Perhaps one of my most anticipated titles in some time, No More Heroes 3 brings the return of Suda51 into the director’s chair for a full-on return of the No More Heroes brand. Despite all the gusto behind it, it’s hard to feel that this game is a return especially with the spin-off Travis Strikes Again functioning more as a return both tonally and aesthetically to something akin to Grasshopper’s earlier projects. What we have with No More Heroes 3 is a transitory title bringing together elements of their pre and post 2010 works into a pastiche that seems to signal the direction that their company will take in the future. It is a shame then, that this one limps rather than strides towards its goal.
Nostalgia is the core of this No More Heroes experience; Travis returns with his beam katana to slice and dice his way to the top of assassination rankings. But it’s not just nostalgic for the previous No More Heroes games, NMH3 also displays an irreverent love for all things pop culture with Rocky, Takashi Miike, the MCU, Ultraman and more all being referenced in some capacity throughout the game. If you are not in tune with most of these references, as I was, then the game can come off as shallow and pandering. Any part of this game that could feel like part of some sort of satire inevitably ends up being excruciatingly shallow. There truly could’ve been something interesting to say about how voyeuristic the game is, with a Netflix style opening and closing credits and all conversations on the overworld being framed as livestreams. Despite this, it never tries hard to say anything meaningful despite all the conceptually interesting ideas the game attempts. Honestly it really does feel like this game was made for the one-person, likely Suda, who would pick up on all these references, but it doesn’t lend the game any substantive narrative or thematic weight.
With the premise being Travis versus Aliens, the stakes have been overblown to such a point that the characters can do naught but crack jokes and revel in absurdism. It really misses the mark on following up the more morose and offbeat satire that the first game and parts of Travis Strikes Again utilized. This isn’t necessarily a surprise since the tone of No More Heroes has been shifting steadily since it’s second entry, even the first one would frequently alter the character of Travis in between scenes, but it’s especially jarring to realize that this overly quirky meta ‘video games amiright?’ humor must’ve always been the intentional design of this series rather than the more grounded tone that fans of No More Heroes 1 fell in love with. And that is perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow with No More Heroes 3, that the series has transitioned from a smart parody to an overindulgent tribute.
The writing seems like the clearest division between this game and the others wherein Travis and many of his supporting characters are all written to be as one note and Flanderized as possible. I have to think this was an intentional choice since the writing of Travis Strikes Again was so laser focused on describing Travis’ thoughts with much more specificity than is attributed to a typical video game character that it is hard to not see this games version of Travis be by far the most shallow version of himself. He’s characterized as if his traits were listed by someone with only a cursory knowledge of the No More Heroes series. Sylvia also finds herself a victim of this writing style with all of her charisma and cunning being noticeably absent and replaced with a much more flat personality. No longer did I look forward to the pre fight phone calls that she would have with Travis and to a larger extent, I no longer really looked forward to Travis’ interactions with anyone. Most other returning characters are quickly tossed to the wayside whilst the aliens Travis fights range from mildly interesting to complete non characters. Numerous pieces will be written down the line on the intentionality of this deliberate “un-writing” of the characters and maybe they will even justify it, but the game is left hollow without any strong characters to stand on.
Gameplay fares a little better with this being the first mainline No More Heroes game with distinctive enemy designs that necessitate more than just relentless offense. It’s a shame that there are no themed levels with interesting designs to make the most of this rogue’s gallery cause the same copy paste arenas don’t really offer much variation in the actual fights. In addition, it’s clear that this game wasn’t designed with its higher difficulties in mind since the battles can quickly devolve into launching into 60 hit combos to take out even the simplest goon due to the radical increase in health and damage. Despite this, it was ultimately rewarding to fully understand the nuances of this combat system through playing on spicy and I truly think it is by and large the best way to play the game.
The game falters in other areas however, namely the structure. The return to No More Heroes 1’s pace of ranked assassination in between periods of mundanity seems awfully short sighted this time around. Not only does it not make sense to be going around doing part time jobs while the world faces impending alien annihilation but the clear delineation between ‘work’ and ‘play’ that the original game drew is no longer apparent. What also doesn’t help is the barren open world with only two distinct npcs populating the multiple maps. In the decade since No More Heroes, developers have been innovating newer and different ways to make open worlds even shittier and No More Heroes 3 wholeheartedly agrees with them.
With a largely shallow narrative and a subpar gameplay experience it can be assumed that this game is a failure but despite this I think that this game has enough heart and soul to redeem it slightly in my eyes. Grasshopper’s UI design continues to be some of the best in the medium and the numerous times the game goes onto mixed media non sequiturs are truly some of the most entertaining parts of this uneven experience. I hope that Grasshopper continue to push the mixed media aspects of their project more since it begins to shine as the most distinctive aspects of their works from the 2010s onwards. Unfortunately, I can’t say I look forward to future Grasshopper storytelling as it’s clear they no longer have same eclectic and nuanced substance that I fell in love with years ago. Farewell Travis Touchdown, enjoy your retirement.
Nostalgia is the core of this No More Heroes experience; Travis returns with his beam katana to slice and dice his way to the top of assassination rankings. But it’s not just nostalgic for the previous No More Heroes games, NMH3 also displays an irreverent love for all things pop culture with Rocky, Takashi Miike, the MCU, Ultraman and more all being referenced in some capacity throughout the game. If you are not in tune with most of these references, as I was, then the game can come off as shallow and pandering. Any part of this game that could feel like part of some sort of satire inevitably ends up being excruciatingly shallow. There truly could’ve been something interesting to say about how voyeuristic the game is, with a Netflix style opening and closing credits and all conversations on the overworld being framed as livestreams. Despite this, it never tries hard to say anything meaningful despite all the conceptually interesting ideas the game attempts. Honestly it really does feel like this game was made for the one-person, likely Suda, who would pick up on all these references, but it doesn’t lend the game any substantive narrative or thematic weight.
With the premise being Travis versus Aliens, the stakes have been overblown to such a point that the characters can do naught but crack jokes and revel in absurdism. It really misses the mark on following up the more morose and offbeat satire that the first game and parts of Travis Strikes Again utilized. This isn’t necessarily a surprise since the tone of No More Heroes has been shifting steadily since it’s second entry, even the first one would frequently alter the character of Travis in between scenes, but it’s especially jarring to realize that this overly quirky meta ‘video games amiright?’ humor must’ve always been the intentional design of this series rather than the more grounded tone that fans of No More Heroes 1 fell in love with. And that is perhaps the most bitter pill to swallow with No More Heroes 3, that the series has transitioned from a smart parody to an overindulgent tribute.
The writing seems like the clearest division between this game and the others wherein Travis and many of his supporting characters are all written to be as one note and Flanderized as possible. I have to think this was an intentional choice since the writing of Travis Strikes Again was so laser focused on describing Travis’ thoughts with much more specificity than is attributed to a typical video game character that it is hard to not see this games version of Travis be by far the most shallow version of himself. He’s characterized as if his traits were listed by someone with only a cursory knowledge of the No More Heroes series. Sylvia also finds herself a victim of this writing style with all of her charisma and cunning being noticeably absent and replaced with a much more flat personality. No longer did I look forward to the pre fight phone calls that she would have with Travis and to a larger extent, I no longer really looked forward to Travis’ interactions with anyone. Most other returning characters are quickly tossed to the wayside whilst the aliens Travis fights range from mildly interesting to complete non characters. Numerous pieces will be written down the line on the intentionality of this deliberate “un-writing” of the characters and maybe they will even justify it, but the game is left hollow without any strong characters to stand on.
Gameplay fares a little better with this being the first mainline No More Heroes game with distinctive enemy designs that necessitate more than just relentless offense. It’s a shame that there are no themed levels with interesting designs to make the most of this rogue’s gallery cause the same copy paste arenas don’t really offer much variation in the actual fights. In addition, it’s clear that this game wasn’t designed with its higher difficulties in mind since the battles can quickly devolve into launching into 60 hit combos to take out even the simplest goon due to the radical increase in health and damage. Despite this, it was ultimately rewarding to fully understand the nuances of this combat system through playing on spicy and I truly think it is by and large the best way to play the game.
The game falters in other areas however, namely the structure. The return to No More Heroes 1’s pace of ranked assassination in between periods of mundanity seems awfully short sighted this time around. Not only does it not make sense to be going around doing part time jobs while the world faces impending alien annihilation but the clear delineation between ‘work’ and ‘play’ that the original game drew is no longer apparent. What also doesn’t help is the barren open world with only two distinct npcs populating the multiple maps. In the decade since No More Heroes, developers have been innovating newer and different ways to make open worlds even shittier and No More Heroes 3 wholeheartedly agrees with them.
With a largely shallow narrative and a subpar gameplay experience it can be assumed that this game is a failure but despite this I think that this game has enough heart and soul to redeem it slightly in my eyes. Grasshopper’s UI design continues to be some of the best in the medium and the numerous times the game goes onto mixed media non sequiturs are truly some of the most entertaining parts of this uneven experience. I hope that Grasshopper continue to push the mixed media aspects of their project more since it begins to shine as the most distinctive aspects of their works from the 2010s onwards. Unfortunately, I can’t say I look forward to future Grasshopper storytelling as it’s clear they no longer have same eclectic and nuanced substance that I fell in love with years ago. Farewell Travis Touchdown, enjoy your retirement.