A very fine example of turning shit into gold. Where The Darkness comic mostly sucks ass, the game simplifies the concept to such a perfect balance, and provides a very endearing story with charming characters.

This feels like one of the last non-complacent FPS games out there during this period of video games, where it did not really understand what would be considered the most optimal design document at this point, something being wholly sharpened by the big shooter franchises during this time.

Yeah, it's clunky and slow, yeah the scenes are awkward with stilted acting, yeah the hubworld is kind of just a weird time sink, and ya know what? I fucking love it. I love the action, the darkness powers, the characters, and especially the music. It's all so fucking good, and didn't care how rickety it felt. And long-haired caveman Jackie spoke to me as an edgy teenager.

A game I know isn't perfect, but I don't care. It's perfect in my eyes. No More Heroes is a great hack-n-slash game with gratifying visuals, visceral combat, and a supremely interesting story that has a lot for both people that want a fun, simple adventure, and people that want a deep, profound narrative.

The game has a lot to say about how witnessing death can change you as a person, and it's firstly disguised as a goofy action game. This and the director's previous game "killer7" heavily influenced me as a teenager and what I look for in a video game's story.

The Wii version is the most authentic experience, but the Switch version is mostly competent while sporting a better framerate. PC version is very rough and doesn't even include kb+m controls.

It is so fucking cool. Like every element just melts together to create such a consistent experience. As everyone has said before, the gunplay is fun and frenetic, and the enemy AI makes every encounter never feel the same. It is so sad and pathetic that the AI from this nearly 20-year-old game is running laps around AAA companies like EA and Ubisoft.

The tone and horror elements were a very pleasant surprise and enhanced the often lonely atmosphere the game sets. The NPC are cute and give the player moments of levity from the scary world that surrounds you. Also, the sound design is super crisp, from chair squeaks to bullets whizzing past your ears it's all sensational.

The pacing is also super good. Although the campaign is on the shorter side they still do a good job drawing out those lonely moments with sudden spooks and scares all of which lead to the fantastic gunfights. The level design is also super well done both aesthetically and mechanically. The only small gripes I had were the turret and flying drone enemies, they throw off the pacing and the only counter to them is super slow and boring compared to the much more thought-provoking AI of the replica soldiers.

Besides that though, there was a consistent flow of unique ideas in each level making every new encounter a puzzle you have to solve using as few resources as possible. In a way, this game kinda feels like a spiritual successor to the original half-life with amazing enemy AI, environmental storytelling, and an emphasis on player freedom with each firefight. Everything is just very concise with no fluff and it feels like Monolith set out to make a solid game and they did just that.

An all-time classic in the FPS genre that I'm glad I was finally able to complete.