TGS hands-on: No More Heroes

by Ludwig Kietzmann { Sep 30th 2007 at 9:03PM }

Given the over-the-top action and exuberant style found in Grasshopper Manufacture's No More Heroes, it came as a great relief to learn that the game's control scheme wasn't similarly vigorous. There's nothing worse than an action game that translates fairly familiar tasks into manic swatting for the simple sake of justifying its existence on the Wii. That isn't to say the motion controls are so reserved as to become worthless, but No More Heroes does seem to share our support of No More Flailing -- sometimes it makes more sense to smack someone with a sword simply by pressing a button.

Here, the button in question is the one obviously marked "A" and the sword is a lightsaber. It's really more like a battery-powered katana, but we're confident that the Star Wars weapon is culturally ingrained enough to make the explanation that much simpler. Rather than get into electric sword specifics, know that protagonist and assassin Travis Touchdown uses one to hit and slice things repeatedly. Said things are targeted by holding the Z-button on the nunchuk, evaded by pressing on the directional pad and ultimately sent into a stunned state with enough battery. (A cheeky double reference there, as you also have to recharge your sword occasionally by giving it -- and the Wii remote -- a few jolts, just like you would an uncooperative flashlight.)

Since your main method of attack doesn't depend on imprecise gestures, there's opportunity for quite a few sword combos, interspersed with a kick or two from the Wii remote's trigger. The hallmarks of fairly simplistic 3rd-person combat, certainly, but the game's Killer 7-ish visual style and energetic animations give it and its lead character some pizazz. It gets a little more involving if an enemy becomes stunned, as Travis can grab his victim and perform one of several wrestling-style finishing moves. On-screen icons tell you which way to move the Wiimote and the nunchuck, with a swift upward motion resulting in a satisfying, spine-crushing suplex. This measured motion control finale to a fight works well, engaging you without tainting repetitive actions with unnecessary gimmickry.

If there is a concern, it's that the game could succumb to bouts of repetition. What prevents this concern from being elevated is that we didn't get a chance to sample any of the game's exploration elements outside of an ominously lit warehouse. Also, the demo ended with a battle against a caped lunatic calling himself "Destroyman" and firing laser beams from his crotch. If the game has legs which drunkenly walk the line between style and substance like that, No More Heroes should be worth saving... up for.

In other, less terrible words: We liked it.

Tags: Grasshopper-Manufacture, No-More-Heroes, NoMoreHeroes, Suda-51, TGS07

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kn1ves @ Sep 30th 2007 9:24PM

is that really the best image you guys could use... it looks terrible

Michael C. Sherrin @ Sep 30th 2007 9:45PM

I love Killer 7 so I'm really excited about this game. I find it hard to get a handle on the controls for Wii games from these hands-ons though, but I still think this could be a very unique experience. It's nice to see some actually unique games getting made for the Wii.

*******

Michael C. Sherrin
http://www.prodigeek.com/

phattie @ Sep 30th 2007 9:26PM

Looks like its gonna be Red Steel 1.5 ...

Exo @ Sep 30th 2007 9:28PM

looks like its gonna be a vote down for you fanboy

Capt. Castellanos @ Sep 30th 2007 9:31PM

really now,
how is that?

beside the use of a sword (or battery katana?).

IGLOO @ Sep 30th 2007 9:37PM

Uhh... I'm sure even you must realize that this game has absolutely nothing.to.do with Red Steel.

captainawesome @ Sep 30th 2007 9:36PM

I can't wait to play Red Steel 1.5 on my Gamecube 1.5.

Rubang B (NDF - Heart) @ Sep 30th 2007 9:43PM

More like Red Steel times 1000 awesome, chump.

Anni @ Sep 30th 2007 9:47PM

Come on, that sword's not even made of steel! Can't you read? Gosh!

samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!) @ Sep 30th 2007 11:08PM

Actually, it looks like God Hand (The Greatest Game Ever).
Sucks for you, phattie. You probably never played God Hand and you'll almost surely never play this. Your loss, dude.

As for me...well, you can probably guess that I'll be the first one in the store for this. If it plays even half as fun as God Hand, I'm fairly certain I'll love it.

carg0 @ Sep 30th 2007 10:31PM

why does it looks like a 1st-gen ps2 title?

mr nimblewick (SegaDF - Jogurt Ring) @ Sep 30th 2007 10:36PM

Have you ever even seen a 1st gen ps2 title? They looked H O R R I B L E. I understand you're a fanboy, but come on...

Squeek @ Sep 30th 2007 10:39PM

It looks Cel-Shaded.

Learn about things: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cel-shaded_animation

2ez @ Sep 30th 2007 11:18PM

wut iz dis fukken gAMEBOY graphix? lolz am i rite?

/sarcasm

Night Elve @ Sep 30th 2007 11:34PM

To be fair by just looking at that picture my first impression is that the graphics looks terrible.

I know my comment will be voted down, but that's the true it looks horrible.

You know what sucks guys, the fact that the Wii has more power than the Original Xbox and just because the developers are lazy, they don't put much effort on doing better graphics.

samfish (MSDF- Nurse Outfit!) @ Oct 1st 2007 12:51AM

That's just a crappy screenshot. The game looks a lot better in motion, from what I've seen. But it's also hard to tell if the character models are just 'poorly' constructed or if that's the effect of the cell shading at work.

You're right that developers are being lazy asses when it comes to Wii graphics, though. NMH is something of an exception (although by all accounts, it still doesn't look to be pushing the Wii very hard).
It's be nice if more Wii games got the dev house's A-teams on them, though, as opposed to the B and C-teams.
Although conversely, it's also a shame that something as gorgeous as Boogie otherwise utterly sucked.

bm @ Oct 1st 2007 12:05PM

Just look up some videos d00d. Especially the one with the dark skinned chick with the big white hair. GPU power can suck my dick, this style is awesome.

KiraXD @ Oct 1st 2007 1:20PM

I like the style... it reminds me of the Shin Megami Tensei cel-chaded look (this game actually would be the first game that would make me want to buy a Wii for)

blooh (CDF - Ass Ring) @ Sep 30th 2007 11:38PM

awesome, lightsabers (really more like vibroblades tho) and masturbation motion controls in 1 game! the wii truly is revolutionary

Sean DL @ Oct 1st 2007 12:17AM

I never knew that gamers where graphic whores....

Ok ,I kinda knew that when everyone kept saying how bad PS2 games look next to X-Box games..but still, when we have company(no names) that rehash a racing game that STILL looks like it did when it was released on the Nintendo 64 back in 1996....

THAT is what we should be complaining about, this, this is nothing....

Guybrush Threepwood (Sega Defense Force - Infallibility Ring) @ Oct 1st 2007 1:33AM

You only liked it?!?

That isn't good enough for my standards!!!

Robert Higgins @ Oct 1st 2007 2:27AM

At least it's coming to the States. With Sadness seemingly dead in the water, No More Heroes is originality's last bastion of hope on the Wii.

Mighty Shockwave @ Oct 1st 2007 8:17PM

Don't forget Disaster.

psyborg @ Oct 1st 2007 5:42AM

I always think its cute when idiots think cell-shaded games have dated graphics. lol

Anyways this game is gonna rock; so much style, awesome weirdness, and over the top gore.
Anyone interested theres tons of off-screen gameplay footage(showing the controls in action) all over the net.

License to ill @ Oct 1st 2007 7:08AM

Game looks kinda crappy to me, but what do I care I don't own a wii...

Anticrawl @ Oct 1st 2007 7:17AM

This "Joystiq Hand's-on" really didn't do what a "hand's-on" article of a game is suppose to do. Without those last two lines I wouldn't have gotten anything out of the article other than random asortment of throughs that aren't really disgussed or explained. Heh anyway I'm excited for this game, to put it simply. Hopefully it's as well done as Killer 7.

Ludwig Kietzmann @ Oct 1st 2007 2:58PM

I don't agree -- I think the crux was conveying how the controls worked and how they weren't overbearing.

Mr Khan @ Oct 1st 2007 9:24AM

Sweet, wii can't get this game fast enough

This is, perhaps, the first fulfillment of good, original, 3rd party content. Gotta love that artistic design

lothar @ Oct 1st 2007 11:06AM

You guys dwelling on these graphics, what do you think sold the system? Those graphics are better than anything that it launched with. The countless people out there with the Wii couldn't care less about the graphics they want gameplay and Wii Sports. I'm not talking about the Wii owners here that are true gamers but more so for the masses of the people that are "casual gamers".

I do think there are going to be plenty of great graphical Wii games coming out that will appeal to the hardcore gamers but I do feel that these will do terrible for the mass casual gamers who dont want to play harder complicated games. That is the market that Nintendo shot for with the system.

Here is what I see as a problem for the Wii, the dilemma with the developers; spend lots of time and money developing great games that may not sell or develop simplistic games that will sell.

I hope I'm wrong on this but really the people that I know that have the Wii didnt own a PS2, Xbox or GC. They're not gamers like us.

Kn1ves @ Oct 1st 2007 12:11PM

is that really the best image you guys could use... it looks terrible

---

im sure the game looks better, but we need a better screen shot

RobertHMayfire @ Oct 1st 2007 12:12PM

Damn you Scarlet Witch!!!!

Lemmiwinks @ Oct 1st 2007 1:19PM

I find "flailing" the wiimote to be an extremely satisfying way to slam someone into the wall in Mario Stikers. This looks pretty cool too.

James @ Oct 1st 2007 1:33PM

Are you sure the Wii isn't just two N64's duct taped together?

Honestly it doesn't look bad because it's cell shaded it looks bad because it's blocky. I'm all for the Wii but they should know their limits when creating games. Realism isn't one of the systems strong points.