Review #8: No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle (30/07/23)

This is one of my favourite games EVER. I played it so obsessively over a week and its prob one of the games I've been most invested in in sooo long. This game seems fairly unnecessarily hated overall due to a few of its flaws, because honestly in almost all ways this seems like an improvement to 1 in my opinion. Once again, reviewing the Switch version.

This game takes a lot from the first game, so read that review first. It's mostly the same in gameplay but has some improvements. There's now an Ecstasy Gauge, which builds up to show when you can start getting Dark Side Mode activated and also apparently lets you use a Super Mode that I didn't realise existed for the entire game lmao. Dark Side Mode has some new and more fun additions, such as the Tiger transformation, which always feels exciting. Additionally, punches and kicks in this game now work much better and actually can be used in combat, unlike the last game, which really adds a lot to the combat and is something I love. Also, there's now a new system for weapons, in which you can switch weapon mid-combat and each weapon has their own playstyle. All these additions really refine the combat of the first game into something even more fun and exhilarating. The open world of 1 is removed, which is good for me as it saves a lot of time and the original game's open world just felt a bit lifeless and empty, with nothing to do other than travel between like 4 places. Additionally, side jobs have been replaced with retro game style minigames that can sometimes be incredibly fun (although some aren't really that fun, especially the space one), and the killing missions outside of the ranks are replaced with "Revenge Missions", which are effectively the same. The game has a new graphical style, which is a bit less harsh and unique than the previous game, but still isn't something basic or usual, so I still think it's good. I really couldn't say if I prefer 1 or 2's style because I like them both in different ways. The game's story kinda takes a hit in this game, with a new director making some of the plot feel a bit off. It has issues and is generally more silly than the first, plus has a few choices that make no sense and is even more overly sexual at points. Generally, it doesn't have as good theming as 1, but I think it still works well overall. It can be really funny sometimes and has AMAZING moments. As a standalone story, I still think it's done very well, but in comparison with the previous game it's a good bit worse. However, I do think a lot of this is made up for by the game's improvements over 1 and some story moments can still be really cool and exciting. The game's ending is a bit anticlimactic, however, but it's still fairly good.

The music is absolutely one of the best soundtracks I have heard EVER. The game's music director got a bunch of bands in to work on the soundtrack, giving it loads of variety, and it's filled with iconic bangers. There's a lot of emphasis on electric guitars and there's even some vocal tracks, like It's kill or be killed mix, a song based on the main motif of the series, or Philistine, a famous boss song with lyrics criticising Travis and a really talented singer. Even the retro minigames have some stunningly good chiptune music, with every track in Bug Out sounding WAYY too good for a random bug side job. My favourites from NMH2 are No More Riot, Ms. Teller, Shoegazer Stared at the Stars, Travesty and the two aforementioned vocal tracks. My absolute favourite of these is probably Shoegazer, although it's a very hard decision.

Box art stuffffffffffffff The US/PAL Wii box art is just... really not that good imo. It's just some art of Travis in front of some basic city art and a basic red outwards line thing background. Also for some reason the US version of the box art doesn't have the Santa Destroy star from the PAL and JP box's logo. Odd. The JP box art is much cooler, I enjoy the yellow background as it really makes the logo and Travis stand out, while also differentiating it from the colours of the first game. The black splatter with the characters emerging out looks awesome. This box art also shows more characters, without giving away ANY of the bosses and while still showing the range of badass characters in this game. The Switch box art that displays the bosses is also very cool, although 2 of the bosses are wayyyy too late on in the game for my liking. Otherwise I really like it, similar to the first game's box art like this but personally a bit better, since I think the darker colours and increased amount of red looks much nicer, although makes Travis and the logo stand out less. I fucking hate NMH box art that is just Travis in front of the Santa Destroy flag. I especially hate the awful flame effect with a Travis silhouette on the big box. Ew. It makes even less sense in this game considering you can't fully explore Santa Destroy in 2. Game: 9.5/10 (i hate decimal rankings but i kinda have to do it for this one, sorry) Music: 10/10 Box (US/EU Wii): 4/10 Box (JP Wii): 9/10

Box (Boss Showcase): 8/10 Box (Santa Destroy small): 1/10 Box (Santa Destroy big): 0/10