ele mesmo. Todo o jogo é desenvolvido em torno dessa crítica à cultura do consumismo e como ela criou uma apatia em relação à violência tanto gráfica quanto real e ele desenvolve tudo isso de uma maneira muito incrível e bem feita.
Vale destacar aqui também como a OST desse jogo é uma putaria de boa e que a adição de mais dois personagens jogáveis foi bem legal por mais que seja por poucas missões.
Infelizmente como eu comentei em cima o jogo se apoia muito no primeiro e praticamente todos os elementos que retornam dele são mais fracos aqui. O combate dessa vez realmente não é nada mais do que um button masher, a apresentação de tudo não tem o mesmo carisma que o original (onde a apresentação das coisas era um dos pontos mais fortes) o que por consequência deixa a maioria das boss fights sem graça e esquecíveis, de mais de 10 bosses eu gostei de verdade de menos da metade sendo que 2 desses foram bosses do primeiro jogo retornando. O jogo se baseia no seu antecessor sem entender o que fez ele ser tão bom afinal de contas, e acaba se mantendo muito pé no chão em relação a todos esses elementos.
Essa tentativa de tentar replicar o charme do No More Heroes original mas sem utilizar da mesma excentricidade dele acabou fazendo com que No More Heroes 2 caísse um pouco no meu conceito, mas isso de forma alguma o descredibiliza das suas qualidades, e é nos aspectos em que ele inova onde ele brilha de verdade e revela ser um jogo magnífico e que vale muito a pena ser jogado apesar dos seus defeitos.
This review contains spoilers
I’ve written too much on this. The short version is that it fails to outdo, or even match the brilliance of the original. It’s a big Hollywood sequel that falls into the trap of believing bigger to be better. More playable characters, more opponents, etc. More depth? Not in the slightest. But at least it has a combat system that forces you to experiment with your tools and a kickass soundtrack.
Longer, more rambly, and disorganized version below.
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I've been thinking about the final hours of No More Heroes 2.
There's this screen in the Rank 2 level where you're walking past an apartment complex, and there's no music. Eventually, you reach the end of it and there's giant graffiti on one of the buildings: Travis' face in the style of Guerrillero Heroico. This is Desperate Struggle's plea to the player to recognize Travis as an icon, a rebel. In the cutscene after Alice's fight he butts heads with Sylvia, screaming "Look at this blood! We HUMANS are ALIVE!" It's his breakout moment, an outburst that's been bubbling ever since Sylvia brutally gunned down Ryuji many fights before.
And then after that, Sylvia goes over for sex and their fucking is so intense that the entire motel shakes while cartoon sounds play. That's No More Heroes 2, a game with real whiplash. The first game handled its drama and comedy with a lot of grace and knew exactly what it was doing, while Desperate Struggle flops all over the place. It leans hard into the power fantasy that 1 was parodying, with plenty of T&A and girls throwing themselves at Travis.
In this effort, Shinobu received a particularly thorough character assassination. Now she’s just a fangirl for Travis, and the whole deal is just creepy. She’s been made weaker in combat too: in the first game her ranking fight was a skill check, but in NMH 2 she's a low power character with a bad moveset. Most of the returning characters get raw deals too: Letz Shake has a real boss fight this time, but he only has two attacks! That’s less than the tutorial boss. New Destroyman’s fight has a novel concept, but since the boss is programmed to be a coward it’s boring and overlong. Henry’s level is cool but only lasts five minutes, which is a real bummer.
I don’t have enough gas in my tank to do a deep-dive on combat, but I will say that I enjoyed the changed mechanics here. The new camera and lock-on seemed simple at first but late-game engagements quickly made me realize two things: enemies WILL take advantage of your blind spots if you rely on lock-on too much, and getting knocked down will be the status quo if you’re not aware of your surroundings at all times. It’s a different ballgame than last time and I honestly like it.
I’ve read analyses online that dissect Desperate Struggle as a brilliant story about revenge, and while some of them are certainly neat, none of them overpower my gut feeling: the game tells its story in a shitty way. The expository cutscenes are a smorgasbord of titillation and bad soapy drama, and the cutscenes for bosses are often silent (fucking terrible for a hack n’ slash game btw), otherwise lacking in memorability. The two arguably most revered bosses in the game - Margaret and Alice - break this rule, and resemble the ranking fights from the first game. And that’s my main problem: where the original No More Heroes had a unified vision and meaning for almost everything, the second game just comes up short.
The most damning point of Desperate Struggle is that it will forever be a mediocre sequel to a great game. Nothing can save it from that reputation - no mods, updates, or remakes - because it is fundamentally flawed at its core. For now I'm soured on No More Heroes, and hope Travis Strikes Again will reignite my passion when I get there.
Longer, more rambly, and disorganized version below.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
I've been thinking about the final hours of No More Heroes 2.
There's this screen in the Rank 2 level where you're walking past an apartment complex, and there's no music. Eventually, you reach the end of it and there's giant graffiti on one of the buildings: Travis' face in the style of Guerrillero Heroico. This is Desperate Struggle's plea to the player to recognize Travis as an icon, a rebel. In the cutscene after Alice's fight he butts heads with Sylvia, screaming "Look at this blood! We HUMANS are ALIVE!" It's his breakout moment, an outburst that's been bubbling ever since Sylvia brutally gunned down Ryuji many fights before.
And then after that, Sylvia goes over for sex and their fucking is so intense that the entire motel shakes while cartoon sounds play. That's No More Heroes 2, a game with real whiplash. The first game handled its drama and comedy with a lot of grace and knew exactly what it was doing, while Desperate Struggle flops all over the place. It leans hard into the power fantasy that 1 was parodying, with plenty of T&A and girls throwing themselves at Travis.
In this effort, Shinobu received a particularly thorough character assassination. Now she’s just a fangirl for Travis, and the whole deal is just creepy. She’s been made weaker in combat too: in the first game her ranking fight was a skill check, but in NMH 2 she's a low power character with a bad moveset. Most of the returning characters get raw deals too: Letz Shake has a real boss fight this time, but he only has two attacks! That’s less than the tutorial boss. New Destroyman’s fight has a novel concept, but since the boss is programmed to be a coward it’s boring and overlong. Henry’s level is cool but only lasts five minutes, which is a real bummer.
I don’t have enough gas in my tank to do a deep-dive on combat, but I will say that I enjoyed the changed mechanics here. The new camera and lock-on seemed simple at first but late-game engagements quickly made me realize two things: enemies WILL take advantage of your blind spots if you rely on lock-on too much, and getting knocked down will be the status quo if you’re not aware of your surroundings at all times. It’s a different ballgame than last time and I honestly like it.
I’ve read analyses online that dissect Desperate Struggle as a brilliant story about revenge, and while some of them are certainly neat, none of them overpower my gut feeling: the game tells its story in a shitty way. The expository cutscenes are a smorgasbord of titillation and bad soapy drama, and the cutscenes for bosses are often silent (fucking terrible for a hack n’ slash game btw), otherwise lacking in memorability. The two arguably most revered bosses in the game - Margaret and Alice - break this rule, and resemble the ranking fights from the first game. And that’s my main problem: where the original No More Heroes had a unified vision and meaning for almost everything, the second game just comes up short.
The most damning point of Desperate Struggle is that it will forever be a mediocre sequel to a great game. Nothing can save it from that reputation - no mods, updates, or remakes - because it is fundamentally flawed at its core. For now I'm soured on No More Heroes, and hope Travis Strikes Again will reignite my passion when I get there.