This game is like Pulp Fiction on a stick.
Travis Touchdown is the main protagonist of this avant game. He is also one of the dozens of unique characters that make up the city of Sante Destory. Touchdown is what you could call an Otaku, or American who has become obssessed with Japanese culture. Oddly enough, he also likes to watch tons of wrestling tapes. His odd character is also defined by the different people you meet throughout the game.
No More Heroes, as previously mentioned, takes place in what seems to be an eastern city called Sante Destroy. You play the role of an assassion, Travis Touchdown, who is on a mission to become number one. Touchdown's motivations seem at first to be as simple as wanting to makeout with the other major character, Sylvia. Sylvia is the leader of what could be called an association of bad guys. Travis's job is to work his way up the ladder by battling through tons of lackies and interesting boss fights.
The gameplay in No More Heroes could be labeled as Grand Theft Auto Lite. Sante Destroy is left open for Travis to drive around with his bike, the Schpeltiger. As you would expect from a sandbox game, theres tons of different jobs you can take on to earn money, upgrade your lightsaber, get new moves, etc. Whatever your poison may be, theres always something to do. Theres also tons of references to anime culture like Dragon Ball Z, snide remarks about video games like Duke Nukem Forever, and allusions to movies like Back to the Future 2.
Your arsenal in No More Heroes consists of a lightsaber and a myriad of wrestling moves. The lightsaber combo mainly consists of typing a to perform combos, and you can also change your stance depending on how you hold the wiimote. Once you manage to stun the enemies you can perform grapples and icons pop up on the screen like live action sequences and allow you to perform body slams and the like. There is also a slot machine that rolls everytime you kill an enemy, and it can activate any number of special powers for Travis that are named after deserts and range in power.
However, the game isn't without its problems. Muddy visuals, unresponsive bike controls, and a few plot twists that will either make you want to pull your hair out or fall out of your chair laughing. Theres lots of humour to be had in the game as well. The save system consists of Travis using portable toilets that are always in conspicuous places. Despite the visuals being muddy, the style of the visuals are unique to say the least. The overall presentation in the game is great.
In conclusion, No More Heroes is a great game that manages to bring new things to the genre. Its also one of the few great third party titles on the Wii. It would be criminal for me to tell you not to get this game just for that reason. However, thanks to great characters, interesting combat, nice story, comedy, pulp culture references, etc No More Heroes is one heck of a game that should be enjoyed by anyone with a Wii......as long as you're this high.
*Holds up you must be this tall to ride sign*