No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle

[Family Fry]

Punk certainly is not dead and onward begins Travis Touchdowns desperate struggle.
The game starts of with Travis telling you to dump a nice big save, yet again breaking the 4th wall and all that. Once finished the title screen appears and we cut to a very familiar rooftop, guy looking like a FF7 cloud lookalike is there to kill Travis and

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avenge his brothers death, Helter Skelter. Although Travis takes the piss saying he can't even remember that fight.

This level is the tutorial designed to get you back into it all, those familiar it will all come flooding back.
A new thing is at the end of ranked battles you now have a death strike finishing move, which is stylish and satisfying. With this particular enemy you

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slice his head off, it shoots up into the air and lands straight back onto his shoulders, Skelter Helter DEAD!

After which you are greeted by Sylvia and the clean up crew, "well done Travees you are now Ranked

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51!!

"
Travis is mocked by her for his fall from grace and explains people will be playing the sequel fresh and don't want to be bored with the long explanation about your fall from grace Travis agrees, after this is said

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Skelter Helter comes back to life spewing that Travis will soon bear the burden of someones death being his fault, he laughs and then pulls his own head off

Cut scene follows with video store owner and friend of Travis, Bishop having a wank basically. A gang burst in the door, saying they are here to collect guns pointing, his final word is simply Travis
In the window in blood it's written Desperate Struggle.
This game rocks.

[Sixty]

This game rocks.

So, so true.

It's been ages since I last played through the first No More Heroes and it's brilliant to get back to Santa Destroy. These games have such an individual feel all of their own and the sequel's just as mad as the original.

Everyone complained about the city in the first one so I'm fully expecting everyone to complain that it's now gone and you can't wander around any more. This is the internet, after all. But hopefully this will mean the developers had more time to spend on the important stuff (the battles, obviously) instead.

It seems to play almost identically to the first one but it does feel like there's more potential for combos with the B button being used for kicks and stuff. I've only done a few so far but the side jobs are much improved: I avoided all info since the first trailer so I had no idea they

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take the form of retro-style minigames!

That was a nice surprise. The third one in particular was quality stuff. Can't wait to see what other ones there are.

I'd love to mention some of the things the characters have said that have made me smile and laugh but I don't want to spoil those little moments for anyone. I honestly never thought NMH would get a follow up so this is wonderful. Travis is back and it's awesome.

[Yakumo]

This is one game that makes me wish I still had a Wii. The original No More Heroes was fantastic and yes, I will be buying it again on the 360 "IF" the Japanese version comes with English voices and not only Japanese voices. Even though I can understand Japanese, the language just doesn't have the punch that English does when it comes to showing aggression. Fingers crossed it will have since the original JPN Wii version was in English.

Yakumo

[Family Fry]

Yeah I was suprised when I got outside motel, saw the bike and I was gearing up for a drive, nope zoomed out and was presented with a map at first I was like EH!?!
Didnt know that there was no exploration, I actually liked driving around so I will miss it, at least your not forced to do it to enter ranked battles which a lot of people hated in the first. Seems like it will be more about playing the most cool little NES mini games/jobs for cash to train and buy new weapons, went to the Gym and met Ryan

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"Freddie Mercury?"

.... did the training mini game and failed few times thus spending about $6K just trying to get it upgrade!
I proper laughed at Jeanie and BJ5 (Bizarre Jelly 5) it's sll crazy stuff, love the little bullet hell game based on the show too, most of the enemies look like a breasts with eyes.
Dialogue is always fun, glad the original cast is back too as Travis and Sylvias voice work are very nicely done, some of the things said are great. At the tutorial/beginning when Travis says

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When you see your brother in hell tell him he's still a douce!

Cracking stuff.

[Family Fry]

Well I clocked this last night on Mild difficulty with a completion time of around 14hours.
Pretty much sat there addicted to the it from start to finish I did the same with No More Heroes, this time progression is so much easier with the removal of pre-fight fees and driving around/jobs, you can just head straight on into the battles without, still did some of the jobs and revenge missions for cash though and closure.
I will have ending spoilers and boss spoilers in here so please don't look if you are going to play.
It was nice to see some familiar characters return

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Shinobou and Henery become playable for shorts bursts and it's not too bad. Shinobou has 2 ranked fights in-place of Travis as a favour to Sylvia, she does have a cool but odd jumping mechanic which is awkward but works in fights BUT of course the 2 boss fights just HAD to incorperate the awkward jumping around in the actual fights Still she does have a cool fight with New Destroyman (both of them) being split in half from NMH hasnt stopped him returning. There are now 2 each with half human/half robot body each, nicely designed on opposite sides. Liked it when he did the classic let us shake hands before the fight and it backfires on him severing his own hand in process. Henery being in this game felt a bit odd though, was he trapped inside Lets Shake? (yes and you finally get to fight Dr Lets Shake) he says he defeated Henry and got his revenege for the premeture defeat in the previous game. When he says this, you see stuck on Lets Shakes shell what seems to be a trophey of Henry, the pose of course paying homage to the classic star wars Han Solo carbonite pose. After you defeat Lets Shake, Henry reappears in your bed trapped in a nightmare which you have to help him get out. This is the only time you play as Henry and to be honest you wouldn't miss it if it was not in the game. He calls next day and goes on to thank his little brother for helping him (in a long voicemail!) he mentions he has killed 3 assassins above for you on the list, he also comments there isnt enough space/time for you to play/see but he took pictures as a memento for you to prove he did it, cut to three pictures of Henry with dead bodies and peace sign.

I thought the game started off incredibly strong and stylish as normal but after finishing it, it was only then I felt it was missing something at the core. I still can't quite put my finger on it but it has somewhat dampend my experience, I do think think it is mostly to do with the ending and leaving some questions unanswered, think Lost season finale will be like this! About the ending..

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It's an odd one, actually it felt like it didnt really come together all that well with ANYTHING tied to NMH 1. Also it did start to ask more questions and when this is suppose to be Travis touchdowns last game it's not exactly leaving closure. Your main bad guy is P.Batt Jnr, people may have to stretch the mind and say why or who is P.Batt Jnr to be the No.1 bad guy? This is where I was (yet again expecting) an epic story and maybe how he became Number 1, in the end he explains that you killed his father and brothers previously...then it hits you oh wait a sec the same P.Batt is the Pizza Butt owner from the side mission on first game? Yep his son has now become your main bad guy, rised to the ranks and out for revenge, so a sub plot from No More Heroes has made this guy the main bad guy. This of course does tie into the ethic at the heart of the game and Travis's Desperrate Struggle, most likely saying even the smallest decission as an assasin can lead to consiquences later in life and revenge. Near the end of the game Travis starts to get incredibly angry toward the UAA and how they are using Assassins, human beings to just kill each other for fun and so they have something to do, he starts to hate how they clean up after every fight or cannot let people die with honour, in one mission Sylvia finishes his opponent off with an Uzi and Travis mentions it. Also don't get me started on the many form of the last boss, Henry jokingly says "I'm not helping you even I have standards!" when the bosses second form of oversized superhero and he take third form, a massive collossus style giant/king king, this is where I thought Glastonbury would make a re-appearance but no wasted oppertunity there you have to fight him as a tiny human and he has some incredibly jammy attacks, one I'm sure you cannot avoid in his 3rd form!

That aside, there is more greatness in this game than there is most out there, yeah i feel it does have its shortcomings even with the refined gameplay, quicker map navigation and better job minigames it still left me feeling a little empty afterwards Think it was because my expectations were a little too high and possibly because I stayed on media blackout, I hadn't adjusted to a few things missing that I actually enjoyed about original. Worse case scenario the overall story wasn't told as well or as memorable as the previous and also it just didnt hold up (or do justice) against the awesome style of this game.
I would still slap it an 8/10, it manages to take with one and give with the other, it's missing something that stopped me giving it 9 and saying this is a total improvement over NMH as a whole.
How did you feel about it Sixty? You finish the main story?

[briareos_kerensky]

Had my first spin with the game tonight and I'm pleasently impressed by it.
It feels less button-mashy than the first game and even more comical/completely insane.
Even on Mild setting it also feels a bit harder and looks like the roulette for special powers is no longer triggered only when all enemies have disposed of...turning into a tiger for the first time was good, everyone ran away from Travis/Tiger and one-hit kills are always a good thing.
I've also liked how enemies tend to avoid to band together, in the previous game you could take on large groups of enemies by performing a finishing slash with your katana, at least in the first levels it's all about managing a small crowd one enemy at a time.
The camera still has some problems though.
Completed the second ranked fight against

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McDonald in giant robot form

, it was extremely hilarious.
BTW, how does the stamina minigame works? The pad moves in the same direction Travis run and he always ends out of it...am I missing something?

[Sixty]

How did you feel about it Sixty? You finish the main story?

Ha, not even close yet! I'm currently ranked 23rd, I think it was. Only done about four hours so far, and I've spent way too long trying all the side jobs. They're so simple yet somehow so good. Can't forget Jeane, either. I need to sink some proper time into it and I'll read your spoilers once it's finished. Considering the first game's ending, I can only imagine what's in store this time. Looking forward to being totally confused again.

[Family Fry]

The stamina mini game when the teacher presses the button it changes direction of treadmill OR speeds it up, so just counter it by facing in different direction.
I managed to finish every mini game as they only have around 4 level, loved the water pipe one, only got about 85% collectibles as I didnt realis until last area, the + brings up a map of the section you are in and ALL treasure chest locations are marked, DOH!
Loved the Jeane stretch, alway made me chuckle, also Glastonbury Rocks!

[Roddie]

Does anyone know if the UK version is to be censored like the last one?

[Family Fry]

Euro version was said to be having 2 separate editions, so all should be well.
Now all it needs is a confirmed release date.

[Kaladron]

I just can't do the Stamina training. There's something about alternately mashing Z and B that I'm just incapable of getting right and I end up sliding off the treadmill straight away.

Any tips?

[Family Fry]

Sounds silly but try and keep a slow steady rhythm BUT don't peak early (oh matron) around 15-10 sec mark is where it normally get a bit tougher. Try stay in the middle and keep an eye on the arrows under the tread mill, I found once I held back a bit it got easier as my fingers weren't hurting for the last 10 seconds.

[Kaladron]

Thanks. I'll give that atry.

Also: Has anyone been using the Dark Step much? I've found it much harder to pull off than in the first game. And it doesn't seem as useful either.

[Family Fry]

Good luck with Dark Step, think I nailed it twice in the entire playthrough, sure you have to strafe around AFTER you have blocked the attack, rather than before. Your right though it doesn't quite give you the boost you need after it's done, they may have toned it down because of the inclusion of "Ecstasy Mode" you can munch everyone when that's activated.

[Kaladron]

I've managed to pull it off a few times now, but it's not really helping with the boss battle I'm stuck on - the one with the

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big purple dragon

EDIT - I've just beat him but it was damn hard work. Managed to get a few Dark Steps in but could never stay untouched long enough to get my tiger thingy powered up. Some of his attacks were just too damn hard to avoid. Ended up keeping my distance and chipping away at him for the last few hits as my health dropped into the danger zone.

Maybe it's time to hit the gym.