Purchase Power

I was disappointed to read that the Publishers behind No More Heroes weren't going to invest in any more new IPs. Whilst you can see their point when traditional gamers fail to support innovative, adult (I use the word in the loosest sense to indicate child unfriendly) software on the Wii it's still something of a shame when those games have been receiving good reviews. From my point of view these sort of titles seem to head bargain binward very quickly.. presumably cos they're not selling well. It's a chicken and egg situation that I don't pretend to know the answer to.

Anyway I happened to spy a mint pre-owned copy in Game for £20 which (less my £2.50 reward points) seemed to good an opportunity to miss.

I also pre-ordered a new 360 Slim. The main reasons being that my 360's disc drive seems to be playing up and that I'm still using my original 20Gb HDD which is struggling to keep up. I only have 2Gb free and I'd like to be able to install games that I'm playing a lot. Also anything that makes for a bit more room under the TV and runs quietly has got to be good right? I'm going to donate the old one to charity too so it's win win.

The "Complete" List

Resistance 2
Mirror's Edge - 360
Quantum of Solace - 360
House of the Dead: Overkill - Story & Directors Cut
Fable 2 - Story Mode
Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriot - (Liquid Easy)
Wario Ware: Smooth Moves
Saints Row
Race Pro - Career Mode
50 Cent: Blood on the Sand (Easy) - 360
Conan (Easy) - PS3
GTA IV - 360
Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
Manhunt 2
Prince of Persia
No More Heroes - Real Ending

Was there ever a game where the saying "You get what you give" was more true? The game is basically 12 boss battles in a row. As Nish hinted there's a couple of surprises along the way but there's an awful awful lot more busy work to be done.

So what makes it such a work of genius? The story is great, The cut scenes and the bosses themselves are all really interesting and humourus. There's lot of lovely little incidental touches as well. Answering the phone by listening to the little speaker in the Wii-mote was brilliant. Playing with the cat. Collecting T shirts. Treasure hunting with Beam Katana.. All great.

But what it really boils down to is getting into the vibe of the game. Visiting the gym between every mission and going for the burn, Earning enough cash to have the best Katana available and upgrading it, Searching for the balls so the drunk russian guy shows you special abilities, Buying the videos and trying to get Golds in all the part time jobs and Assassins missions.

The combat never gets boring despite being very repetitive. I loved the fourth Katana. When Travis unsheathed it just like a Samari I was laughing with joy. Nevermind when I found out I could beat my previous best score of 104 kills by another 16 with it on Assassin mission 17. Brilliant.

There was a lot of things I learnt on the fly. Suddenly finding the bike had a boost button helped me get gold on the bike jump part time job. Wiggling the nunchuck stick when being hit allows you to enter a kind of black mode that was cool.

There was a couple of things I didn't like. I could've done without having to skip through the same conversations everytime I applied for a new job or went in a shop.. and I would've liked the option to restart when I'd failed without having to ride back to the shop and re-apply.. but that's about it.

All the boss battles where memorable and fortunately I already had the Tsubaki III so I could go straight to the final boss battle and see the amazing end... Can't wait for the sequel now.

First Look: No More Heroes

I wasn't expecting to like this as much as I do. From the moment you start the game for the first time it's incredibly cool. The highly stylized visuals and the way the story is introduced all drips with atmosphere and a brilliant sense of humour.

At first I was a little disappointed with the gameplay. I was expecting to be able too swing my wii-mote around like a whirlwind chopping up bad guys like so many Master Onions but instead your combos are mainly confined to the A and B Buttons. Swings of the wii-mote are used for finishing moves where you swing the wii-mote in the direction of a little onscreen icon. It's also used to charge the beam katana and pull of wrestling throws. Once you're in the thick of the action though it makes sense and you're soon working up quite a sweat (or at least I was anyway) and stylishly chopping your way through minions to get to the boss battle. I'm assuming the PAL version has been sanitised cos sadly the bad guys disolve a-la the slain vampires in Buffy.

I spent last night doing side quests, side assasinations and visiting the shops and the gym. While it's not actually a living breathing city in the style of a GTA there's enough going on to make it more than just a hub world. I particularly liked the gym. The stat improving mini games where a very nice touch making me do reps with the nunchuck and wii-mote.

My only slight reservation is whether there's enough variety in the main story. 11 Assassins to take down. I'm now number 9 and so far the formula has been fairly simular. If the humour and great dialogue continue then I guess I'll enjoy the ride.

Purchase Power

Having spent a quiet half hour reading EDGE yesterday I was intrigued by the feature on a sequel to No More Heroes. Hearing the games creater Goichi Suda compare making the game to 'having a shit' I was inspired to go and pick it up today. £9.99 in Game. Job very much done.

I was amused in the article where Suda was told by his staff players found the bike in the first game difficult to control. His Response? "Make the bike twice as big!".