Game Review - No More Heroes

Watching a friend play, I thought to myself, “hmmm this is actually something I could get into.” She failed miserably and handed me the Wii remote, yes you heard right, ‘Wii’ but bear with me on this, hard-core gamers please don’t start pelting me with Xbox controllers. I asked for the controls and instantly I had it, button mashing to my hearts content. Let the character have all the flare whilst I continuously press ‘A’ on the controller. Then that glorious moment, I defeated the boss and felt great pride in doing so. I had to continue, but this wasn’t my game and I was hooked and in awe of what I’d just accomplished. I got the green light and was able to borrow the game.

I inserted the disk and an instant rush of excitement as a montage of action, violence, vulgar language and revving engines forcing me to turn down the volume. It was a game like no other I’d experienced. The comic book style and colourful cast of characters, the opening video catapults you into the first level and very quickly the first boss. Assassin number 10 in the UAA ranking. As your character, Travis Touchdown reveals his weapon of choice, which appears to be a light saber but is identified as a ‘Beam Katana.’ Kind of looks like a florescent light with a handle, but can be upgraded to a light saber that looks like a samurai sword…awesome. You and the control are one, luckily you don’t have to swing the remote around like an ape, simple button mashing releases an insane near unrealistic combo of slashes and jumps. The over the top back and fourths between you and these assassins should be cringe worthy to hear, but I’m afraid the hype got to me, loud noises and bright colours just threw off any sanity. I was a giddy child, full of hope for this new addition to my life.

As the game progressed, I became more and more involved, discovering side tasks not impending on the main game. I’m the type of person that enjoys a story, so anything in a game that is unrelated to the main story doesn’t receive any attention. Being more of a viewer of someone playing, rather than playing myself, I enjoy the story and the adventurous journey I’m about to be taken on, but I became near OCD when completing all the non-compulsory tasks of the game. I had to get them all, I had to complete everything, and I god damn enjoyed every second of it. This game exceeds any expectation you’d have for a Nintendo Wii game, this is far beyond ‘My Sims Kingdom’ and ‘Wii sports’, this is an epic thriller with highly explosive feel. It was a 16+ rated game, so it did have some ‘naughty material, from bad language to sexual innuendo and violence, even to saving the game by ‘relieving’ yourself in the bathroom, but it’s all childish harmless fun, these are comic book characters, who have permission to be as outrageous as they were created to be.

The whole thing is one giant pantomime. It’s a wacky, purposely over the top, action packed game, with a unique look and concept, a script and story that doesn’t take itself too seriously. This game in my opinion, is one big theatrical laugh that’s cheesy, funny, original and exciting to first time players. For a Nintendo Wii game to be that awesome and to pretty much slip under the radar is a mystery to me. I was praying for a sequel and when I finally got my hands on it a couple of years later I was seriously disappointed and only got a quarter of the way through. It goes to show, sometimes things just work and you can’t put your finger on it and ‘NO MORE HEROES’ is exactly that. I would seriously recommend giving it a try, just defeat the first boss and I am pretty sure, you won’t want to put that nun-chuck down anytime soon.