No More Heroes 2 Hands-On Preview

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When I think back on No More Heroes, last year's snarky, brawly Wii action game by Grasshopper Manufacture, a few memories jump out at me. The stylish cel-shading, which judging by the visual frame rates really pushed the Wii hardware to its limits. The intense violence, which pushed the M rating to its limit. The fantastic boss battles, easily the centerpiece of the action. The ironic story, which satirized the clichés of videogames with merciless brutality. And finally, the fact that 90% of the game was actually kind of boring: Repetitive fights with grunt enemies devalued the uniqueness of the motion-based controls, and the need to slog through endless stupid minigames to raise cash made the flow of gameplay every bit as trite as the games its self-aware dialogue mocked. In other words, it was a game bursting with style and innovation, bogged down by the fact that it couldn't escape the mundanity it aspired to rebel against.
As the sequel to such a rough gem, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has the potential to either make up for its predecessor's shortcomings or succumb to them again. Based on the playable demo on the show floor at PAX 2009, it's impossible to say which will be the case. Seriously now, it's a 10-minute demo, and NMH's problems were the sort of issues that only became apparent with extended play. What do you expect? However, it's easy to see that even if the final product doesn't overcome the first game's shortcomings, this sequel is definitely off to a good start by playing up its predecessor's strengths.


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