No More Heroes (Wii)

It is a a shame that the european version of the game no longer has the streams of blood the American version has, BUT, what some people are forgetting in their reviews for this game is that even without the gushing blood, this is truly a magnificent game.
I have NEVER played a game like this and all wii owners waiting for something different, fresh and violent should definitely invest in this game.
What Grasshopper has done brilliantly is exploit the wii's strengths. For combat you won't be swinging the Wii remote round like a looney, you'll simply be pressing A and raising and lowering your wii remote for the two different stances - simple but very effective and deeply satisfying especially when delivering the final blow. The true delight of this game though is its boss battles which are without doubt some of the most fun I've played in any game.
The game does suffer from frame rate issues and between assassinations it can be a bit of a chore to drive around the city doing little jobs here and there and collecting t-shirts from bins, but you'd be a fool not to buy this game on the principal that it's not as gory as its American counterpart, because you'd be missing out on an absolute classic...

I love this game. Being half way though, I've found it to be a focused adventure game. You play Travis Touchdown, suckered into gaining the 11th rank of the UAA (United Assassins Association) by the sexy Silvia Christel.

Stuck in a game where he can only win (loosing means death), Travis' original intent was to get into Silvia's pants. But after a few rounds, No More Heroes takes a turn I never thought it would. The pressure of remaining or advancing in ranking, the blood on their hands, and the families and lives they've missed out on, all weight heavily on the characters Travis will meet. And in turn, he will understand. Think of Kill Bill, with Japanese quirkiness and you won't be far off.

Style is paramount in this game. From the odd cel-shading effect with harsh shadows (tricking my eyes into squinting sometimes, like I would on a bright summer day), to the very cool fighting styles employed by all the characters. The Wiimote has yet to be used better for hand to hand combat, with a move in the right direction of either or both hands to make a finishing move.

Through the game you'll learn new wrestling moves to perform, which get more complicated and require several simultaneous wiimote and nunchuck gestures. You can increase your stats (health, strength, etc.) by going to Thunder Ryu's Gym; you'll actually mimic Travis on screen for some of the activities: lifting weights and doing squats, etc.

Driving is a serviceable, but fun way of getting about the city. It isn't the Grand Theft Auto some people were hoping for, and it was never meant to be. Think of this more along the lines of Bully, or Beyond Good and Evil, where travelling is just that: A to B. This isn't a game where you'll be happy driving around for hours doing nothing like you can in the GTA series.

This is a gamers game. An anthology of every game stereotype and cliché in style. Travis even runs like a game character, bounding as Mario does from the original NES game, but in a more realistic manner. The sounds, fonts, and interface are retro 8-bit in style, and it is wonderful. This game enjoys being a game. You even get fun arcade style leader board after every assassin bested.

There aren't many negative points. The missing blood in the Japan and European versions aren't missed, and enemies exploding into black dust with fountains of the in-game currency is just as cool an effect. It fits more into the concept of a game for gamings sake. Though it is odd the blood was replaced, whilst the game is full of bad language. So parents? Don't get this if you don't want your kids mimicking some of the very clever insults, and funny answer machine messages.

There's some slight screen-tear on my CRT TV in places, though I've not noticed a drop in frame-rate; it's easy to confuse the two, but they are different. Perhaps flat-screens handle tearing by delaying the image on screen.

Pop-up whilst driving is noticeable, but only on parts of the scenery and textures - it doesn't hamper your driving ability, and you'll be able to find important items in the distance. And colliding with other cars has little effect: both vehicles will just stop. At faster speeds you'll fall off your bike. That's about it.

I would recommend this game to everyone. It could have done with a bit more polish, but I'm really trying to find bad points. If you want a driving game with adventure elements, get GTA. If you want an adventure, with driving elements, get this. And if you really want blood get it imported.

One of the Wii's most stylish games and one of the console's best titles has arrived courtesy of Suda 51. Don't be put off by other reviews that berate the UK version (which is the same as the Japanese original) just because it lacks the blood of the US version, this doesn't affect the overall quality of what is a superb game. In fact many reviews, and Suda 51, prefer the bloodless version as it improves the games pace and doesn't distract from the games overall look.

No More Heroes is the gaming equivalent of Kill Bill. You play the uber-cool Travis Touchdown, as you work your way through the 3D city of Santa Destroy, using your Wii remote to take out tons of enemies and work your way up the ranks to be the city's top assassin. Think PS2 classic Devil May Cry but with extra bits thrown in, including a variety of brilliant jobs/tasks to help fund your carnage. How many other games see you pumping gas, collecting coconuts, eradicating scorpions and catching lost kittens in order to earn cash? How many other games see you sitting on the loo in order to save the games progress? Humour is a big part of what makes No More Heroes so great and whilst it might sound like a gamer's game, casual gamers shouldn't be put off, the introductory training mode will have you up and running in minutes.

And should you need further convincing, NGamer, GamesRadar, Edge, The Official Nintendo magazine, nRevolution and IGN have given No More Heroes scores of between 88% and 94%, describing it as "...by far one of the best looking and most distinctive Wii games to date". It's hard to disagree.