The man-child with the fantastic name, Travis Touchdown, is back yet again and learns that once an assassin always an assassin. The brother of one of his previous victims appears on the scene and attacks him. Travis takes care of this nuisance but discovers he is only the tip of the iceberg. His best friend has been murdered and he finds himself pulled back into the killing game. Travis vows to avenge the death of his friend, no matter what it takes. In order to do this he must re-enter the killing game and once more fight to be the top ranked assassin. This means good times for us.

The combat is very similar to the first game, which is a good thing, but there are a couple of additions. Naomi, the grumpy weapons dealer with enormous breasts, provides you with new weapons in addition to something pretty special which gets you out of a tight spot. One weapon comes in the form of dual wielding katanas and the carnage which results from using them is very nice indeed. It’s one for all the Star Wars fans who dream of wielding two Lightsabers. You use the nunchuk to move Travis around and the Wii-Mote to attack. Pressing the A button results in a basic slashing move, swinging the Wii-Mote has a more powerful slash which can cut enemies in half, and the B button is used to punch and kick your enemies and can also initiate wrestling slams when an opponent is dazed. Depending on how well you’re performing in combat slot-machine reels will pop up and spin with the result giving you a particular bonus. The most impressive bonus results in Travis transforming into a Tiger which you can then use to chase down and kill your terrified enemies.

Travis is very much the main character in the game but he isn’t only character you’ll control. Two other characters, Henry and Shinobu, will be used at specific points. Henry is a slightly more handsome version of Travis and has a cool dash attack. Shinobu is a sexy female with the ability to jump. Both are good characters, and it’s nice to have a change from playing as Travis, but your time with them is over very quickly and that’s a shame.

I enjoy the high-tempo hack and slash combat but the stand-out element for me is the mini-games. There is a selection of 8-Bit inspired mini-games available to play such as a Bomberman “clone”, a motorbike game in which you dodge vehicles, and a pipe-laying game. These games, including playing with your fat cat which involves simple button presses, are pretty good but nothing special. The real gem for me is the fantastic little anime arcade shoot ‘em up you can play on the TV in your home. It’s a shame the shoot ‘em up is over so quickly but with a few cute characters to choose from there is a decent amount of replay value in what is meant to be a throw-away addition.

Graphically there are no noticeable improvements on last year’s title but that’s not much of a negative as Wii owners know the limitations of the console. However, there are some nicely designed characters in the game and many of them are memorable. There’s a nice variety of music and although some of it’s quite basic, in the case of the 8-Bit games, it all fits in really well. Something I liked in the first game was receiving a phone-call and putting the Wii-Mote to your ear to hear the person speaking. The feature was interesting but for some reason it was dropped from this sequel.

A fair description of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is that it’s a beautiful mess. There are so many different elements to this game and they shouldn’t really fit together but somehow they do. No More Heroes is one of my favourite titles on the Wii and this game surpasses it in pretty much every way. I recommend this to anyone who likes action, surreal characters, and all-round craziness. Kick some ass!

9/10

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