No More Heroes

No More Heroes is a game I picked up on a whim today. It’s a bit like GTA, if the protagonist were an anime-obsessed otaku with a penchant for Mexican masked wrestling. And instead of a gun, you have what resembles a long fluorescent light bulb with a handle. (It’s called a Beam Katana.)

The basic premise is simple enough: You are Travis Touchdown. You want to become the top assassin in the city of Santa Destroy. To do this, you have to kill all the other assassins that outrank you. In between these sanctioned United Assassins Association battles, you have to earn money to pay the UAA for the privilege to participate in the next fight. That’s where this game goes GTA.

You spend a lot of time riding your motorcycle and/or running through Santa Destroy doing odd jobs, accepting small assassination gigs, and buying things to upgrade your wardrobe and Beam Katana. It’s a definite drawback from the game and slows down the pace a lot but mowing lawns and picking up trash is surprisingly fun. Also, you get to hit people with your bike, which is fun in any game.

The thing that makes this game great is the sheer weirdness of it. You live in a motel filled with anime figures and luchador masks. You save the game by using the bathroom. You shake your Beam Katana in a masturbatory fashion to recharge it. You yell out names of random dessert foods when you perform special moves. And on top of all that, you get to use wrestling moves on your enemies and slice them in half in marvelous bloodbaths.

The graphics are great, the gameplay is simple, you even get to use the Wii remote as a telephone. It’s probably the most fun I’ve had gaming since I discovered Cooking Mama. And really, I think that’s the best compliment I can give a game.

~ by kittydoom on July 11, 2008.