Travis Strikes Again is both a passionate love letter to indie games and a celebratory comprehensive look into Suda51's history as a game developer.
Let's get this out of the way first. I see people complain about the gameplay of Travis Strikes Again all the time and say it isn't fun and I could not disagree more, I was kept thoroughly entertained for my entire 15 hour run and I wasn't even playing it co-op either.
TSA is in a top-down isometric POV, but much like the older No More Heroes games it is a hack-n-slash where you have a classic light and heavy attack control scheme alongside a dodge as well, but now since there's a stronger emphasis on platforming you also have a jump button and there are skill chips you can find which act as various powers from a telekinetic grab to a lightning bolt and more. Yes it is repetitive, but No More Heroes always has been a repetitive game and TSA is meant to be so in a classic and simplistic arcade-like way and even then there's still a lot of variety and depth to it, even more so than first 2 No More Heroes games thanks to the new additions to combat.
In TSA we follow Badman the father of Badgirl as he goes to get revenge on Travis Touchdown for killing his daughter in the first game, but during their fight they both get sucked up into a cursed video game console called the "Death Drive" and learn that if they can find all 6 of the game cartridges known as "Death Balls" and complete them it is rumored that any one wish of your choosing can be granted and naturally Badman wants to wish his daughter back to life, so Travis and Badman set their differences aside and work together to strive towards this goal.
TSA has truly phenomenal presentation. The set-up of having various game worlds to go through leaves the game open for so many creative and experimental style mixups in truest Suda fashion that keeps the game fresh and fun. From a cyberpunk city to a Resident Evil style mansion, racing mini games to a level that is "under construction" in the Unreal Engine and even a major homage to one of Suda's other games, I never knew what was going to be in store for me when I loaded the next Death Ball world. That isn't even mentioning how in between Death Balls there's a Silver Case style ADV section (Which is a great way to break up the combat and gameplay so it doesn't get too repetitive) that shows how Travis gets each Death Ball and in this section he even gets to interact with many characters from past Suda games from Killer is Dead to the Silver Case and more.
Hidden within the meta comedic narrative of "a game within a game" Travis Strikes Again has so much introspective subtext about Suda51's own personal experience about how his vision as a creator has been mangled and twisted countless times by big name publishers and how for the first time in a long time Suda was able to go back to his roots and make a game that was completely in his own vision with TSA by developing it with a very small team of about 10 people in the same fashion an indie game would be developed.
Travis Strikes Again is a game that you can tell is very personal to Suda51 and it wasn't just made for the fans, but for himself too. This is a deep and often existential look into video game development itself. A work of art that is a celebration of art as well. The kind of experience that is meant to stick with you long after you put the controller down. It certainly won't be for everyone, but for the people who truly understand what makes this game as special as it is, you'll find very few games capable of matching how rich the character writing, story, themes and aesthetics are in Travis Strikes Again.
Let's get this out of the way first. I see people complain about the gameplay of Travis Strikes Again all the time and say it isn't fun and I could not disagree more, I was kept thoroughly entertained for my entire 15 hour run and I wasn't even playing it co-op either.
TSA is in a top-down isometric POV, but much like the older No More Heroes games it is a hack-n-slash where you have a classic light and heavy attack control scheme alongside a dodge as well, but now since there's a stronger emphasis on platforming you also have a jump button and there are skill chips you can find which act as various powers from a telekinetic grab to a lightning bolt and more. Yes it is repetitive, but No More Heroes always has been a repetitive game and TSA is meant to be so in a classic and simplistic arcade-like way and even then there's still a lot of variety and depth to it, even more so than first 2 No More Heroes games thanks to the new additions to combat.
In TSA we follow Badman the father of Badgirl as he goes to get revenge on Travis Touchdown for killing his daughter in the first game, but during their fight they both get sucked up into a cursed video game console called the "Death Drive" and learn that if they can find all 6 of the game cartridges known as "Death Balls" and complete them it is rumored that any one wish of your choosing can be granted and naturally Badman wants to wish his daughter back to life, so Travis and Badman set their differences aside and work together to strive towards this goal.
TSA has truly phenomenal presentation. The set-up of having various game worlds to go through leaves the game open for so many creative and experimental style mixups in truest Suda fashion that keeps the game fresh and fun. From a cyberpunk city to a Resident Evil style mansion, racing mini games to a level that is "under construction" in the Unreal Engine and even a major homage to one of Suda's other games, I never knew what was going to be in store for me when I loaded the next Death Ball world. That isn't even mentioning how in between Death Balls there's a Silver Case style ADV section (Which is a great way to break up the combat and gameplay so it doesn't get too repetitive) that shows how Travis gets each Death Ball and in this section he even gets to interact with many characters from past Suda games from Killer is Dead to the Silver Case and more.
Hidden within the meta comedic narrative of "a game within a game" Travis Strikes Again has so much introspective subtext about Suda51's own personal experience about how his vision as a creator has been mangled and twisted countless times by big name publishers and how for the first time in a long time Suda was able to go back to his roots and make a game that was completely in his own vision with TSA by developing it with a very small team of about 10 people in the same fashion an indie game would be developed.
Travis Strikes Again is a game that you can tell is very personal to Suda51 and it wasn't just made for the fans, but for himself too. This is a deep and often existential look into video game development itself. A work of art that is a celebration of art as well. The kind of experience that is meant to stick with you long after you put the controller down. It certainly won't be for everyone, but for the people who truly understand what makes this game as special as it is, you'll find very few games capable of matching how rich the character writing, story, themes and aesthetics are in Travis Strikes Again.
2 Comments
Common Suda W
HazeRedux
1 year ago