Gamers don’t have the most celebrated history of being cool people. Except for yours truly. Not since The Wizard, featuring the mighty Fred Savage, has there been a player who exudes cool with a capital C. That is, until we meet Travis Touchdown from Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is the third in the series by Suda51 (look him up), though it’s not really considered a follow-up to the second title and more of a companion piece that flirts with indie games. Heck, if someone was playing this on their home rectangle and you weren’t aware it was a No More Heroes game, you’d be forgiven for thinking this was either a Nintendo eShop game or PSN title. It’s not the gameplay that stands out, but the segments in between.
The tale begins with a series of cutscenes that result in Badman being tasked with killing Travis. He has his motive: Travis killed his daughter. The bastard. Travis now lives isolated in a trailer, somewhere in Texas(?), playing videogames and living the dream. There’s not much to explain, but Badman has been given a Death Ball, which, when in the proximity of Travis’ seemingly redundant console ‘Death Drive MK II’, causes them both to be absorbed into the game. Their objective is to find out more about the mysterious Dr Juvenile and defeat the bugs that plague each game. Are you still following?
The levels are represented by the Death Balls you need to collect and plug into the console. Plug the Death Ball into the machine, and a new level begins. Some have slight themes like a Tron-type game, and another is a maze in the style of Hotline Miami. Still, they’re all predominantly the same game of running around, hitting things with your beam katana (the other one is trademarked), collecting coins and levelling up.
It’s this part of the game – the actual game – that will put a lot of people off, as it is incredibly repetitive and there isn’t much to do other than light and heavy attacks, plus an evasion technique. Skill chips are unlocked though, and you have the option of assigning four at a time along with a hotkey (L1 plus triangle, for example). Charging your sword is a must, too. There isn’t any ammo to collect, but you either have to shake the controller like a lemon or press L3 and wiggle the right stick to get your mojo back.
If you’re looking to platinum this one, it will take a long time – unless you don’t sleep or have a job – so adding two more players adds to the duration. By the way, the ramen just restores health in-game, but when you unlock the ramen stall in each level, you can hop on your computer in your hideout and ‘like’ the post on a ramen blog. Again, it doesn’t do anything to the game (other than a trophy for liking all the ramen).
Take, for example, one of the trophies: destroy 10,000 bugs. I would anticipate that it will likely be a total of three to four playthroughs to get to that number. Doable, but I don’t know if that game has that kind of longevity. You see, the highlight of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is the cutscenes and extras.
It’s hardly next-generation visuals, but that said, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes‘ presentation and experience throughout are very good. From the animated HUD at either side of the 4:3 ratio screen to the FMV cutscenes for each game (the intro for the Death Drive MK II is remarkably like the Mega Drive…), it just works.
If you like geeky stuff, then you’ll love this, but be warned that it is incredibly samey, and while there is a lot of fun to be had with the humour – notably the dialogue, I’m not too sure about longevity. Since completing the story mode, going through and playing again to see the same exchange so soon isn’t exactly exciting – and I’m certainly not going back for the gameplay. Yet again, another trophy reference really, as that is the only motivation.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes doesn’t have the same feel as the original games in terms of gameplay, but it does in terms of presence. I’m sure there will be another one in the future – it’s been over 10 years since the original, though. In the meantime, this is a good one for the fans, but maybe wait for a sale, and while waiting, grab a bowl of ramen. IRL.
