I should have written a blog post a month ago. Instead, under cover of night, I joined the Gamespot review team and started thrusting my opinion on the unsuspecting masses, without so much as a tip of my hat. How impersonal. I can imagine many people scratching their heads, wondering who this unknown man was, and why he insists on having a space in his last name. I will offer no such explanation here, though. Instead, I'd like to devote my opening statement to one of the true marvels of the gaming world: No More Heroes.

My first reaction after viewing the Real Ending of this game was, "Are you serious?" I played and loved Killer7 two years ago, but even after becoming seriously interested in Harmon's spiritual secrets (is he God, Satan or both?), I still thought No More Heroes was pretty nuts. I cannot believe that someone like Goichi Suda has been allowed to make games on home consoles; his ideas seem to clash with everything else out there. But this is not just a new K7 with a different gameplay mechanic. While Killer7 had a deep story behind the overflowing blood and schizophrenic mind shifts, No More Heroes is just about being as over-the-top as the digital medium will allow. I am simply ecstatic that it exists.

There is not one serious element embedded in this game. From the name of the main character (Travis Touchdown) to the town you reside (Santa Destroy) to the very story holding these extremely violent excursions together (Quest to be the #1 assassin), this game is unrelentingly focused on being the strangest game out there. And while some people have been known to complain about the rather sedate minigames you must play between assassination missions, this juxtaposition further cements just how completely out there this game tries to be. Can you think of any other title in which you can cleanly chop off five heads with one fell swoop of your lightsaber in one minute, and then go collect coconuts on the beach the next? And it actually makes sense?

After sitting through the ending credits with a dumbfounded smile plastered on my face, and gasping in gleeful shock after the final, post-credits revelation, I reflexively glanced over at my collection of games from the last two generations. Aside from Katamari Damacy, of which no amount of praise would be too much, the rest of my collection (many of which are all time greats) are simply predictable in comparison. The stories are safe and easily digestible. Even when they bring about real emotion (as is the case in the exquisite Okami), there isn't anything that's truly shocking. Games like No More Heroes simply do not exist. The idea that someone can conceive of something so completely out there and actually find funding for such a project gives me hope for the future. There are no restrictions!

From beginning to end, No More Heroes realizes that it is beyond reality and pushes this idea to the furthest point possible. The combat seems to laugh in the face of other games in which a similar fight-to-be-the-best formula is enacted. This isn't a game about testing your gaming mettle; it's a saccharine-soaked bloodbath of joy. Only a modicum of skill is needed to destroy the 10 assassins who stand in your way to be the best, but isn't that how it should be? In one's own surreal imagination, when you're picturing your own quest to greatness, is there ever an insurmountable boulder blocking your path? Or do you have previously unrealized skills and abilities in your dreams, where lightsabers can be ordered online and every obstacle you must overcome is not only quite easy, but located less than 3 minutes from your home?

In many ways, No More Heroes feels like the daydream of a very sophisticated 12-year-old boy. The characters and situations are so thinly linked, it feels like a crazed tale being concocted by a group of insatiable friends constantly trying to outdo the other's bizarre turns. The twists that surface towards the end of the game are so cliché they are actually unexpected here. Suda51 may not be a master storyteller, but he certainly understands how to pique one's interest and pay off when push comes to shove. NMH ends on such a high note, it's impossible to even imagine a respectable sequel, even though my dreams usually end with an easy path to success.

Using any established criteria to determine what is and what is not a great video game, No More Heroes would fail in every category but sheer inventiveness. But you know what? In this blog where numbers have no place, I can throw my own distorted take out there and just see what happens. I am not willing to say that NMH is the best game that has come out this generation – I will need at least a year or two to fully digest what I played – but I can say with full certainty that this is one of the most memorable and enjoyable games released in years. I can say that this is why I started playing games in the first place and why I have chosen to review games for a living. To me, video games are all about living something that is simply not possible in real life. No More Heroes goes one step beyond that, giving me a virtual world that I wouldn't have even imagined beforehand. This is a true work of art.