I have a man-crush on Suda51. I have had it since Killer7 and NMH makes it that much stronger. Goichi, you're all goodness. I have serious respect for Suda51 because, in an age of same-old same-old games, fuckloads of sequels and derivative gameplay with prettier graphics, he has the courage to say "fuck it" to all of that and create his own type of games. By most standards, the cut scenes in his games are short and most of the story is told through gameplay. Suda51 characters define the phrase "action speaks louder than words." If you've played Killer7, you know how powerful the hotel mission was. Brilliant. No More Heroes continues Suda's off-the-wall genius with slightly more conventional gameplay, guaranteeing that NMH will be more accessible.



Graphics
I love cel-shading; it provides a sense of depth and slight realism without being overly realistic and boring. Santa Destroy would be a rather generic place if it was rendered in HD hyper-realism. Instead, the city has the feel of being a surreal place, one that is desolate and abandoned. The atmosphere in NMH is perfectly portrayed in this graphical style.

Interspersed in this world are 2D, sprite-based graphics. They serve as the map, markers and points of interest. Due to the cel-shading, these sprites look somewhat out of place, but not completely. This entire world is designed in such a way that it seems possible it could exist.

Story
Travis Touchdown, an otaku, wins an internet auction for a beam katana. He meets a pretty girl in a bar and, upon realizing that he has no money, accepts a job to kill someone. After killing Helter Skelter, Travis is now a ranked assassin and decides to kill all of the assassins ranked higher than him to become number one. The story is inspired by the movie El Toppo, which is an avant-garde gunfighter movie.

Travis is a great protagonist; it's extremely entertaining that he's an otaku. It's like Suda is forcing us to look into a dark mirror and study the reflection. The same anime girls that the average otaku drools over are dangerous vixens in NMH and, upon reflection, Travis is what most otaku would be if given the ability.



Gameplay
The game is actually quite linear, though not as linear as Killer7. The basic flow of the game is this: Do odd jobs and assassinations to collect money; Deposit money into ATM; travel to next ranked match and battle to the boss; fight the boss. There are tons of other things to do in Santa Destroy, such as learn new wrestling moves, collect trading cards, buy new t-shirts and start fights. In Travis' room in the No More Heroes hotel, the player can change Travis' clothes, looom at his collections, spend time with his cat or watch his television.

NMH is, without a doubt, a balls-to-the-wall action game. Travis is moved with the analog stick, A executes a slashing attack and B executes a stunning attack. Z is the lock on and c centers the camera behind Travis. The player can have Travis hold the beam katana in a high or low stance by holding the Wiimote high or low. This feels very natural.

Here's how combat works: The player can hit A multiple times to create combos. Once the enemy is weakened, a yellow arrow appears. By swinging the Wiimote in the direction specified, Travis executes a finishing move. A blood geyser as well as coins will spew from the enemy's body. If an enemy is blocking everything the player throws, hit the B button and, if it connects, that enemy will be stunned. At this point Travis can either grab them in a grapple with B or slash with A. If a grapple is initiated, the screen will fade a bit and a Wiimote and Nunchuck will appear. Each controller will have an arrow next to it that will tell the player what to do to initiate the move. If the player can complete the gesture before the time is out, the move connects leaving the enemy prone on the floor. By hitting A near a prone enemy, Travis will finish them off. In the event that both Travis and an enemy attack at the same time, a weapon clash occurs. A yellow arrow will appear indicating which direction to move the Wiimote. If the player moves the Wiimote in the proper direction as quickly as necessary, the enemy will be pushed back and stunned. If the player fails, Travis will be stunned. With every enemy killed, a slot machine activates and, if three items match, Travis will get a temporary special ability. These are very cinematic and severe.

Decapitating an enemy with a horizontal slash or slicing an enemy top-to-bottom with a Wiimote flick is extremely satisfying. Answering a cell phone call using the Wiimote is natural, if a bit odd. And the true genius of NMH is that Suda51 has created a game that uses the technology of the Wii in a sophisticated and natural manner. Other developers could learn a lot from this game.