Zero Punctuation believes in No More Heroes

by Alexander Sliwinski { Apr 9th 2008 at 11:00PM }

Zero Punctuation discovers that we could use another hero (and a way home) in this week's review of Suda 51's No More Heroes. Rightful finger-pointing at Suda 51's pretentiousness starts the review, but it soon gets slashed away by Yahtzee's belief that No More Heroes does offer something "different." As we all know, "different" is this industry's version of the Monopoly "Get Out of Jail Free" card. It won't save a game from nasty reviews, but the cuts are certainly less deep.

Thunderdome your way to this week's NSFW review of No More Heroes after the break.

Tags: escapist, no-more-heroes, nomoreheroes, yahtzee, zero-punctuation, zeropunctuation

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Rollins @ Apr 9th 2008 11:08PM

Honestly, that seemed more like an actual game review than most of his past videos. As a result it wasn't quite as funny, but it was still amusing.

Dan CiTi @ Apr 9th 2008 11:15PM

One of the best games of the year, and one of the best in a while too.

psyborg @ Apr 9th 2008 11:16PM

Good to hear, not surprising considering how well the game did in other reviews(outside of a couple)
http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/933024.asp

The Artist formally known as Jesus @ Apr 9th 2008 11:21PM

Does he review import games or just the ones that have been released in AU? Because I don't want to wait 1 more year for him to review Brawl. (assuming he wants to)

SharpShooter @ Apr 10th 2008 12:44AM

He only reviews game once they come to AU. I remember in one review complaining he had to wait months before the game came to AU.

Shignami @ Apr 10th 2008 10:54AM

I think I remember reading on his website that he had gotten a freeloader and a copy of brawl, and posted his first impressions of it.

I think we haven't seen one yet because his publisher at The Escapist decides what he reviews, not the man himself.

And I don't know what y'all down there are talking about, I loved killer 7.

Deprincer @ Apr 9th 2008 11:22PM

Yahtzee is a badass.

Vegnagun bwf @ Apr 9th 2008 11:24PM

I can't believe that of all people, Yahtzee likes Killer 7.

Zertoss @ Apr 9th 2008 11:30PM

I was kinda surprised by that too, but he also likes Earthbound, so it all balances out.

Gavin @ Apr 10th 2008 2:02AM

Yeah, it had just about the worst controls of any game that I've played in about a decade. Never bothered to even finish it because the gameplay was so damn annoying.

MortifiedocAlot @ Apr 10th 2008 2:12AM

Same here, I liked the game myself but for a person who seems to hate most of the games he comes in contact with (lol it's his job) why would he love killer 7? Also despite everyone hating his review style I agree with a lot of the things he says.

Morisato @ Apr 10th 2008 2:16AM

It's because he's a masochist... isn't it obvious?

Roto13 @ Apr 10th 2008 5:52AM

Piffle. Killer 7 was a work of art.

Levi @ Apr 10th 2008 1:25PM

It's because he likes creativity in games. He will forgive a game with poor control if it at least tries to be inventive. He seems to slam FPS games with generic space marines the most.

Halwende @ Apr 9th 2008 11:26PM

I think the link in "this week's" is a bit broken guys...(at time of writing this comment anyway)

cole @ Apr 9th 2008 11:28PM

You know... I always had that same feeling while playing the game, that some of the parts were intentionally poorly designed as a comment on other games of the genre.

About half way through the game I became convinced that the reason that the open world city is so dull and uneventful must be because Suda 51 was using it to make a comment about either his opinion that GTA offers a large expansive world with relatively little to do, or more likely, it was a statement about how most GTA clones do little to add to the sandbox genre and never live up to the high standard set by GTA.
So by intentionally making a rather boring sandbox city in NMH, the designer is simply mocking all the other games who try so hard to emulate GTA and fail...
But then I kept saying... that can't be right... if he really felt that way about GTA clones then the best way to show them up would be to make an awsome Suda 51 style GTA clone that really kicked ass.
Not sure if this makes any sense, but do you know what I mean? Did anyone else feel this way?

cole @ Apr 10th 2008 1:39AM

Its almost as if Suda 51 wanted us to scream "What the hell is this crap?" in response to the "open environment" as a way of forcing us as gamers to realize that the entire genre of open world sandbox games is, at least in his opinion, crap.

I think he got alot of heat for making Killer7 on-rails... so I felt like this was his way of saying... "OK you bastards you want open world, I'll give you open world! But its gona suck just like I think every open world game sucks!" I've never read that deeply into a video game design, but then again most games are pretty straight forward. NMH is anything but...

ChooChooCharlie (Brawl: 1504-5357-9285) @ Apr 9th 2008 11:41PM

Unfortunately, I think it was more of a case of poor design choice than social statement. That's the main problem with SUDA 51 / Grasshopper Studios - great ideas, not so great implementation of said ideas.

tmacairjordan87 @ Apr 10th 2008 12:09AM

no one intentionally makes their game shitty.

Sidepocket @ Apr 10th 2008 1:56AM

Actually I think the reason why the Over World was done so bare is the simple point that Travis does not give a crap about the "real world" and only cares about his fantasy violence.

All the moving, cat, and jobs are just a way so he can get the money to get to his fix in the rank fights. He is hugely disconnected with reality and that is fixed over the course of the story.

Kind of like gamers. Gamers do not care about there job, presidential elections or MTV. All of that is just money they get so they can by the game and whack off to there gaming fix.

A social commentary about gamers. Just like what Suda51 said it was.

Shmil (Brawl Code 2621-2310-1994) @ Apr 10th 2008 2:22AM

@ sidepocket
So, being a gamer you're saying that you don't care about the election, your job, or MTV?

btw, you don't need to be a gamer to hate MTV

Burnt Meatloaf @ Apr 10th 2008 6:05AM

I have hope for INFAMOUS. But, Sucker Punch seems to like Rube Goldberg setups more than sandbox worlds, so I'm still skeptical.

deaftly @ Apr 10th 2008 9:53AM

The art direction in this game was pretty good but everything else about it just sucked, it got very repetitive, controls were pretty much absolute shit and the story was crap. Why exactly do people think this game was that great?

deaftly @ Apr 10th 2008 9:53AM

deaftly @ Apr 10th 2008 9:54AM

IM NOT REPLYING ARRRGH.

ChooChooCharlie (Brawl: 1504-5357-9285) @ Apr 9th 2008 11:37PM

While it was a fairly enjoyable experience, I actually found No More Heroes to be kind of a let down after Killer 7.

I don't know - maybe I was expecting something more in the vein of the mind-blowing, perception-destroying story that made up K7, rather than the silly, over-the-top button masher it ended being.

On another note: why could you not unlock Henry's beam katana? Instead of being able to wield an extremely powerful sword in subsequent playthroughs, the only reward for defeating him is the opportunity to collect a handful of optional developmental artwork, woohoo.

Kris @ Apr 9th 2008 11:43PM

Its almost as if Suda 51 wanted you to scream "What the hell is this crap?" in response to the "open environment" as a way of forcing us as gamers to realize that the entire genre of open world sandbox games is, at least in his opinion, crap.

I think he got alot of heat for making Killer7 on-rails... so I felt like this was his way of saying... "OK you bastards you want open world, I'll give you open world! But its gona suck just like I think every open world game sucks!"

I've never read that deeply into a video game design, but then again most games are pretty straight forward. NMH is anything but...

AcidMonkey @ Apr 10th 2008 12:06AM

You know, it's great that Yahtzee's finding more games that he (sort of) likes. I'd been looking forward to this game mainly because the Wii is in desperate need of another more adult-ish game. Glad to hear he liked it, though it still sounds more like a rental to me.

Haon @ Apr 10th 2008 1:06AM

Look at the bones!

Tim The Enchanter. (Formerly not-so-well-known as AcidMonkey) @ Apr 10th 2008 8:55PM

Lol...

SpekOpz @ Apr 10th 2008 12:45AM

This was the first review which I actually got bored. Not as funny as his other reviews but still decent.

Chris_Mac @ Apr 10th 2008 6:04AM

Do you have ADHD or something? it's only 4 minutes long.

Vcize @ Apr 10th 2008 1:44AM

Do we really need a new post every time this guy puts up a new review? His schtick is worn out.

Santo @ Apr 10th 2008 2:15AM

To we really need someone bitching about ZP reviews being covered on Joystiq every time this guy puts up a new review? I don't think they're going to stop.

And besides, I like his reviews, but I would probably forget to check the Escapist if Joystiq didn't put these things up.

Raikage (LDF CRAB BATTLE!!!) @ Apr 10th 2008 2:40AM

Everyone likes these but this guy.

Go die in a house fire.

Love:

Joystiq

samfish @ Apr 10th 2008 2:20AM

Someday I'll be a good boy and buy this game.

ugg.tryptophan @ Apr 10th 2008 3:12AM

becuase right now your a filthy one

Trev @ Apr 10th 2008 10:41AM

It was the primary motivator for my consideration of a Wii purchase. After looking at the other games that were out / are going to come out, I decided against it, but I did borrow a Wii and NMH from a friend for a couple of days. Loved it. Best use of motion on the system. Rent it, at least.

Jansperus @ Apr 10th 2008 2:48AM

I agree that this review wasn't as entertaining as the other reviews I've seen of his, but I think that only PROVES how EFFING AWESOME No More Heroes is!

mopo @ Apr 10th 2008 7:01AM

http://pv.webbyawards.com/nominee/entry/835622072

vote for zp!

Korova @ Apr 10th 2008 5:18PM

did it!

Korova @ Apr 10th 2008 5:19PM

too bad 'stiq is not up. Must the lack of that f'n edit button everyone complains so much about. shieeit

Kevin @ Apr 13th 2008 6:40PM

beat the game.

totally worth it.

Merumeru @ Apr 24th 2008 3:58AM

XD ah what a fun ass game this was, yeah, the open worldness sucked, but cmon, once you got through the loading screens and midways, it was a really fun 'button masher' XP

dont know about a lot of you guys, but didnt realize an action game = button mashing = SUCKS ASS XD