No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle takes a katana to gaming conventions, gleefully slashing its way through genre, taste, and decency.
Looking for a game where bloody assassin massacres and cutesy kitten playtime are equal priorities? No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is one of the biggest — and strangest — releases for the Nintendo Wii in the first quarter of 2010. Its predecessor, No More Heroes, won critical acclaim in 2008 for its adult themes and stylish visuals, but the sequel hopes to match and exceed it in both overall design and unit sales.
Let’s get one thing straight: Desperate Struggle is about as adult a game as you can find on the Wii system — a console generally designed with family game night in mind. Before you can even save for the first time, the game features blood fountains, self-mutilation, sexually suggestive weaponry and about half a dozen or so ‘questionable’ pieces of language not fit for print. Not a bad list. Only potty humour could make the opening any more visceral — and for that, well, just wait for the first save point. It won’t disappoint.
Playing as Travis Touchdown, your mission is to climb the ranks of the resident assassin population of Santa Destroy. Travis is basically a Japanese version of Johnny Knoxville — if Knoxville were a remorseless killer in addition to being an infamous jackass. As blunt in his demeanour as his beam katana blade is razor-sharp, Travis ends up back on the assassin circuit, seeking vengeance for the murder of his best friend, Bishop.
Of course, a mere revenge plot isn’t nearly enough to sustain most gamers. Rest assured that Desperate Struggle also comes equipped with a sexy pledge: should Travis succeed, United Assassins Association agent and French coquette Sylvia Christel will show him her latest yoga move — the conveniently vague “downward dog.” Simply put, Travis’s job is to get on top — literally and figuratively — as quickly and recklessly as he can.
Director Suda51 has honed his signature style since the original No More Heroes, and the sequel refines that art through his studio, Grasshopper Manufacture. The graphics are tighter, the lines cleaner, and the pixellated 3D environment is smoother than ever. Alongside these enhancements, Travis is finally free to slice and dice his way through some truly enemy-rich landscapes in what can only be described as a series of satisfying bloodsplosions.
Make no bones about it: Desperate Struggle is crude — but purposefully so. Its intent is to provide immediate fulfilment to a very specific target audience. If humorous sex and gratuitous violence aren’t your cup of tea, then let this one pass you by. However, if you’re not the sort prone to bouts of prudish nausea, then Desperate Struggle might just offer a welcome respite of immersive vulgarity.
For instance, the original No More Heroes required cash to advance, forcing players to toil through a frustrating collection of odd jobs before each ranked assassin battle. Desperate Struggle keeps the odd job structure, but two key things have changed: Travis no longer needs cash to move forward, and the odd jobs are now retro-style bit-graphic games reminiscent of the original Nintendo. By streamlining progression and leaning into retro charm, Desperate Struggle endears itself to experienced gamers who just want to keep it simple and kick some ass.
Also new are a few katanas — most notably the “Peony” and the “Rose Nasty” — as well as two playable characters, Henry and Shinobu.
The Peony is purchasable from Naomi (the returning scientist from No More Heroes) and is an expensive two-handed piece of work that grows or shrinks depending on how much damage Travis has taken or delivered. Though brutally powerful, it’s somewhat slow and unwieldy. The Rose Nasty, by contrast, is a pair of red-beamed katanas that appear sharper and more serrated than Travis’s standard issue. You won’t receive these blades until late in the game, but they enable some of the fastest and most brutal hack-and-slash combos in Travis’s arsenal.
The two new playable characters appear mid-story to give Travis a bit of a break, and they disrupt the game’s pacing. First, Henry. Your American-born, Irish-raised twin brother may be cool in concept, but in-game ,he’s far less interesting to control than Travis. What’s more, you only use him for one mission — an immediate boss fight versus a little girl in a dream world (she’s chipper, hovers, and has a giant robot arm — this is No More Heroes, after all). It’s far from a favourite level, and likely a late-production addition. Shinobu fares better. She helps Travis eliminate two ranked assassins and, with her faster lunges and aerial attacks, is far more dynamic.
Wait — she can jump? B-b-but that means… Yep. The gamer’s ultimate bane: the dreaded jumping puzzle. I thought we had finally reached the point where games knew better. Not being able to progress because you keep missing a jump is tantamount to 50 slaps to the face. Sure, it’s a small section — but even one is too many.
There are other downsides: the game is short (I clocked in at around eight hours), the level design leans toward repetition, and the humour starts to dry up halfway through. That said, there’s still nothing else quite like No More Heroes, and Desperate Struggle makes critical improvements over its predecessor. Its strong cult following will likely keep the franchise alive — and Suda51 has even hinted that Nintendo’s followup to the Wii could be the future home of No More Heroes 3.
