NO MORE HEROES 2: HOLLOW BLOODSHED
no more heroes: a dopamine addict's kind of action game that placed you in the shoes of a sex-crazed otaku on his assassin adventures. one of my favorite games. no more heroes 2: desperate struggle is its psychotic offspring. it's leaner, meaner, has the drama cranked up to 12, and... doesn't hit quite the same. don't get me wrong, the game is good; junya iwata and yusuke kozaki return with their best character designs yet (margeret, alice, and the redesign of shinobu in particular), every voice actor murders their role, and the writing is hilarious. i'd go as far as to say it improves on the first at times - though people will argue for the "intent" of the original's combat, there's no denying that 2 is an eye-candy action game. also, shinobu gets more character and she's great. her behavior is one of the most criticized things about this entry, but i think it's a fair depiction of a directionless messed-up teenager.
i'm iffy on the rest. the music is inconsistent, often missing the consistency of masafumi takada. the writing is funny, but its always at 120% so the craziest moments stand out less. and what good is writing without the plot and the a e s t h e t i c f l a i r to keep me interested?. i guess suda51 brings something special in those departments. yeah, suda51 was almost completely uninvolved in nmh2 - which is confounding when you consider how INCOMPREHENSIBLY HORNY IT IS. the first nmh is a suda game about a man killing people for sex, and yet 2 completely out-hornys it. this is easily summed up by dr. naomi's redesign. she has killer style in the first game. a little skimpy, but fashionable and she's too concerned with her own shit to be a fanservice character. for some bewildering reason nmh 2 gives her massive boobs and a vague flirtiness. the jiggle physics in this game... they must be seen to be believed. kind of wretched.
complaints aside, i still like it. that being said i only watched the cutscenes on youtube and did not bother playing the game
END GAME REVIEW