From Aaron Stanton,
Your Guide to Nintendo Games.
FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!

No More Heroes is a cross between Kill Bill and Grand Theft Auto, comparisons that are too obvious not to be drawn. It's certainly not a title that's likely to appeal to the casual gamer, but it's a much needed adult title on a system already saturated with games for the casual crowd. While I'm not convinced it's a truly good game, it is certainly an interesting one.

• Ups: Very stylistic. Funny, with a great retro feel.
  
  
• Downs: Battles become repetitive. The style is polarizing; you either love it or hate it. And sometimes the stylistic elements make the graphics just look bad.
  
  
• Compare Prices

No More Heroes is a game designed for the thirteen-year-olds in all of us. It has low-brow potty humor, lots of blood and gore, and over-the-top characters that behave like the barely adolescent. Which is ironic, since if you're the sort that thinks this sort of material threatens the mindset of the young, it's exactly the last game you'd want them to be playing. However, No More Heroes does what it sets out to do; it satisfies any player that's out hunting for the above. If that happens to be you, you'll love it. If it's not, then you certainly won't.

But then, I generally hold the same opinions of both Grand Theft Auto and Kill Bill, and they're loved the world 'round.

A Stylized Adventure:

No More Heroes is a game about an up-and-coming assassin trying to climb the ranks of the world's best hired guns. The best way to do this, apparently, is to kill off the ten better ranked assassins on the list above him, and that's exactly what the game is about. Not without some moral awareness, No More Heroes presents this story much like a comic book, with a hero that's at times extraordinarily simplistic and at other times heavily introspective.

During the day, he runs around motivated by sex and money, but not without a sense of humor. No More Heroes never really takes itself seriously, and is very aware of its own silliness. However, during the final boss fights, voice overlays tell a different story, rich with self-doubt and questions. I found myself enjoying one element, and not enjoying the other; I expect most people will have a similar experience.

Stylized to the Point of Being Bad:

No More Heroes uses a graphic style that's very black and white. The shadows are too dark, and the lights are too bright. At times, this looks really good, but at other times the simplistic textures and lack of variations actually make the game look really outdated. This is evidently done deliberately, since the game also has a number of old-school references to classic arcade games, like a scoreboard and loading screen straight from the Area 51 shooter I used to play in high school.

At the same time, that casual ability to call upon the past and go its own direction is part of No More Heroes' charm. Whether you like it or not is a personal preference, but if you look at the trailer and gameplay videos, what you see is basically what you get.

Fighting With the Wii:

One of No More Heroes' draws is its use of the Wiimote for sword fighting. While it's certainly a far way off from what most Nintendo fans all dreamed about when the Wii was first announced, No More Heroes does an ok job of it.

Mostly, it involves pressing the A button a great deal, and then delivering a final finishing move with a swipe of the Wiimote. A vertical swipe kills one way, a horizontal one kills the other. Tilting the Wiimote holds your sword high, and holding it level strikes low. There are a number of combinations, as well, but generally, that sums it up. One of No More Heroes' weaknesses is actually that this element of gameplay gets repetitive over time.

GTA and Kill Bill Alike:

No More Heroes shares a number of characteristics with Grand Theft Auto and Kill Bill. Kill Bill in the style of gore, with tremendous amounts of blood spurting from every severed body part, and GTA in the style that missions are taken on. In between killing assassins, you have to earn money by taking on different types of jobs that you find around the city. These sections are like a mini-GTA. You ride your bike around the streets, sometimes killing people for money, sometimes doing odd jobs like collecting coconuts. It has a similar feel to GTA in many regards, but with a little less random violence; No More Heroes is all about taking out guards on the way to your target, not random killing.

Conclusion:

No More Heroes really can be summed up by describing it as a mix between Kill Bill and Grand Theft Auto. Like GTA, it doesn't take itself seriously and has more depth in some elements than you would think, if only because it tries so hard to make itself that way. Like Kill Bill, the violence is over the top, but somehow rewarding. If these are the elements that make you happy, No More Heroes will probably be your thing. General critical reaction to the title has been positive, better than you might expect from the tone of this review. But for me, I generally felt that - given the quality of other games that have come onto the market, with more interesting stories - I was happy to sort of shrug my shoulders and move on to something else.