Desperate Struggle, the sequel to the early Wii release No More Heroes, by Suda 51, is very much an improvement over the original. Here is my review:
Plot- Continuing three years after the events of the last game, Travis Touchdown retired after reaching Rank 1 in the United Assassins Association, but is now back after being challenged by the UAA to take on the 51 assassins now standing in his way. As incentive, the number one assassin murders Travis’ friend Bishop, making Travis very determined now to fight to the top. Along the way former assassin Shinobu and his half brother Henry show up to help, whether Travis wants it or not. Included in this round of assassins are Charlie, a football star who also has a giant robot; Million Gunman, a revolver toting millonaire (of course); Margaret, a gothic lolita sniper/scythe wielding ghost (with easily one of the catchiest songs of the soundtrack); and also the return of previous assassins Dr. Shake and Destroyman, who have both been rebuilt after their previous fights in the last game. And others. Suda 51′s twisted humour and love of pro-wrestling are back, adding to the flavor.
Gameplay- Elements from the last game were either removed or improved, making this game very enjoyable. Gone is the sandbox world that you could spend a lot of time simply getting lost, now Travis can fast travel from location to location. The fighting controls are more fluid, and there are new combos that he can use. When playing as Shinobu and Henry, the controls are a bit different, meaning that you may not enjoy their levels as much as when Travis is in control, but admittedly there is only one short segment where you get to play as Henry, and it is barely relevant to the game. The side job minigames are back, but this time they are all modeled after old fashioned games, and they are definitely challenging at times. Since there is no overworld there is also less opportunities to use Travis’ bike, a shame since there could have been more that was done with it. The three settings, Sweet, Mild, and Bitter, are easy, difficult, and challenging, in that order. Upon trying easy and then moving up to Mild (Bitter is unlocked after beating the game) there is a great increase on the difficulty curve. Veterans of the first game should have no trouble with Mild, but there are a few boss fights that will take multiple tries. Now Travis can switch weapons mid-fight, which is very useful, since I find certain katana work better against various enemies.
Music and Visuals- This game has a very catchy soundtrack, as mentioned above my personal favorite is Margaret’s song, found here there is also remixed songs from the previous games as well as some other great music. The game itself has some of the greatest graphics on the Wii, although for laughs the minigames all look like they came from the SNES era. Character design is one of this games’ strong points, since every single boss has their own quirks, personality, and genre that they pull from. Travis can customize his outfit, in his trademark shades jeans, and jacket. If you listen carefully, there is even a soundbyte or two that seem to be from Killer 7, Suda 51′s precursor to No More Heroes that came out on the GameCube.
Overall- Desperate Struggle is fun, challenging, hilarious, rude, and awesome. A satisfying sequel, sadly Suda 51 announced that Travis will not be returning, although I think he would make an awesome addition to the roster of the next Smash Brothers. The game lives up to its name and the hype, and is a great addition to any game collection, and is a definite star for the Wii so early in the year. For XBox and PS3 owners, you can sample the first game as it gets a port (soonish) but I note that again Nintendo grabs a very good game first before the other two (others include Resident Evil 4 and Killer 7). For me the playtime was roughly ten hours, although that could take less or more time based on difficulty or the need to collect the games multiple little asthetics.
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