Travis is back to rain blood down from the sky once more.
Bad: Annoying camera, no boss buildup, no free roaming, minor programming problems.
Story Breakdown:
The followup to the 2008's Wii hit delivers all that the original did, and a little more. Travis Touchdown, the series protagonist, had clawed his way up to Rank 1 of the UAA (United Assassins Association). Upon avenging his parents death, and proving himself the best assassin in the world, Travis disappeared. He had walked away from No.1, leaving the title for someone else. Now, three years later, Travis is back to get revenge once again. After having seemingly disappeared from the world, Travis is challenged by the younger brother (Skelter Helter) of Travis' first kill (Helter Skelter). Seeking revenge on his brother's murderer, Skelter hastily rushes into battle with Travis, only to be easily defeated by the worlds best assassin. Travis then learns that Skelter was the 51st ranked assassin, and that he must once again begin his ascension to the top. Before dying however, Skelter reveals to Travis that their fight was only part of his plan to get revenge, and that Travis cannot kill without reaping the consequences. The next morning Travis awakes only to have the head of his best friend Bishop hurled through his window. With building rage, Travis learns that the mastermind behind his friends death is the wealthiest business man in the city and, conveniently, the new top ranked assassin. Thus begins Travis' Desperate Struggle. (warning: Travis has a MUCH more serious personality is this game)
Gameplay Review:
The game plays much like the first, with minor camera changes, and a smoother feel. The game is played from a 'behind the back' view, and the fighting style is that of a generic action game. Mashing of the 'A' button triggers an onslaught of slashes from Travis' Beam Katana, and the 'B' button delivers melee attacks (which can be used to daze an enemy, and perform acquired wresting moves on them). Like in the first game, every time an enemy runs out of health, an arrow will appear on the screen. Swing the wii remote in whatever direction specified and Travis will deliver a final blow. These blows can range from a beheading, to chopping an enemy in four pieces, but are always sure to deliver a rainstorm of blood and money. A difference in gameplay however, is the ability to active Travis's 'Ecstasy Gauge', which will make Travis invincible, and release a super fast barrage of attacks when full. Careful though, the gauge will go down when Travis receives damage during normal gameplay. Another gameplay change is the process of competing side jobs, and the time spent at the gyms. Both areas are played in NES style 8-bit. The graphics and music look and sound as if they came straight out of an NES classic. It's fun, old school, and perfectly developed. Jobs will include vacuuming bugs, delivering pizza, and clearing Earth's atmosphere of garbage. As for the gym, there are only two different minigames to play. One is for your stamina, and is 30 seconds of trying to stay on a shifty treadmill. The other is for strength, and is 30 seconds of properly defending yourself from airborne dumbbells, and hearts (does the game sound absurd yet?). Beyond all that there are also two new playable characters in NMH2, Shinobu the previously 8th ranked assassin, and Henry Touchdown, Travis' Irish twin brother. These two are welcome additions to the playable frenzy, but they don't last to long before you start playing as Travis again. One gameplay aspect that will be missed by fans is the ability to free-roam the city. All events and landmarks are chosen from a world map. Most land marks however are the same, with the same characters there (like Naomi for example). The graphics of the game have a lot less cell shading to them, which is a good and bad thing. Sometimes it gives the game more of a serious feel, but sometimes it makes everything look a bit choppy and not as smooth looking as in the first one. The boss battles are all fairly fun and well done, with unique characters that show a lot of diversity and style. The only problem is that it doesn't feel like they really stand out like in the first one. It feels more like you're just mowing throw everyone, one-by-one without giving them a second look, which makes them seem very forgettable. Overall though the game is a basic improvement over the first one, with only one real problem I can think of*. It was a fun, busy, riveting success of an action game, and I can't wait to see what SUDA51 does next.
*So basically this was the only problem in the game, but in my opinion it's a big one and this game definitely lost points for me because of it. Sometimes at Airport 51 (the clothing store) you would go buy some clothes, and what not and just think nothing of it. However later in the game sometimes you'll notice Travis wearing clothes that you never bought or something stupid like that. Basically that's not a big deal, It's just free clothes. That's not the worst part. Then you'll go to the motel to change clothes, and you'll notice that some clothes may be missing and you have to REBUY them. And this does not just happen once, you may end up buying the same thing like six times. The reason this bugs me so is not because it's a waste of my time to make the money for clothes (even though it is....clothes are NOT cheap in this game), the reason this bugs me is because it's a huge glitch in the production of the game that should have been caught, and for all I know may have been caught, but published anyway. It's just not professional and lost the game some points for me.
STILL a great game though.