No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle (Wii) > Reviews (2)

Introduction

The first No More Heroes was something of a sleeper hit; a flop that could barely shift ten thousand copies at launch somehow managed to sell nearly fifty times that many once word of mouth got around as to just how off the wall it was.

Veteran Japanese gamemaker Suda51 delivered a deeply cynical parody of the excesses of the games industry, with a crazy plot, a cast of outrageous characters and plenty of ultraviolent action. It might sound like an uneasy mixture, but it all came together and worked a treat.

Two years later we've got the long awaited sequel and, whilst offering more of the same, it's got a whole set of interesting changes.

Gameplay

At its heart, Desperate Struggle is a sword-fighting beat 'em up. You're armed with a beam katana (somewhat akin to a light sabre) and have to fight your way up the world rankings from fifty first place to the top. The first few fights are fairly easy, and you'll get through a lot of opponents just by attacking hard, although as you move up the ranks you'll need to get a bit more subtle with your techniques and learn how to counter specific weaknesses in your opponents.

In between the battles, you're free to wander the city of Santa Destroy doing odd jobs, upgrading your weapons, buying new outfits, etc. but where this was via a rather empty and unfinished looking Grand Theft Auto-style bike ride in the first game, you now instantly go to your destination.

The sub-games for this part have also been given a drastic makeover. They now resemble NES-style mini-games and, for the most part, are very well designed and good fun to play.

Controls

As with the first game there's a mixture of motion and conventional controls, that mostly works very well. Normal movement and combat is largely done conventionally, but you can throw in the odd wrestling move or finishing slash of the beam katana with Wiimote and nunchuk. It's obviously not the sort of one-to-one control that you get in games like Red Steel or the Wii Sports Resort swordplay but still works very nicely.

Graphics and Sound

Desperate Struggle is unlikely to win any awards for eye candy. Then again, it's much more even than the first game with less in the way of blank empty spaces, and the overall aesthetic is just about passable.

The voice acting of the larger than life characters is pretty good though, and in-game effects are satisfying too.

The retro-styled minigames are quite brilliantly presented and easily evoke the games of two decades past.

Lasting Appeal

There's probably about ten hours play in the game, which is about the same as the first, but they're generally much more quality hours with less filler. This makes it a good rental at the very least, and it's got plenty of replay value, especially if you want to max out all the side games.

Overall

For fans of the first game this is an easy decision, buy it. Otherwise you'd have to ask yourself what sort of gamer you are; there aren't too many games like this for any machine, and it rather falls through the stools of the sort of fare you're getting from Nintendo, and more mainstream games aimed at the hardcore gamer on other consoles like the 360 and PS3.

I'd say that it's well worth a look for jaded gamers for whom the Grand Theft Auto and Call of Duty series just aren't doing it for any more, and who are in search of a little bit different. Now that it can be had for a bargain price online, that's especially so.