No More Heroes

By Dene Benham

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Travis Touchdown, a dirt-poor resident of Santa Destroy, California wins a beam katana on the web and becomes an assassin. Not only is Travis good at his new career, he is potentially the best. Soon he is committed to killing the top ten hired killers (as ranked by the UAA), in a determined and blood soaked attempt to take the profession’s top spot.

No More Heroes is the latest offering from writer/director Suda 51, the man behind 2005’s polarizing and perplexing Killer 7, and has been developed specifically for the Wii console. Killer 7 was a game people either loved or hated. It was a complex and confusing political commentary hidden beneath a beautiful, cell shaded nightmare of a game. Graphically, No More Heroes has many similarities to the stylish and very stylised Killer 7 - it is full of bizarre and brutal characters with names like Helter Skelter, Destroyman and Bad Girl, each of whom suffer from various physical and psychological abnormalities. On top of this the game also mixes liberal doses of social discourse with sex, suicide and lots and lots of violence.

In terms of gameplay, No More Heroes owes more to Grand Theft Auto than Killer 7. Travis can roam freely around his hometown, either on foot or on his motorcycle. He can pick and choose his way through various side games as well as taking on different hit contracts, earning money for upgrades and learning new fighting techniques. No More Heroes makes full use of the Wii’s unique control system. Both the Nunchuk and the Wiimote, which control Travis and his katana respectively, get a serious workout every time he has to slice his way through multiple minions to the boss battles. Although most sword attacks are controlled with the ‘A’ button, Travis also learns wrestling moves to finish off opponents.

No More Heroes has already run into its share of controversy. The game itself has been described as more violent than Manhunt 2, but such initial buzz has conflicted with promotional videos showing coins pouring from wounds rather than blood. There has also been some confusion as different versions of the game, with differing levels of violence, have been promoted in the US and Europe. Still, whichever version hits these shores it will undoubtedly help to move the Wii console from kids party toy to more adult orientated entertainment. The game has also been criticised for a poor frame rate, identical waves of minor characters and sparse environments.

Suda 51 has not been afraid to push the limits of storytelling. In No More Heroes the story is simple but the characters and situations are seriously messed up. Characters’ back-stories, motivations and their inevitable deaths are disturbing and strangely melancholic. If you tried, and like many of us failed, to get your head around Killer 7, you will have one of two reactions to No More Heroes. You will either hit the trading sites and start bidding for a beam katana, or failing that a Wii console, or hide under your bed, twitching, until the bad game goes away.

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