Who Says Heroism Is Dead?
By ANDREW STEEVES
steeves(at)uwm.edu
No More Heroes, a game released for the Wii by Ubisoft earlier this year, has gotten generally good reviews. It has been hailed as the Kill Bill of video games, and in certain ways, that’s a pretty accurate way to describe it. When I think of assassins fighting assassins and ridiculous amounts of blood, my mind also goes to Kill Bill.
However, after playing the game myself, I became torn. In many ways, the game exemplifies the best and worst qualities of gamers and gaming. Let me explain.
You are Travis Touchdown, the 11th top ranked assassin in the world, with a strong desire to be number one. So you and your trusty beam sword must hack, slash and eviscerate your way to the top.
The game has two basic modes of play. When going on missions, either to kill higher ranked assassins or to earn money in order to pay for the privilege to do so, the game has an early arcade style quality to it, which is in no way accidental. The levels are very linear, with lesser enemies standing in the way of a boss at the end. Swinging the wiimote to and fro is an enjoyable experience, which is rewarded with showers of blood and money.
However, in between the missions, you are allowed to explore the city where everything takes place in sandbox fashion. It’s here where perhaps the biggest flaws in the gameplay are apparent, especially in the physics engine when, say, driving your motorcycle around town. Everything is awkward, clunky, and seems forced.
That isn’t what tears me about the game, however. On the one hand, the game is made for people who grew up playing side-scrolling arcade action games like Double Dragon. It keeps that style while adding in some blood and gore, since that’s what “mature folk” want. I like it a lot when contemporary games can tip their hat to classics in such a big way.
My problem though is, while playing the game, I run into a lot of aspects that I, one) know are dumb, and two) know that most other gamers will love. Playing the game occasionally made me little ashamed to be a gamer.
The entire plot has been praised as “High-concept” by IGN and other big-wig review sites alike. Personally, the outline of the plot sounds like a ton of other fighting games. A guy with an all-American douche bag name fights his way to the top and becomes number one. Yes, there’s a twist at the end, but there’s always a twist at the end. And what’s the number one most overused twist? I don’t want to ruin anything, but think about it, take a guess, and you’ll probably be right. You seem like a smart kid, Internet.
Like I said, I really did enjoy playing the missions, the bosses were enjoyably quirky and if you are a hardcore gamer, you’ll probably love it. But make no mistake, it is a gamer’s game. To those dabblers out there, may I suggest a rousing round of Mario Party 8?
That’s it. If I’ve offended your delicate gaming sensibilities by not agreeing with everything you think and say, let me know! Comment or email at your convenience.
-Andross