Review for Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. Game for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 18/01/2019
Creative inspiration, the real one, is something very rare to find, especially in a tremendously courtly and pretentious sector like the videogame one. Numbers of sales, marketing moves and commercial maneuvers often make the big voice and tend to overwhelm the creative vein of the software houses that, more or less evidently, decide to contain their desire to dare and to rely on the so-called "hits" sure hit ". Fortunately for us there are - as in all other sectors - those who just cannot comply with these rules or, simply, whose inspiration is so overwhelming that they end up breaking through every type of conceptual and structural barrier. We cannot fail to count among the ranks of this host of heroes Goichi "Suda 51" Suda, whose creative talent is now well known and is its main feature, returning in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition.
The XNUMX-year-old Japanese director has been definitively hit by the limelight thanks to the No More Heroes series, a real gem in terms of gameplay and art direction, as well as for the quality of the stories narrated and its protagonists. The announcement of the third installment of the series, during the Californian E3, has certainly generated great expectations in the hearts of the fans who at the moment can still "console themselves" with Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition, a spin-off chapter of the main series, out on October 17 on PlayStation 4 and PC.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition is actually born and designed for Nintendo Switch, the version of which has already been available since last 18st January. Arriving on PlayStation 4 and PC, however, we are sure that it will expand not a little the public who could become passionate about a series that has very soon abandoned the concept of "multiplatform", landing exclusively on Wii with the second chapter and, indeed, on Switch with what will be the third canonical episode. Waiting for news on the last chapter of the trilogy, however, we are talking today about the quality of the landing of the aforementioned spin-off on PC and on Sony's flagship (version we tested), edited, as usual, by Marvelous and Grasshopper Manufacture.
A laugh that kills
Let's start by telling you that Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition will get you a laugh from the first to the last second, even when you realize that the topics covered are not exactly the cutest and most suitable for a family. After all, already the nature of the historical protagonist of the series is an indispensable business card: Travis Touchdown is the greatest killer in the world, as well as a great fan of video games, and after the last great hunt, in which he got rid of a tough opponent (topics narrated in No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle), aka Bad Girl, he began to enjoy the dolce far niente in the middle of nowhere. The story of the spin-off in question starts right here: the father of Bad Girl, the menacing one Bad Man, has begun a ruthless manhunt in an attempt to find the killer of his daughter and thus obtain the much desired revenge. Once Travis is found and reached, the two begin a bitter battle to the death, a no holds barred match, interrupted by an incredible event, destined to mark the fate of both contenders.
The old console cursed Death Drive MKII, guarded by Travis in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition, suddenly "awakens" sucking the two into it and "forcing them" to face their own videogame universes until you reach a certain goal: destroy bugs, find the truth and, why not, thwart an X-files-style government threat. All this, however, with a final prize: Charlotte (Bad Girl) could resurrect, as long as the two manage to collaborate and find the seven Death Balls scattered all over the world, and then install them in the console and face gradually. all the challenges present within the various games to which they are connected. The narrative strand that we have roughly anticipated reveals a thematic sector that is not properly elaborated, but at the same time brilliant and crazy, in full style with the inspiration of the director. The plot, however, manages to expand in an interesting way, passing from topics that are also profoundly different from each other and touching on more than one occasion strong themes, especially when analyzing the subplots present in the various games in which Travis and Bad Man are engaged, which they jump from one theme to another, while keeping anchored to an incredibly high and hilarious pace. What we are facing is actually a bloody story, made up of murders and various machinations, but narrated with an incredible style and which never loses its style.
The story told in the second game world of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition, for example, struck us a lot for the cruelty of the main antagonist's actions and for how his deeds were told. We found ourselves in front of a ruthless killer, who has committed several murders with an impressive fury but with a very specific scheme, at least until Travis has put an end to his existence (playful, of course). All these stories and situations are more or less influenced by continuous quotes that the title flaunts strongly whenever it can, in a sort of triumph of nonsense that never leaves the scene and that captivates the player for quality and effectiveness.
Different world, different gameplay
The narrative expedient of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition, linked to the various different worlds, fits perfectly with the game style of the title, whose gameplay represents the flagship of the production. The “simple” hack n slash style is constantly shaped, also due to the choice to modify the camera continuously, thus giving the feeling of being every time - for real - grappling with a different game. In reality, this does not differ that much from the reality of the facts: the various worlds, interspersed with light novel-style sequences that spurt personalities from every cybernetic pore, are often very different from each other: if the base is always that of an action game and with few claims in terms of complexity, Travis Strike Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition varies a lot in terms of overall structure.
Suffice it to say that we will practically play with a basic machine game or a variant of Space Impact, just to name a few, in honor of an ever-present basic fun that never leaves the gamer. If you add to all this the presence of many different enemies, with different characteristics and automatically to be faced in a different way, all clearly takes on a completely different connotation. The goodness of making enemies extends to the bosses: in all there are seven main ones, one per level plus a sort of recurring mini-boss that we will find in every game world, albeit with variations in terms of appearance and various abilities.
To overcome the fatigue of the game, whose level of challenge is always fairly acceptable even if not free from sudden and badly calibrated peaks of difficulty, it is also possible to be joined by a friend, thanks to the presence of a well-made and above all very funny local co-op. By choosing this mode it will be possible to level and develop both protagonists, thanks to the presence of a very modest role-playing component. Leveling up heroes simply increase life points and attack power, while the real focus of the gameplay remains skills. Both Travis and Bad Man (spoiler alert: and not only), will be able to use different skills, both of attack and of temporary boost or of healing, necessary to defeat the numerous enemy troops. This is once again something not particularly elaborate, but which we nevertheless appreciated: the latter work overall well and are able to offer even more fun to the already very exciting and rich play formula.
To annoy, however, the management of the skills themselves, which often inexplicably do not score, or end up (in co-op) to hit the ally for no apparent reason, thought about it for a good part of the time. More generally, the feedback of the commands always seems to suffer a sort of phased input lag which in some sequences, also marred by the complexity of the camera, turns into a frustrating overall picture. However, nothing that affects the general quality of the title too much, which remains enjoyable both in co-op and in single, in which to go from platform sequences to battles to the death for all the 12-13 hours necessary to complete the main campaign however it remains a pleasure.
Budget Strikes Again
Is not a mystery that Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition is a very tight budget title, a bit like its predecessors and in general all the works to which Suda 51 has actively collaborated. And even this time, unfortunately, the axiom does not change: the stylish action by Grasshopper Manufcatured and distributed by Marvelous is certainly not a masterpiece from a technical point of view, neither in the Switch version nor on the more powerful PlayStation 4 Pro. The amount of polygons it is very limited and the quality of the textures is decidedly of low level, accompanied however by a general cleaning much higher than in the past and by a stability in terms of frame rate certainly more decisive. The scenic poverty due to the scarce possibility in terms of production is masked very well by those who are the scenarios, which embrace a bit all that vintage style from the 80 '- 90', with a design almost close to "Pop Art", which overall - at least at first - returns an interesting feedback.
To a more trained eye, however, it is impossible to miss some exquisitely technical details, which demonstrate how the work of Suda 51 is simply very inspired and qualitatively high, but tormented by a certainly limited budget that has slowed down - and not a little - the total yield. by Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition, especially if it is strictly technical. The game has never given us the impression, to put it short, of a title designed for this generation of consoles and if on Switch this could be acceptable, the same cannot be said of the PlayStation 4 and PC versions, whose greater possibilities in terms of hardware power, they highlight even more all the limits of a production that is as spectacular on the artistic side as little valued by the scarcity of means available.
Very different speech as regards the sound sector: the soundtrack that accompanies every crossing of Travis and Bad Man in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Edition is simply divine, and makes the sense of general immersion even more massive and necessary. The soundtrack is a real sensory explosion and never ceases to be, thus joining the whole general structure of the title which, in spite of all the limits of the case, always manages to surprise.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Complete Editions arrives on PlayStation4 and PC without major news in technical terms, with the limits at the base of the original work that are magnified in relation to the greater power of the two platforms compared to Nintendo Switch. Despite this, however, the work of Suda 51 must absolutely be lived, because it is supported by an incredible narrative and visual style and full of brilliant ideas, capable of snatching a smile and a resounding "Ah!" on more than one occasion. If we add to all this a simple but at the same time layered gameplay, which changes continuously according to the game worlds, then we understand that we are faced with a small jewel, excessively muted and that deserves more attention. Ah, then it is possible to face the whole story in co-op, and the version in question also includes the various DLCs (actually few and of little interest) released on Nintendo Switch over the past months. What more do you want? Probably an adequate technical sector. And you would be right.
► Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is a sliding Action-Hack and Slash-Beat 'em up game developed and published by Grasshopper Manufacture for Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 18/01/2019
