No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (Wii, 2010)

Story 3/10 or 9/10

In No More Heroes 2 you play an assassin named Travis Touchdown. The premise? Get up in the ranks that are set by an association to get revenge on your friend's murder. Sounds pretty cool right? Well, it is...some times. This game does NOT take itself seriously. This is both good and bad however. If you're expected a game that has a serious undertone and makes sense, you wont be playing this game for its story. However, what this game does manage to do is create cool/bloody/comedic cut scenes at all the bosses. Never has a game really made me laugh as much as this game has. There's a lot of random stuff that will enjoy that the story does. The only real complaint is that it doesn't offer and ending to the first game which left in us in a cliffhanger...and this game does the same. It has the best and worst essentials of a story. I feel they could have improved, but it was executed pretty good.

Gameplay 10/10

Not many games have such a fluid and nice feeling control. The Wii controls actually improve a game, which is a rare find indeed. Every time you kill a person you are prompted to move the stick in the direction the screen indicates and you will perform a death move. It's a cool spectacle to watch, and it's a neat mechanic. The controls themselves are both easy and fluid to use. You mostly are mashing the A button, but depending on how you position the Wiimote you will perform different moves. I mentioned that you use a beam katana...thing, these are upgradable and there are 4 in all. They all have unique traits, so rather than just sticking with the newest one, they all have their own attack styles, stats and feel a bit different. Because they are beam swords, they have a battery meter that fills up when you charge it, but goes down if you block with it. Also, there is an esctacy meter, because Travis enjoys killing soo much he...well he enjoys it...a lot, the meter goes up with the more you kill and when you fill the the meter a number of things can happen that make you over powered and ruin the enemy's day. So the combat is very fluid, all around, the game beyond that is also great. You get about 15 bosses with this game, you have go to their territory and take them down, and some times you get a few characters from the past game that come and help on the way. It's cool to be able to control even more characters, they even play out differently then Travis. I really wish they would have had them playable beyond a certain point. Beyond the combat there are mini-games to be played to earn money which you can use to customize Travis. You can choose from hundreds of clothes, work out, and buy more beam sabers. In other words, it's awesome, and they are all accessible through a menu that replaces an open world. I like it, but some might not.

Graphics 10/10

They are nice looking, especially for a Wii, and they have a unique style to them. They are cel-shaded and are obviously influenced by anime. It looks great, obviously isn't 1080ip like you'll get on an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3, but I think it's still great.

Sound 9/10

Most of it is good. The music is varied enough to be interesting and the sound effects are all nice. However, some of the voice acting gets a bit on the repetitive side....but it's not THAT bad. Nothing wowed me on it, but it's certainly done well in this game.

Overall 9/10

This game is very good. It has challenge, good game play and enjoyable following.

The Game makes excellent use of the Wii controls. It's constant use of 4 letter words and violence allows it to earn its Mature rating honestly.

I'm a little disappointed with the story and I've found it somewhat difficult but ultimately the game is fun and makes great use of the Wii controls.

You're playing an assassin who uses a light saber like sword. This makes for some epic moments like stellar decapitations, good ol'time body splittings and lots of blood splattering.

I bought the game based on the gamespot review and I'm glad I did.

I was highly anticipating this games after playing the first one. I was definitely not disappointed when I received it in the mail.

You play again as Travis Touchdown but this time, instead of just looking to be #1, you're out for revenge. You have to fight your way back to #1 again, but from #51 this time. This sounds long and tedious, but because of certain events in the game, you only end up fighting a small fraction of the # of people you'd think.

Mini-games are mostly retro this time around. While this may put off some players, for the ones who grew up in the 8-bit era, it's nice to revel in nostalgia for just a bit.

The graphics have improved this time around. Things move more fluidly like they should. It's still cell shaded, though, so don't expect a game that rivals a PS3 or 360 game.

This game is also the first time you can play as other characters (I won't spoil who those people are, though. :) )

Free roam has been eliminated from this game, allowing you to quickly jump to the place you want to go via a menu. This majorly cuts down on time spent driving around a virtually empty town going from point A to point B like in the first game.

The combat has improved quite a bit over the previous game. With new sword types added to the game, you will actually finding yourself switching out swords in the middle of a fight to better suit your needs, unlike in the first game where you'd never use an older sword because the new ones were better in every way, shape, and form.

Boss battles were different and unique, which is always refreshing. The final boss was a complete pill, but other than that, they're challenging, but nothing crazy.

All in all, it has a few faults, but things that can be easily overlooked. This game is a must-have for anyone who's a fan of the first game.

No More Heroes 2 is awesome. It adds a ton of cool new features and bosses without messing with what worked with the first game. It can get a little repetitive, but until it’s still one of the best games the Wii has to offer.
If you liked the first one, than you'll love this.

I saw that this game got decent reviews right next to Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. I played the first game and enjoyed its style. I enjoyed wielding my slong; the sequel serves to add some more humor and action.