When assassin actioner No More Heroes was released in 2008 for the Nintendo Wii, it made waves on the family friendly console with its gratuitous violence and unabashed plot ridiculousness. Fortunately, there was also a competent action video game buried beneath the layers of blood, gore and absurdity—elements which paved the way for the inevitable sequel—No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.
No More Heroes 2’s plot embraces the over-the-top, nonsensical wackiness of its colorful predecessor. Once again, you play as Travis Touchdown, a perverted Otaku of an assassin, who is forced to come out of retirement after his friend is murdered.
In order to earn his revenge, Travis will need to fight his way through an army of eccentric assassins, like the boombox, rocket launcher hip-hop enthusiast or a beam sword-wielding schoolgirl.
Nothing about No More Heroes 2’s story makes any sense—but the pervasive feeling of off-the-walls silliness is intentionally exaggerated. Like the first No More Heroes, Desperate Struggle revels in its own insanity and uses it as an excuse to barrage gamers with everything from dirty jokes to anime allusions to perverted cleavage shots.
The characters nor the narrative ever come close to be serious, and gamers should be prepared to bask in the game’s hilarious, barely coherent lunacy.
While Desperate Struggle may not be walking away with any Story of the Year awards, the gameplay has been tweaked to focus less on performing menial chores and more on slicing things into small, bloody pieces.
You no longer need to drive around on your motorcycle and take on small jobs to finance your career as an assassin. A simple, easily navigable menu now takes care of all that, allowing gamers to immediately dive into the action.
That’s not to say that the side jobs are gone completely, however.
Instead, they’ve been replaced with a plethora of fun mini-games that can be completed in order to earn upgrades and cash to purchase new clothes for Travis. The mini-games are surprisingly addictive, and diverse as well. Don’t be surprised at all if you find yourself spending inordinate amounts of time away from Travis’ main quest playing the coconut mini-game or blasting spaceships in the space shooting arcade game.
But when it comes to actually killing things, Desperate Struggle is incredibly adept at making combat fast-paced, frenetic and very, very bloody. Travis comes equipped with multiple types of laser swords which he uses to hack and slash both bosses and their minions to death. But he also has a number of tricks up his sleeve.
Travis can unleash powerful finishers and WWE-style wrestling moves using the Nintendo Wii’s motion controls, and he can also go on a berserk, sword-slashing rampage after killing enough enemies. On top of all that, there’s a slot machine persistently spinning. If the correct pictures line up, Travis will transform into a fire breathing tiger that can pounce and maul enemies.
All of Travis’s weapons and abilities come in handy when squaring off against the legion of assassins. Each of the assassins are uniquely bizarre and will require you to slightly change up your strategy in order to defeat them. Running in, then hacking and slashing, usually works more often than not, though.
You’ll still need to be wary of your surroundings and quick to dodge attacks, but for the most part, the bosses themselves are usually more creative and interesting than the actual battles they offer.
Still, each boss fight ends with Travis performing a particularly gruesome execution, which is rewarding in a gross, masochistic sort of way.
As mindlessly fun as Desperate Struggle’s is, there are a few technical flaws that need to be ironed out before the next installment. Some battles do have a habit of getting a bit repetitive, especially when they involve just wading through wave after wave of generic thugs. Suplexing and dicing in half bad guys only stays fresh for so long. Also, you don’t have direct control over the camera so you’ll be forced to reset it constantly. This isn’t normally a huge problem, but it’s not uncommon to get stuck in a bad camera angle during a boss fight and take damage from hits you never see coming.
Desperate Struggle’s trademark weirdness all eventually culminates to form the game’s original style that’s undeniably hip, crazy and artistic all at the same time. The combination of its phenomenal graphics and character design, cheesy voice acting and punk-rock soundtrack help give Desperate Struggle’s a distinct look and feel unlike anything you’ve ever played before. Unless you’ve played the first No More Heroes of course.
Final Verdict
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle continues Grasshopper Manufacture’s legacy of making quirky video games that are also incredibly enjoyable. Sure, the story never comes close to making any sense, but that’s part of the game’s charm and appeal. If you can embrace the weirdness and focus on the addicting mini-games and bloody laser sword battles, you’re in for a real treat.
Grade: B+
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and published by Ubisoft. It is available exclusively for Nintendo Wii now.
