I’m a great admirer of Suda 51, ever since the mid-2000s and playing his masterpiece Killer 7. Since then, Suda 51 has been the king of weird, corny and over-the-top fun gameplay and stories. With the likes of Lollipop Chainsaw, Shadows of the Damned, and his long-running legendary series No More Heroes, he has established himself as one of the great game directors of multiple generations. This is the 3rd main title in the series and involves the legendary hitman Travis Touchdown on his most epic venture yet, taking on crazy aliens from outer space. Will No More Heroes 3 be another Suda 51 touchdown? Or a razzle, dazzle flop of old ideas?
What is No More Heroes 3
Originally released on the Wii in 2007, No More Heroes told the tale of Travis Touchdown, a geeky dude who one day buys himself a cool lightsabre knockoff and is unwillingly entered into a deadly game of determining the world’s greatest assassin. Travis manages to become a top assassin and begin his stellar career as a lavish, and highly skilled killer of killers!
Now it seems as though his renowned skills as a highly trained murderer for hire will be tested once again, this time on a planetary scale. No More Heroes 3 begins with an invasion from a gathering of elite alien assassins, who decide to cause some serious trouble. It’s time for Travis to rise through the Galactic Superhero rankings and stop the world-ending aliens, who resemble a massively evil K-Pop band!
Travis with his band of merry killers, his cute chubby cat Jeane and his magnificent laser beam katana, will slice, dice, hack and slash in spectacular beauty. Expect lots of pop culture, funky colours, undertones of corporate evils and baddies with inflated egos from what could be one of the Suda’s best games.
No more heroes, just killers for hire
Suda’s writing credits are something to marvel at, as he’s been writing for video games for over 20 years. With the likes of The Silver Case, Killer 7 and Black Knight Sword, his writing usually ranges between the zany, wacky pop culture fluff, to the more serious stuff revolving around the human condition, government conspiracies, and the ultraviolent human tendencies. Regardless of what kind of story Suda is writing up, he always delivers memorable characters, explosive events and interesting twists which break up all the foolhardiness and immense spectacle.
No More Heroes as a series has always been filled to the brim of nonsensical, Pop Culture fluff with plenty of ultra-violence for good measure. It doesn’t delve into serious material like Killer 7 does, but it has a lot of heart, compelling drama, and enough substance for some emotional gravitas. Travis is immensely likeable, and his crew of killers all bounce off his shining persona and form a charming comradery. The world is off-beat, incredibly dangerous and also fascinatingly captivating. It's not a place you would ideally want to live in, but it beats renting a place in the heart of Gotham City.
Travis’ alien opponents are the typical mix of goofballs (usually with southern accents) to the most vicious and cold-hearted psychos you could ever meet. They all do have such over-the-top personas, which relish tragic backstories, massive egos and a lust for power and consumption. Making them all perfect targets for Travis’ hit list.
As the story is largely structured as a game of death, where you train, level up and face one of the alien elites at a time, it does veer off from a typical three-act structure. It’s kind of like seeing Rocky preparing to fight Apollo, but it stretched out to see Rocky training over and over, each time more intensified, and fighting other boxing champions before facing Apollo in an epic finish. It does feel somewhat a little tedious by the midway point, but there are a few exciting events thrown in to mix things up. Usually involving Travis’ trusty gang of killers and helping them out. Plus you do get some very entertaining villains you working towards.
While not the same calibre of villainy as Killer 7, No More Heroes 3 is still a wholesome slice of self-aware, pop culture spew, mixing in violence, surrealism and dashes of corporatism and elitism.
Feels like a 2007 game .. in mostly the best way
As Travis Touchdown is the world’s greatest assassin, his main goal is to take down the board of elite alien killers, by proving himself once again. As he finds himself suddenly on the intergalactic superhero leaderboard, Travis must partake in a series of duels, proving his worth not only as Earth’s best killer but the universe. To climb up the ranks or to even challenge those already on the board, Travis will have to do some honest, hard work around Bay City, earning enough income to pay the fee for each opponent he wishes to fight. But also tackling odd jobs for XP, making him a better, tougher, and smarter fighter, the likes which no one has seen before. This mixes up ultra-violence and good old bureaucracy, a favourite topic of Suda 51.
Set within a decently sized open world, players will venture forth and take part in numerous activities that will earn them cash, spare parts, and experience for levelling up. These range from the weird and wonderful tasks of unblocking toilets, mowing someone’s lawn, picking up litter and many more. Doing these not only make Santa Destroy a better place, and more liveable considering the alien invasion but will make Travis himself much better as a human, and the ultimate killing machine.
The general gameplay loop is thus to improve your skills by fighting opponents, gathering enough cash for the ranking fee, and doing good deeds that will earn you lovely bonuses. It’s a simple, yet highly enjoyable and rewarding structure as you mould Travis into the ultimate killer of killers.
Suda 51 has a passion for cramming as many fun activities into his games and NO MORE HEROES 3 is no exception. There is a ton of different side quests and while many of them are a little tedious in general, there is a whole lot to do, and you never need to focus on anyone to progress. You can pick your favourites, roll with those, and still earn the XP and cash you need. There are the good and the bad side quests of course, but those which are good are short, and sweet and make the most of the game’s mechanics.
NO MORE HEROES 3 also gives players the chance to find rare collectables, unlock new clothes for Travis and even play with his beloved, chubby cat Jeanne. These are all fine, and enjoyable enough for the most part. I do feel that maybe there could have been some side quests which felt more developed or arched over time or connected to one another. Think Batman Arkham City/Knight where you begin a long road of side quests that lead up to a challenging and exciting conclusion.
We do get a healthy amount of side mini-bosses, and arenas with interesting enemy mix-ups, and the general random activities are, for the most part, fun and break up the pacing a bit.
The ultimate Suda 51 journey?Suda is renowned for placing such randomness in his games, making him a rival to Hideo Kojima. The interesting thing about Suda 51’s randomness is how it beautifully disguises the limitations of the studio, game engine and so forth. This is not a dig at Grasshopper Manufacturer or Suda, but much like other “not AAA” studios, especially in Japan, these guys will think of creative ways to avoid any gaps, missing content, or lack of polish. Like Killer 7 using Cell Shaded graphics for easier development time.
It is noticeable at times when this doesn’t work, particularly in one area of the world which looks like something from Fallout and the screen is given a super blurry filter. But other times, the randomness covering the shortcomings is quite wonderful. One moment, you’re playing the game like normal and suddenly, you’re in a visual novel! It's super cool and a lot of fun when these moments happen.
Where the shortcomings are felt the most would be with the open world…
Visually it’s a nifty world to explore, with plenty of colour and variety, making it one of the more unique game worlds of this generation. As you may have gathered there are a ton of things to do and of course, you can drive around for easier traversal (the Akira-style bike itself might handle like a shopping trolley at times, but it’s still a fun ride). But the world of Santa Destry lacks density and life, with a lack of population, next to no dynamic events and plenty of areas being cut off by either waist-high fences or invisible walls.
I know not all games need to be GTA, but each game world needs something to make it feel alive and breathing, plus be fun to explore over time. Take a game like 2006’s Dead Rising, where the shopping Mall Frank West was trapped within mutates over time, with new enemies, more zombies, different events and so forth.
Very little occurs in Santa Destroy and after a few hours of driving around, finding secret rewards and hidden loot, I felt like I had been there, done that and done it over and over. It truly feels like something ripped from a 2000s game and not in the best possible way.
Spewing Strawberry jam with my laser katana!
What No More Heroes seem to excel at was its combat, being laser-focused on intensity, variety and providing a healthy challenge. The fighting and action are visually spectacular, with plenty of momentum, and subtle innovations to change the pace frequently.
Combat in general feels very smooth, and responsive and has plenty of enjoyable highlights making it incredibly thrilling to pull off even the simplest of manoeuvres. Much of the combat’s DNA combines components of randomness, spectacle and even a few dashes of the Wii control system. For those familiar with the older games, Travis’ laser katana needs charging after a certain number of attacks and to do this, you need to shake the sword. Very much a staple of when the original game was out on the Wii, making use of motion sensors in the controls. But there are other moments which require rapid movement to either charge an attack or execute an enemy. These elements have transferred over well and feel right at home, even without the Wii controller, and just add a nice layer of tension and quick thinking during the heat of combat.
Travis can pull off massive combos but is given a whole host of other perks and powerups for each fight. the use of his mini-mech suit, instant kill ability, a powerful barrage of slashes and more with a system that’s akin to a slot machine. When you kill an enemy, there’s a lucky roll that gives you a good chance of scoring some extra currency, or the use of a fatal blow that could take out a rather tricky enemy. This system works well at giving you plenty of variety, and some amazing finishers but also a lifesaver when needed.
As you climb the ladder of elite intergalactic assassins, you’ll be doing plenty of fighting, with bosses, wave-based encounters, and various mini-bosses. There is a wide assortment of enemies to face off against, quite possibly the largest in the series, with many of them having some rather gamey traits and tactics you need to master. Some of these are difficult to grasp, while others might feel a tad simple, there is indeed a good enough mix of baddies to face off against, and the aforementioned systems, including some new powerups Travis can unlock really help tip the scales of many fights in your favour when used correctly.
But the biggest highlight is the boss battles, which remain some of the best in the action/adventure genre. The level of ridiculousness for some of these fights would make Hideo Kojima blush and always upped the ante as the story progressed. I loved pretty much every boss fight and thankfully, you get a chance to fight them repeatedly via a time machine in Travis’ hideout.
However, fans will see that there is something missing, and that is the themed levels. For those who won’t know, No More Heroes 1 and 2 had levels before the main bosses, which were themed around that boss. And these were absolutely insane at times, offering some of the best moments in the series. I gather due to the epic scale of the bosses here in the third part, these had to be massively cut down, or just removed for the most part. It’s a shame, but the bosses are still a major highlight here nonetheless.
While some small elements of the combat experience can be a little infuriating, the general execution, explosive nature, and spectacle will win anyone over.
Overall?Playing No More Heroes 3 feels like meeting up with an old friend and doing the same crazy s*** you did before back in the late 2000s. It’s the same as before, and you have a lot of fun hanging out, but you are older, and wiser and see the cracks in some of the crazy s*** you did before. But nonetheless, you have fun, it's wholesome and above all, it feels genuine, unlike much of the crap you deal with in your life today…
No More Heroes 3, much like Suda 51, isn’t going to appeal to everyone. But you must admire the nature of his processes and how much he rams into each game he delivers. While there are some notable elements missing from previous games, and some aspects feel incredibly dated, there is still so much good stuff. The randomness, combat, and insanity of the story and its characters will surely bring fans back for another stab at ranking up that killer of killers’ leaderboard. I recommend No More Heroes 3 for those like me, who love Suda 51, who love random fun gameplay and who admire much of the great stuff 2000s gaming brought us.
++ Insanely fun combat and boss battles
+ Visually pleasing and outstanding thematic elements
+ Plenty of neat things to do
- The story/pacing can become a little tedious near the end
- The open world is quite basic and has that 2000s feel
- Some notable stables missing, such as themed levels
A Playstation 4/5 review key for No More Heroes 3 was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review.
