No More Heroes 3: Go Forth Into The Garden Of Tempered Expectations
When you think of Nintendo games, No More Heroes would probably not come to mind. Since it's debut, it's become one of my favorite hack n slash series, and perhaps one of the most intriguing games ever made. It was created by the niche game developer, Suda 51 aka Goichi Suda; who’s responsible for cult classics like Killer 7 and Lollipop Chainsaw. Since No More Heroes is obscure and has had a few games already, let me give a brief history of the series up to this point.
The first entry came out on the Nintendo Wii back in 2007. It was mainly put on this system due to Suda wanting to take advantage of the motion controls. No More Heroes stars Travis Touchdown, an otaku that trained to be an assassin, and bought a beam katana (a copyright free lightsaber) online. He enters an organization called the UAA, where he fights other assassins, to become the best. His main motivation to do this is to win over the heart of Sylvia Crystal, the French beauty who’s the one that got him into the organization. The gameplay has three types of sections: free roam, hack and slash (with rank battles and assassination missions), and mini games, where Travis has to earn entry fee funds for one battle after the next.
The sequel, Desperate Struggle, came out a few years later. Emphasizing the theme of revenge due to something that happened to Travis, the sequel has a grittier tone than its predecessor. Doing away with the open world, the game switches from mini game mode to a sprite-based NES style of play by adding new styles of beam katanas, and an opportunity to play as two other characters. Generally, the first game is seen as the superior entry, however, I personally think both games do things better than the other.
More recently the series had a spin off, Travis Strikes Again, which provided a more top down “arcade” feel. This time instead of assassins, Travis finds himself in a video game, fighting protagonists of video games for a scrapped console called the Death Drive. This as well as a port of the first game (No More Heroes: Paradise) were the only times the series had non-Nintendo ports. This sequel was generally seen as the weakest entry in the series, yet this was still a fun entry that helped pave the way for the third game. Now that the third game has finally released, did it take what made the first two games great and blend them together? Let's find out….
While No More Heroes was never the most graphically intensive game, it always had eye popping aesthetics, and this game continued that trend with easily the best graphics in the series. The character models almost look like the pre-rendered trailer, with the cel-shaded appearances, from their very first teaser. As for performance, there were many frame drops, primarily during the open world sections, and even more so, if the game is in portable mode (Switchlite), this is a common problem among many of their games. Suda 51 always exceeded with presentation, and with this game, they went above and beyond with the HUD, menus, and transitions. Every time a boss is defeated, it's treated as an anime episode ending, with its own unique credits sequence. Following this is an opening credits theme, showing what characters are “starring” in this portion of the game and who they're voiced by. Suda’s inspiration definitely came from late 80's sci-fi anime, especially after how the boss aliens look with their colors, simple shapes, and extravagance.
In terms of audio, No More Heroes has had some killer tracks. While NMH3's music is still catchy, it didn't stand out quite as much compared to the first two games. It has a mix of rock and electronic music, somewhat like the first game and in Travis Strikes Again (TSA), yet the effects in battle are still loud and impactful, and there are still many quirky sound effects both, for the menus and outside of battle scenes.
SUDA 51 aka Goichi Suda
For the gameplay, I must give credit for Suda for taking some of the good aspects from Travis Strikes Again. Instead of ignoring all the aspects from a less successful game, Travis can now jump, but there is also a light, and heavy attack, as well as a sprint function. Though I do miss being able to switch from high to low stance with the motion controllers, there now seems to be only one or two wrestling moves I can do compared to the massive array that the first two games carried. TSA also had these Death Drive abilities, which would be assigned by doing certain button combinations, and it's great to see Travis now make use of them after the events of TSA. However, while the game took what made TSA good, NMH3 also lost aspects from the previous games that made them great. For starters, there is only one beam katana for Travis that evolves in battle. While this sounded like a good idea on paper, it really provides nothing but a small power up. In terms of customization, while Travis does have multiple outfits, they are preset outfits that don't allow you to change Travis's belt, shoes, gloves, or even t-shirts (this is especially strange as his default outfit enables you to change the t-shirt).
It was also great to play as Shinobu and Henry in No More Heroes 2, and you'd think there'd still be opportunities to play as other characters since Travis's crew has gotten bigger, but now it's back to only playing as him. While battles are still intense and enjoyable, they're strongly disjointed, and the ranking fights hardly have any stage presence this time. Honestly, it’s just ‘fight scene-fight scene-Boss’. Now, while some of the regular fights with enemies are required for you to fight the boss, it just isn't as enjoyable as going through an actual full multilevel fight, then working your way to the Big Boss. It should be noted that this game brought back the open world from the first game, and while it is nice to have it back, especially due to having multiple locations to drive around, it still feels empty, and I fear that the work they put in took away from the budget on these other areas that are now more lacking.
On a more positive note, the story is still classic No More Heroes, with part of its charm still being crass and violent, yet still humorous in both the story and its presentation. Example being is how Travis has to charge up his katana beam, Travis's cat Jeanne, and how deep and masculine his voice is (all of us, Travis included, thought Jeanne was a female), or Sylvia literally interrupting a cutscene saying how the game shouldn't be played for more than 70 hours at a time. NMH1 and 2 had a focus on fighting other assassins, and in this game the antagonists are aliens from another world. Fu is the name of the main antagonist, who befriended Damon (a side character from Travis Strikes Again) when they were both very young, but now being a full-grown adult alien, he now wants to take over the planet. At first, I was hesitant about this idea, but when I started to play the game, I enjoyed the aliens, and think it's fitting considering the main character uses a lightsaber.
Honestly, No More Heroes 3 is an enjoyable game, but it’s also a disappointing sequel. It still has the same charm and wackiness as the previous entries, and as much as I love Suda 51's games, the substance here does continue to be a problem. While I understand this isn't a AAA rated game, it was delayed once, and even still, that should not be an excuse as this game takes multiple steps backwards from its predecessors. Sequels to games should always try to improve in as many ways as possible, yet this game just didn't cut it. As a fan of the series, and Suda's games, I would still recommend this game, but if you're an established fan, make sure to temper your expectations with this title.
Final Score: 7/10
