$20 Game of the Week: No More Heroes (Wii)

One thing you gotta love about Goichi Suda is that he doesn’t care how well his games are received by critics. He doesn’t care how well reviewers score his product, how well his games sell, or weather or not he gets a game of the year award. In fact, he doesn’t care about gaining any kind of mainstream recognition whatsoever, as anyone who has played Killer 7 knows. He works in this same spirit as many independent game programmers, and simply wants to share his demented thoughts with the world. No More Heroes is his latest creation. Weather you love or hate the game, it will be sure to have you scratching your head in a way that few games can.

No More Heroes can best be described as what Grand Theft Auto would look like if it was made by Capcom, and the developers were passing around the green sticky during development. You play as Travis Touchdown. He’s a fan of video games, manga, anime, and pro wrestling, thus making him your typical guy. Well, typical that is except for the fact that he became an assassin after winning a beam saber on an online auction. His job now is to take on the top 10 assassins and kill them, least he be hunted down and killed himself. You’ll spend most of the time cruising around the city of Santa Destroy on your motorcycle, doing odd jobs in order to make money to buy weapons, new clothes, videos, wrestling training sessions, and eventually enter the tournament rankings to take on the assassins. Once it’s time to take on the assassins, you make your way through the area, using an assortment of saber attacks, throws, and special powers to take out the enemies. Apparently, these enemies are pressurized sacks of blood and cold coins, as they explode in a bloody red fountain as you slash them up and perform finishing maneuvers. Although the game tends to get a bit repetitive, the bizarre humor goes a long way toward making up for it.

No More Heroes won’t appeal to everyone, nor is it supposed to. It’s an acquired taste and is meant for those with open minds. While it may put off many gamers, this game is a cult classic for sure, and it’s one of the few good M-rated games for the Wii. Check it out now, and if you like it, there is a sequel that’s going to be released early next year.

Wanna buy this game? Just click the thumbnail below.