No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise Review

No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise is a “different” game which is best described as a “cult” experience. From the unusual, creative mind of Suda51 this enhanced remake is unusual, never takes itself too seriously and is home to more lunacy than a Victorian sanatorium. However, underneath the severed heads, bisected spleens and sexy landmine victims is there a great game or is it a case of style-over-substance?

Suda51 excels in making games that are difficult to describe and defy pigeonholing into neat genres. Similarly, they always make you sound odd when trying to describe them and No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise is no exception. It’s a title with gratuitous violence, coconut collecting, killer flaming baseballs, schoolgirl ninjas and “Big German Jugs: Collection #23”. As ever, these are just a handful of the unusual elements and this is a game that is certainly something of an acquired taste.

Heroes’ Paradise is an update of the Wii original that aims to address its faults and add plenty of new content. The story follows the unique, stereotypical otaku and hitman, Travis Touchdown as he attempts to fight his way through the ranks of the United Assassin Association and reach the number one spot. This requires him to both defeat his rival contract killers and their henchman in combat and earn enough money in between these boss battles to arrange the next showdown.

While the gameplay is very diverse, the majority of time is spent engaged in furious fights with hordes of disposable enemies and your fellow assassins. Fundamentally it’s a hack and slash title with Travis wielding a “beam katana” (read: lightsaber) to cut a bloody swathe through his foes. The title is fully uncut for the first time in Europe and there’s plenty of claret on display. Enemies are routinely eviscerated and beheaded sending sprays of gore over the screen, but it is so over-the-top and stylised that it’s difficult to find it too shocking.

The game is at its best during the showdowns with the ranked assassins and while they are quite formulaic, there’s enough variety and unique visual elements to make them refreshing. Each battle will usually begin with Travis arriving at a destination and then having to fight through hordes of underlings, which gives you a chance to hone your skills. The combat is fluid and easy to use, with a mixture of strong and light attacks combines with blocking being standard but artfully handled. After inflicting enough damage on your enemies you are then prompted to execute a killing blow by moving both analogue sticks in a specific direction. It’s straightforward and easy to master without getting tedious and the animations are all pleasingly gruesome. There’s an intelligent and challenging learning curve that never frustrates and these bouts of close combat are where Heroes’ Paradise really excels.

Bosses themselves are a joy and all have a unique theme ranging from a deranged Southern cowboy to a deluded, malicious superhero. These fights are testing and usually involve their own unique tactics, both at avoiding incoming attacks and developing specific ways to attack. As the game progresses, Travis relearns wrestling moves from his shady past which are usually pretty good ways of causing damage. There are also an additional 5 bosses from No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle which are fought as nightmares when Travis falls asleep while relieving himself. It’s a nice addition, although the lack of context is frustrating and could have been set-up a little better than snoozing on the toilet.

Heroes’ Paradise is weakest during its free roaming sections. The original Wii title received most of its criticism about the repetitive and rather dull mini-games that were required to gather enough cash to unlock the next ranking boss fight. Sadly, despite the inclusion of additional odd jobs and assassination missions these portions are still quite tedious. Assassination odd jobs are usually the more enjoyable and later ones require a lot of skill to complete and are pleasingly varied. A mode where your beam katana constantly powers down is particularly testing alongside one which takes place on a crowded subway train.

Despite some enjoyable modes, there’s too much travelling to locations to pick up jobs or boost Travis’ skills. These are sadly mandatory as if you leave Mr Touchdown as he was at the beginning of the game, the difficulty increases steeply. This means that you’ll have to keep doing mini-games to boost his stats and do even more odd jobs to get the money necessary to buy upgrades for your beam katana. Most of the odd jobs are relatively easy when you actually get down to them, but driving to the offices to accept them, then travelling onto locations gets repetitive far too quickly.

There are also substantial problems with the driving mechanics, as Travis has access to a motorbike to help speed up his progress around the city of Santa Destroy. Sadly, the collision detection is downright atrocious and often the bike will get stuck permanently in scenery. The only way to rectify this is to run far enough away for it to reappear, which usually eats up five minutes. In fact often it is quicker to run everywhere, especially when searching for treasure and collectables, something that is shockingly counterintuitive.

Thankfully this update has a lot of extra features going for it alongside the additional bosses. The support for PlayStation Move has been competently handled and there is a new “Score Attack” mode. The latter allows you to replay boss fights from the game and post your best results online, which is a great addition. For particularly perverted individuals (read: us) there are also some new unlockable costumes for the female killers, which certainly put the ass in assassin.

Heroes’ Paradise is a strange mixture of genres. Part ultra-violent kill ‘em up, part collection of sandbox mini-games. At first, the combination works well but over time the jobs get monotonous which is a real shame. The voice acting, scripting and style are so unique and cleverly crafted that they certainly are a source of dark humour. In particular, the bizarre story is reason enough to keep playing and it is certainly very different from most Western games. Suda51’s imagination and flare are clearly present and how much you appreciate and enjoy this bizarre style will play a large factor in whether or not you love, or are indifferent to, this game.

If you enjoy cult experiences and are prepared for some grinding and repetition then there is plenty to recommend in Heroes’ Paradise. The dark but equally vibrant plot, quirky characters and script and the brutally satisfying hack and slash gameplay are enjoyable and definitely handled with confidence. However, the flaws of the original Wii version are still present and having to repeat relatively mindless and rather dull mini-games over and over will wear after the halfway point.

While No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise is flawed, the degree of enthusiasm and its eccentric design help to keep you entertained and to overlook these issues. If you want to remove an enemies’ spleen, ogle a deranged bomb expert with a prosthetic limb and fall asleep with your pants around your ankles then there are very few games that can fulfil those unique desires. However No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise is definitely a member of that very exclusive group.