GAME REVIEW
Review Scoring Chart - 10: Masterpiece; 9: Outstanding; 8: Very Good;
7: Good; 6: Above Average; 5: Average; 4: Below Average; 3: Bad; 2:
Awful; 1: Reprehensible; 0: Non-Functional.
NO MORE HEROES III
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
NO MORE HEROES III
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Publisher: Marvelous
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Goichi Suda, alias: Suda51, remains a rarity in the world of game design: a true auteur. That's not to suggest there's a shortage of well-known or talented designers out there, but few have back catalogues which feel as much a result of a singular artistic vision. As is the case with his stated or assumed influences from the film world, artists like David Lynch or Alejandro Jodorowsky, Suda's games presents worlds which are outwardly insane, but inwardly purposeful. The original No More Heroes was, on the surface, about a lightsabre - sorry, 'beam katana' - wielding geek slaughtering his way thorugh an array of eccentric bosses to reach the top of an assassins' ranking list, all in hope of getting into the pants of a sexy femme fatale. Underneath, it was a story about letting go of past traumas, about how a life of killing destroys the soul, and the emptiness of pursuing external glory rather than personal fulfilment.
No More Heroes III marks a return for Suda to the director's chair of a major game, having withdrawn from the spotlight for over a decade following an extremely difficult experience with EA Games developing Shadows Of The Damned. A small-scale warm-up to this game, 2019's Travis Strikes Again, was the first time Suda had been credited as a game director since the original No More Heroes in 2007. Despite NMHIII's flaws, it is a bold and exciting a reminder of how much the gaming world has missed him.
A word to the wise: if you haven't played Travis Strikes Again or any previous NMH game (all available on Switch), large chunks of this game's story will pass you by. The strength of the core gameplay and aesthetic fireworks should be enough to carry you through, but Suda is proudly catering to his fanbase here. That's a rare thing in modern sequels, which usually strive to be as welcoming as possible, but for those who have been following Suda's career for a long time, there's an extra level of thrill to his return seeing him so strongly playing to the galleys. Once that thrill has settled down, such an approach isn't always to the game's benefit - certain aspects of the game's design, especially the deliberately mundane side-jobs, were thematically relevant to the original but feel stranded here - but allowing an artist's vision to go uncompromised by fears around accessibility allows the game to cut the expositional fat and go hell for leather on the bonkers storytelling.
Following Travis' return to his hometown of Santa Destroy, the planet is invaded by aliens who pose humanity a challenge: find someone who can kill off their ten most dangerous soldiers, including the leader of the invasion, Jess Baptiste VI, aka FU - whose backstory, relayed in a glorious Game Awards fake-out trailer, is a hilarious dark spin on E.T. - or be conquered forever. FU's contact on Earth is an executive of an urban development company, Damon Ricotello - like FU, his name is an in-joke, being very similar to that of a difficult executive at EA during the Shadows Of The Damned development ordeal - who briefly encountered Travis in Travis Strikes Again.
The game functions on a slightly different cycle to the two Wii games: whereas those games had you doing side-jobs and assassin missions to raise money before facing a full level culminating in a boss fight, the pre-boss levels have now been excised, but for one short exception. You now access each boss fight by winning three qualifying battles, while raising any further money needed through the usual means: side-jobs - collecting rubbish, mowing lawns or blasting giant alligators attacking from the coast, the usual everyday stuff - or mini-battles where you face off against waves of enemies.
The loss of the levels leading up to boss fights removes the sense of anticipation which escalated towards each encounter, as well as betraying how the game has lost a little of the focus which was a strength of the original game. In that game, such level established a location and theme for each boss and their personality, also helping to build out the world of the game. As magnificently designed as the bosses are, having them be aliens creates a disconnect from the real-life relatability which grounded the original game's eccentricities. Thus, while they each put unique spins on the combat system and are as surprising and entertaining as could be hoped for, by their nature they cannot help but weaken the cohesion of the big picture of the game world.
Technical difficulties also betray the game in this regard. While the game runs near-flawlessly during combat, it has bumps against the technical limitations of the Switch console far more noticeably during the open world sections. While the framerate is not too choppy unless you're particularly sensitive to such things, the large amount of pop-in on distant objects and buildings makes the game's cityscapes feel full of empty space. That these areas are if anything less populated than the original game's sparse overworld does not help. With five unlockable areas, the game tries to get around this with later areas either being subject to a heavy visual filter, or simply not having much in them to begin with: the Thunderdome consists of a wide, empty salt flat, while 'Neo Brazil' is basically a car park, resulting in them feeling undercooked and disposable.
There's no doubt that the game is better for having an open-world in it - NMH2 removed it for a soulless menu - and while it's understandable why Suda's ambitions might have demanded multiple separated worlds, he ultimately might have done better simply making Santa Destroy bigger and creating additional landmarks in which to stage fights. Cruising around the city and its surrounding areas is still has a pleasure of its own, and there's (eventually) far more to do than in the first game's overworld, but the shift in visual tone from NMH's lazy border town - speaking of which, where did Mexico go this time around? A blocked tunnel into open sea is an uncharacteristically lazy substitute from Suda - to Akira-inflected sci-fi feels more scattershot and diminishes the sense of place. That at least half of the map is blocked off for the entire game adds to the impression of a world built around limitations and underachieved ambitions, rather than the first game's smaller but more complete and immersive world.
The redirection of the bulk of the game towards combat is clear recognition of where its greatest strength lies. The battles in NMHIII are as visceral and gripping as ever, more simplified than the likes of Bayonetta but with each move having a specific tactical role in taking down enemies - of which there are an impressive number, all requiring distinct strategies both individually and in combinations. Carrying over the Death Glove from Travis Strikes Again is inspired, adding a further level of depth and its slightly overpowered nature being offset by a general increase in difficulty. There are quibbles: dodging is finnicky and stunning an enemy through repeated sword hits is less satisfying than as the distinct mechanic it used to be. Having only four pre-set attacks on the Death Glove also removes one of the best parts of Travis Strikes Again's combat, which was finding optimal combinations of the myriad possible attacks and buffs. However, if the combat's individual elements do not quite reach the height of their implementation in prior games, the system as a whole is a triumph which never becomes any less enjoyable over the game's ten-to-fifteen hour completion time.
For fans, the series' storytelling is as much a source of pleasure as its gameplay, a trend which NMHIII continues with aplomb. From character motifs and designs to the various interludes between gameplay segments - including one where Travis and his friends discuss the movies of Takashi Miike - the game never stops tossing out surprises. While this does lead to a greater sense of randomness-for-randomness'-sake than the more focused originals, there are enough throughlines related to Suda's usual concerns, specifically his 'kill the past' mantra, to make the game a credible entry in the series even if the concept is being stretched a little thin given the original was supposed to be a standalone. While returning characters are distinctly underserved, the likes of FU and Damon are up there with the most engaging of the series' impressive roster of villains. FU's design is a particular standout, and on a narrative level, the contrast between the two characters' motivations and methods shows how far well-developed antagonists can elevate an already memorable story.
Like its predecessors, NMHIII is an acquired taste and does little to give newcomers an easy entry point. Its overworld is beset with technical difficulties and it struggles to recapture the focused vision and immersiveness of the original game. The side-quests offer slightly more to do outside combat, but little of the laid-back satisfaction of biking around the original Santa Destroy, dumpster diving and seeking out Lovikov balls (if you don't know, play NMH and find out for yourself). However, what matter is that the game's core remains ferociously strong: the combat is as punchy and bloody as ever, with the Death Glove adding an extra layer of tactical depth. The cast remains among the most charismatic of any game series then or now, and the storytelling never stops spinning them in directions by turn surprising, funny and somehow, inexplicably inevitable. The visuals can be rough around the edges, but the loopy art style and funky score more than compensates. If it can't live up to the first game's brilliance as an overall package, its moment-to-moment joys are often sensational. It's a worthy return for gaming's punk auteur. [ 7 ]
