No More Hilarity
Finished No More Heroes 2. I have never been more deeply disappointed by a game.
It's pretty well known that the overworld has been replaced by a world map. The overworld in NMH 1 was big and dull and empty, but I kind of miss it. It was kind of interesting to see how the craziness of the ranked matches contrasted with the depressing emptiness of the city. I'm fine with the fact that Suda decided to remove it entirely rather than spiff it up, but they could have done something to give the city some personality. I didn't mind the overworld stuff so much because I knew it was always building up to something spectacular. Not so much any more.
One of the big features the previews talked about was the ability to play as Shinobu and Henry. Shinobu has two levels, so that's cool. Henry, though, only has one boss fight and that's it. His role as a playable character is a huge disappointment. I think Suda crossed a line this time. After you beat that boss, Travis gets an answering machine message from him saying that he took out three other assassins, bumping Travis up to rank 5. He then taunts you, the player, by saying that these fights are not actually playable in the game and the closest you get to experiencing them is looking at a few pictures he sends you.
The third (I think) fight is against a football player and his cheerleader harem. In a giant robot. You fight them with your OWN giant robot. It's pretty awesome. And it's all downhill from there. After that fight, most of the ranked matches are pretty uninteresting. There's a fight with a fangirl whose flute is secretly a beam katana, and that crazylegs lady from the teaser trailer, and a fucking creepy demon boy in a weird pig suit or something, but everyone else is pretty ho-hum. Even the returning assassins like Letz Shake and Destroy Man aren't all that interesting this time around. The assassins in the first game were an important part of the experience. Most of them had pretty cool personalities and I always felt kind of disappointed by their deaths because I usually wanted to see more of them. (I would play a game all about Bad Girl.) In NMH 2, it feels like they're just there because you need something to kill. You don't even learn their names until after they die.
And then there's the ending. Oh boy. You finish off the last boss (who isn't a surprise twist or anything, it's exactly who you think he'll be for the entire game) and fall out a window, Sylvia catches you and drives your motorcycle home with you as a passenger, there are credits and the game ends. NMH 1 had Bad Girl, the surprise death of the 1st ranked assassin, Jeane, Henry, and the excellent hilarious intense clash of swords thing as the last few events in the game. There's nothing in NMH 2 that even comes close to any one of those points.
I absolutely loved the first No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2 is definitely a better game from a technical standpoint. The combat is improved, the standard grunts aren't just things for you to cut on the way to the boss any more, the overworld isn't there to get in the way, there's no admission fee for the ranked matches so grinding for cash is optional, etc. But I was more interested in NMH 1 for its craziness and off-the-wall story and badittude. But NMH is severely lacking in those departments. Oh, it's still definitely a weird and silly game, but not nearly weird or silly enough.
Suda51 broke my heart. :P
It's pretty well known that the overworld has been replaced by a world map. The overworld in NMH 1 was big and dull and empty, but I kind of miss it. It was kind of interesting to see how the craziness of the ranked matches contrasted with the depressing emptiness of the city. I'm fine with the fact that Suda decided to remove it entirely rather than spiff it up, but they could have done something to give the city some personality. I didn't mind the overworld stuff so much because I knew it was always building up to something spectacular. Not so much any more.
One of the big features the previews talked about was the ability to play as Shinobu and Henry. Shinobu has two levels, so that's cool. Henry, though, only has one boss fight and that's it. His role as a playable character is a huge disappointment. I think Suda crossed a line this time. After you beat that boss, Travis gets an answering machine message from him saying that he took out three other assassins, bumping Travis up to rank 5. He then taunts you, the player, by saying that these fights are not actually playable in the game and the closest you get to experiencing them is looking at a few pictures he sends you.
The third (I think) fight is against a football player and his cheerleader harem. In a giant robot. You fight them with your OWN giant robot. It's pretty awesome. And it's all downhill from there. After that fight, most of the ranked matches are pretty uninteresting. There's a fight with a fangirl whose flute is secretly a beam katana, and that crazylegs lady from the teaser trailer, and a fucking creepy demon boy in a weird pig suit or something, but everyone else is pretty ho-hum. Even the returning assassins like Letz Shake and Destroy Man aren't all that interesting this time around. The assassins in the first game were an important part of the experience. Most of them had pretty cool personalities and I always felt kind of disappointed by their deaths because I usually wanted to see more of them. (I would play a game all about Bad Girl.) In NMH 2, it feels like they're just there because you need something to kill. You don't even learn their names until after they die.
And then there's the ending. Oh boy. You finish off the last boss (who isn't a surprise twist or anything, it's exactly who you think he'll be for the entire game) and fall out a window, Sylvia catches you and drives your motorcycle home with you as a passenger, there are credits and the game ends. NMH 1 had Bad Girl, the surprise death of the 1st ranked assassin, Jeane, Henry, and the excellent hilarious intense clash of swords thing as the last few events in the game. There's nothing in NMH 2 that even comes close to any one of those points.
I absolutely loved the first No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2 is definitely a better game from a technical standpoint. The combat is improved, the standard grunts aren't just things for you to cut on the way to the boss any more, the overworld isn't there to get in the way, there's no admission fee for the ranked matches so grinding for cash is optional, etc. But I was more interested in NMH 1 for its craziness and off-the-wall story and badittude. But NMH is severely lacking in those departments. Oh, it's still definitely a weird and silly game, but not nearly weird or silly enough.
Suda51 broke my heart. :P