![]() ![]() ![]() For instance, the space job Star Chores, which plays a bit like Lunar Rover from the C64 days, is endlessly fun. They look good, sound even better (both music and sound effects) and almost always feature multiple stages and difficulties. These old-style side-games are really well done, and would have made for great retail titles back in the days when Clu Clu Land was a moderate hit. Thankfully, that’s not what Grasshopper Manufacture has presented to us here. A lot of developers are trying to cash in on the retro revival that’s going on right now with cheap, uninspired ’80s “tribute” games. I was skeptical about the game’s “8-bit job missions” when I first heard about them. In order to earn money in No More Heroes 2 (which is optional this time around), you’ll have to play old-school videogames, which is sort of a dream come true for most of us. So yeah, combat is fun, but that’s nothing special for a videogame, right? Perhaps more impressive is how fun the game is when you’re doing things that aren’t supposed to be fun, like working or exercising. It sounds like a little thing, but it actually goes a long way towards making every fight interesting. You can also store up your arousal and release it into Darkside mode on command by hitting the minus button. That’s when Travis may turn into that tiger I told you about, or gain any of four other special time-sensitive powers. A red, fire-breathing tiger will give you a random chance to enter “Darkside mode” next time you kill somebody. The redder he gets, the more powerful one of your beam katanas gets. ![]() Kick a lot of ass without taking a hit (or pick up an erotic magazine), and your arousal (symbolized by a little low-res pixel tiger in the left hand corner of the screen) will start to walk across the screen and turn red. On top of that, the game now keeps track of how many hits you’ve taken and how many you’ve dealt out. Like in the first game, Travis’s sword is a thinly veiled symbol of his “manhood” (that means his cock, by the way), and when it starts to get weak, you’ll need to wank the Wii Remote a bit to get it going again. Speaking of arousal, Travis’s level of metaphorical horniness plays an even bigger role this time around. It’s actually a pretty awesome place now. His world isn’t as bleak and lonely as it once was. Once a loner, he ends up with at least three people over at his bachelor pad over the course of the game, and two of them even land a spot in his bed. If the first No More Heroes was Travis proving to himself that he was worth something while severing connections to his previous ideals, this game is about him learning who he is now and who he’s connected to. It also has to do with Travis, and how he’s changed. Part of that comes from the fact that the graphics, music, and writing are just better this time around, but that’s not all. I’d say this game is brighter and more palatable on the whole, even with blood splattering everywhere as Travis splits his enemies in two. No More Heroes 2 differs a little from the original in terms of overall tone. She describes the game’s events to you from time to time, and always in the past tense. These events are all interspersed between cut-aways to a lovely, mysterious sex worker who sits opposite the player on the wrong side of a one-way mirror. Then, seconds later in a combat mission, you might see Travis himself turn into a giant cat and maul some strangers with his paws. Later you’ll see Travis’ pet cat Jeane use her paws to kick the crap out of a fishing lure (with kung fu movie sound effects to match). You’ll see a man rip off his own head one minute, and another frozen in carbonite the next. The game vacillates between moments of horrific gore, ridiculous displays of sexuality, sudden surrealism, absurdist humor, cultural references, and sincerely beautiful words and pictures. Sexual innuendo and stylish violence are as unapologetic as they are constant in the No More Heroes world. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |