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version seven. http://demongin.org |
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (2010)
Grasshopper Manufacture
Impression published on Tuesday, 2010-03-23 | Videogame | 2 stars
This game is not good.
I like it, but I can't act like it's any good. And I hate to have to say it because I'm definitely a big Suda 51 fan (i.e. I buy games solely because his name is on them), but No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has serious problems. After I crossed the finish line, the game left me with the distinct, unshakable impression that it was rushed to production and that way too much of the integral creative work was delegated to the B team.
Though there are, of course, various strong points and bright spots--the minigames/sidejobs are hell of fun and Suda 51's signature graphic and narrative style are as sharp as they've ever been--but on balance, there's just not enough good to outweigh the bad.
The first and most important fact of the matter is that most of the game's dozen-odd boss battles just feel straight phoned-in: I finished the game over the course of two days and, though I just set the controller down a scant nine hours ago, I can hardly recall one single boss battle (let alone recall one with fondness). Instead, all that comes back are some memories of prelude or summary banter and a bunch of button-mashing. I know it's not fair and it's probably my own fault, but I couldn't stop comparing NMH2 to the original, where the epic and memorable battles with Shinobu, Holly Summers and Bad Girl are concluded excellently by an awesome showdown with Jeane and an eminently fun "bonus round" with Henry.
On a related note, the playable interludes with fan-favorites Shinobu and Henry--which were a big part of the pre-release hype--are the sort of fluff-masquerading-as-features that might as well not have been included, as they come off half-finished and under-developed. Henry (who is again hilariously voiced by Raiden-doing-a-terrible-Irish-brogue), whose playable bit is at least over quickly, doesn't inflict the same pain as Shinobu, but neither character's playable part is any good. Henry's got one incredibly boring and poorly designed boss fight, but there's some really miserable platforming for Shinobu that prefaces a lame Revolver Ocelot homage, some more groan-inducing platforming and then the whole unfortunate business finally concludes in a nothing-but-disappointing Destroyman reprise. And, I should note, there's some insult-to-injury there too, in addition to more boredom and poor design: as if it weren't bad enough that players were asked to button-mash through yet another boring, cookie-cutter boss battle, this one is a 15 minute reminder of how much better the original NMH is than it's sequel, in terms of boss battles.
The numerous, lame boss battles of NMH2 dovetail nicely with the battle/adventure sequences, which have themselves been rendered so easy and so repetitive--there are maybe half a dozen different kinds of enemy and none of them do anything difficult or complicated--that you don't even really need to power Travis up to tear through the adventure sequences like a rock through wet paper. And while it's true that combat control has been improved, the improvements don't really do anything for the game overall, as they are part of a game design that is fundamentally un-fun on account of easy it is.
Even more disappointing than a watered-down gameplay experience, the narrative and plot also feel like that paper that came together the night before it was due: believe me when I tell you that I "get" Suda 51's disjunct, apathetic, "punk"* approach to narrative, and please also believe me when I tell you that the level of narrative and thematic cohesion in this game pole-vaults across the line that separates "intentional cultural and media palimpsest" and "random shit written down on cocktail napkins and pulled from a foam-front Von Dutch hat."
The thing that really got to me, however, was the score/soundtrack. Masafumi Takada (another guy whose name on the box figures largely into my decision to buy it) appears only in remixed form and leaves Jun Fukuda to take the driver's wheel on NMH2, and this ended up a persistent annoyance to me. Whereas Takada is much more of a composer, and creates compositions that convey mood and evoke imagery, Fukuda is more of a producer, and his various works are very much tracks, in the sense of a single, monolithic piece of popular music from one of the popular genres: Fukuda's tracks are very modular, very generic** and very unambitious. They detract from the experience. Another sonic/atmospheric detractor is the fact that there are so many remixes of the NMH theme (which was, itself, an homage to one of Takada's melodies from Killer 7): after the Nth remix/cover/variation/version, it begins to grate.
But, all of that having been said, I had a blast. As I mentioned, I binged on the thing and I felt compelled to do so. I literally couldn't put the controller down until it was finished. And I would definitely recommend that anyone else who has played the first game and is in a position to appreciate the differences (and what limited continuity exists between the two games) should do so.
But I can't say that NMH2 is a great game, I can't tell you that I'm for sure going to pick it up again now that I've beaten it and I can't tell you that it's going to be any fun if you're new to the NMH concept. I can definitely tell you that I like it, however. And that I don't regret the 12 hours it took to take it in.
* Or "post modern", depending on how much of an asshole you are.
** "Generic", that is, in the technical sense: they're songs that clearly hail from a genre and embody/typify that genre.
