No More Heroes 3 is one of those rare games I get incredibly excited about before release. Considering it's one of my favourite franchises, I'm not surprised by the lead up to this game being sensational for me. Even with all this anticipation and excitement I still came in expecting a great game with a quantity of flaws like all Suda games. Whilst all of the Grasshopper games I've played aren't perfect, I'm a fan of their unique style and experimental gameplay; there isn't a developer I respect more than Suda51. Hope you enjoy reading this extremely long review talking about my positives and negatives.
I expected this game to be an 8/10 containing some things I love with other things I don't love, and I was right on the money. To start this game's biggest strength is its opening ("The Return" to Mr. Blackhole's fight, to Fu's introductory, and finally with the ranking cinematic), it's easily the best opening the series has ever had as it sets up everything almost perfectly. Without a doubt one of my favourite openings to a video game, emphasis on favourite.
To label a great strength that isn't a specific part of the game, I love how Suda has managed to reference tons of media types through loading screens, menu UI, scene transitions, etc. Each chapter starting with a Netflix inspired logo and ending with an anime inspired credits roll had me chuckling, treating the chapters almost like episodes of a TV show. It's clear the developers just decided to get funky with endless bounds of creativity when it came to the interface alone. Another thing that adds to this game's great sense of identity is the designs of the aliens. The artist they had on board was a fantastic choice for conveying that these aliens really were out of this world, I love almost all of their designs.
Fu himself makes for an amazing antagonist especially in comparison to the previous two who only got revealed during the end, meanwhile this surfer alpha male frat smurf ensures that he means business. A lot of the new characters are endlessly entertaining with my favourites including Fu, Gold Joe, Sonic Juice, Damien, etc. Most returning characters such as the titular assassin are also just as wacky and entertaining as they were previously.
The music, just like the first game, was composed by one person instead of multiple like the second game. The music in this game definitely has standouts such as Itadakimasu and Dead Orca Force. Although I wish they used the song lyrics in some of the boss fights, I'm not complaining that this soundtrack tries something different like the previous instalments.
The combat's best aspect for me is retaining the series' core aspect of simplicity; if someone complains that it's too basic then I'll just say go play Bayonetta or DMC. Even then there is still some strategy involved when it comes to blocking, positioning yourself and waiting for the right opportunities to attack. The enemies in this game make use of the alien concept really well through their designs and movement patterns, adding further strategy to the combat. Unleashing sick beam katana animations on them and bosses feels really satisfying.
My main issues regarding the combat come from there being too many mechanics that just make the game laughably easy at times. I played on hard mode and even I still felt the game was holding my hand a bit too much. Sushi is a neat concept but it's kinda overpowered unless you're playing on max difficulty (because it limits the max you can carry to one each) and wrestling moves filling your beam katana battery is incredibly stupid. The upgrade station and chip moderations are fine, but the death spinner and in-game slot machine is where I draw the line.
I wish there was an option to turn them off because while they are fun at first, I don't want a fight to be made easier just because I got lucky. Whenever I got them I forced myself to wait until the effects ran out or didn't use them. One of the effects is transforming into a mecha which essentially deletes a chunk of the bosses' health, I want to play the game Suda not have the game end quicker!
Another thing that irks me is the fact I feel they simplified it a bit too much in areas. Although I just said I really like it's simplicity, I was referring to the simplicity of having light and heavy attacks. Something I liked about the previous games was how fluid it felt when going from low (heavy) to high (light) attacks in the middle of a combo and vice versa. This game ditches the punch and kicking (which, to be fair, I didn't really use all that much) and the low and high for simple light and heavy attacks.
Although I still like the strategy of positioning myself and waiting to attack, I wouldn't be opposed to this if it didn't feel so button mashy at times. I want to feel like I'm switching between light and heavy attacks like a badass but you essentially can't do that as the heavy attacks are proper big beam katana swings; it wouldn't have taken away from the game's simple combat if they tweaked it to function similarly to the previous games.
The death glove and space battles are neat new concepts that I liked but I think I wanted more of it. I thought you would gradually unlock more death glove abilities but it turns out there are only 4 and you get given 3 of them in the same chapter which felt underwhelming, in addition to these also making the game way easier than it had to be.
Lastly, I understand why they didn't do it but I really really wish they added more katannas to use. Imagine having sick animations with the Rose Nasty in this game, it'd have been a way to spice up gameplay like the second game did. Unfortunately the wrestling moves are at their worst here since, again while I sorta understand why, are activated with the same upward motion. The previous games had a massive variety of wrestling moves that could be pulled off in different ways; I feel like they had an opportunity here to expand on it but they didn't.
The world here expands outside of Santa Destroy which is a great choice. Not all locations are great mind; Call of Battle and Neo Brazil suck ass for instance - the former is convoluted to navigate and the latter is boring - the rest are pretty good but Santa Destroy remains the best. Travis' bike got a giga upgrade and it shows, travelling around in it is why Thunder Dome is as good as it is.
Graphics are fine. I'm not that bothered about it as I know they could be worse (looking at you Pokemon Scarlet and Violet) but I'd advise playing this on Xbox, PC or PS5 as the Switch version isn't amazing performance wise. I'm glad the game decided to focus on style rather than graphical substance as a lot of Switch games work better in that favour in my opinion.
The previous two games had a story that can be followed easily in my opinion (the second game has problems but that's a story for another day) but this one is a very weird case. Whilst the opening is fantastic, the story after the fact I don't know is meant to be satirical or serious. I found Fu, Travis and other aliens in the rankings easy to follow for the cutscenes before their fight are still great for introducing the characters in a short amount of time.
(SPOILERS)
My main issue with the story however is that it decides to pull the same Let's Shake stunt multiple times. I mean I can kinda see why in all with the fact that multiple people want to stop the aliens from taking over but this plot point keeps constantly popping up out of nowhere. Characters like Black Night Direction, Vanishing Point and Sniping Lee don't get any chance to shine through their boss fights because they get killed off by someone else. The only time this works is when Fu kills Paradox Bandit as it shows his insane desperation for him to fight Travis, the rest though felt like they didn't have the development time to include boss fights or further screen time for them.
Characters like Shinobu, Bad Girl and Bad Man are incredibly underutilised. Not only does Shinobu get her arms ripped off, Bad Man gets killed off at the beginning because Fu got pissed at Mr Blackhole's death??? Suda why, he was one of my favourite characters from Travis Strikes Again. I feel like the story should have spent less time introducing new characters and focus on the ones they already established instead of back seating them. The new characters like Nutorious are entertaining but the more the story goes on with these random plot points, the less structural it feels.
For the parts of the story I did manage to understand, I absolutely loved it. Although Sniping Lee's death was a disappointment, despite coming out of nowhere, Destroyman returning with a factory of himself is one of my favourite moments in the game. Fu's final confrontation I'm glad still involves the other characters but it's that first cutscene between him and Travis that always gets me; easily the best cutscene in the entire game. Gold Joe is a shitpost, Sonic Juice is my favourite alien for his story alone and Velvet Chair Girl was sad.
I wasn't sure about him at first but Henry Cooldown is... Interesting. I love the cutscene where he kills Travis on the toilet as it feels like a nice callback to the first game where he duels his brother outside the cubicle, as opposed to now. I think my main issue with this is that I wish it wasn't so ambiguous, there are some great ideas at play here but without playing Travis Strikes Again, you're going to be incredibly confused. That goes for a lot of this game as a matter of fact including Damien who you won't understand why he hates Travis unless you've played what is essentially that game's prologue.
The ending is bonkers but I feel like it's done on purpose for satire which I'm completely fine with. The smash bros reference absolutely killed me and the chibi post credits scene lives in my head rent free.
(END SPOILER)
In summary, I have more things to say but think of this review as someone who wanted to spout their thoughts on paper rather than writing a constructed review. I still think the first game is the best in the series as it's story is the most consistent, the second game has the best soundtrack but this game has by far the best villain, opening and individual moments. A very interesting game overall that didn't disappoint me as a No More Heroes shill.
I expected this game to be an 8/10 containing some things I love with other things I don't love, and I was right on the money. To start this game's biggest strength is its opening ("The Return" to Mr. Blackhole's fight, to Fu's introductory, and finally with the ranking cinematic), it's easily the best opening the series has ever had as it sets up everything almost perfectly. Without a doubt one of my favourite openings to a video game, emphasis on favourite.
To label a great strength that isn't a specific part of the game, I love how Suda has managed to reference tons of media types through loading screens, menu UI, scene transitions, etc. Each chapter starting with a Netflix inspired logo and ending with an anime inspired credits roll had me chuckling, treating the chapters almost like episodes of a TV show. It's clear the developers just decided to get funky with endless bounds of creativity when it came to the interface alone. Another thing that adds to this game's great sense of identity is the designs of the aliens. The artist they had on board was a fantastic choice for conveying that these aliens really were out of this world, I love almost all of their designs.
Fu himself makes for an amazing antagonist especially in comparison to the previous two who only got revealed during the end, meanwhile this surfer alpha male frat smurf ensures that he means business. A lot of the new characters are endlessly entertaining with my favourites including Fu, Gold Joe, Sonic Juice, Damien, etc. Most returning characters such as the titular assassin are also just as wacky and entertaining as they were previously.
The music, just like the first game, was composed by one person instead of multiple like the second game. The music in this game definitely has standouts such as Itadakimasu and Dead Orca Force. Although I wish they used the song lyrics in some of the boss fights, I'm not complaining that this soundtrack tries something different like the previous instalments.
The combat's best aspect for me is retaining the series' core aspect of simplicity; if someone complains that it's too basic then I'll just say go play Bayonetta or DMC. Even then there is still some strategy involved when it comes to blocking, positioning yourself and waiting for the right opportunities to attack. The enemies in this game make use of the alien concept really well through their designs and movement patterns, adding further strategy to the combat. Unleashing sick beam katana animations on them and bosses feels really satisfying.
My main issues regarding the combat come from there being too many mechanics that just make the game laughably easy at times. I played on hard mode and even I still felt the game was holding my hand a bit too much. Sushi is a neat concept but it's kinda overpowered unless you're playing on max difficulty (because it limits the max you can carry to one each) and wrestling moves filling your beam katana battery is incredibly stupid. The upgrade station and chip moderations are fine, but the death spinner and in-game slot machine is where I draw the line.
I wish there was an option to turn them off because while they are fun at first, I don't want a fight to be made easier just because I got lucky. Whenever I got them I forced myself to wait until the effects ran out or didn't use them. One of the effects is transforming into a mecha which essentially deletes a chunk of the bosses' health, I want to play the game Suda not have the game end quicker!
Another thing that irks me is the fact I feel they simplified it a bit too much in areas. Although I just said I really like it's simplicity, I was referring to the simplicity of having light and heavy attacks. Something I liked about the previous games was how fluid it felt when going from low (heavy) to high (light) attacks in the middle of a combo and vice versa. This game ditches the punch and kicking (which, to be fair, I didn't really use all that much) and the low and high for simple light and heavy attacks.
Although I still like the strategy of positioning myself and waiting to attack, I wouldn't be opposed to this if it didn't feel so button mashy at times. I want to feel like I'm switching between light and heavy attacks like a badass but you essentially can't do that as the heavy attacks are proper big beam katana swings; it wouldn't have taken away from the game's simple combat if they tweaked it to function similarly to the previous games.
The death glove and space battles are neat new concepts that I liked but I think I wanted more of it. I thought you would gradually unlock more death glove abilities but it turns out there are only 4 and you get given 3 of them in the same chapter which felt underwhelming, in addition to these also making the game way easier than it had to be.
Lastly, I understand why they didn't do it but I really really wish they added more katannas to use. Imagine having sick animations with the Rose Nasty in this game, it'd have been a way to spice up gameplay like the second game did. Unfortunately the wrestling moves are at their worst here since, again while I sorta understand why, are activated with the same upward motion. The previous games had a massive variety of wrestling moves that could be pulled off in different ways; I feel like they had an opportunity here to expand on it but they didn't.
The world here expands outside of Santa Destroy which is a great choice. Not all locations are great mind; Call of Battle and Neo Brazil suck ass for instance - the former is convoluted to navigate and the latter is boring - the rest are pretty good but Santa Destroy remains the best. Travis' bike got a giga upgrade and it shows, travelling around in it is why Thunder Dome is as good as it is.
Graphics are fine. I'm not that bothered about it as I know they could be worse (looking at you Pokemon Scarlet and Violet) but I'd advise playing this on Xbox, PC or PS5 as the Switch version isn't amazing performance wise. I'm glad the game decided to focus on style rather than graphical substance as a lot of Switch games work better in that favour in my opinion.
The previous two games had a story that can be followed easily in my opinion (the second game has problems but that's a story for another day) but this one is a very weird case. Whilst the opening is fantastic, the story after the fact I don't know is meant to be satirical or serious. I found Fu, Travis and other aliens in the rankings easy to follow for the cutscenes before their fight are still great for introducing the characters in a short amount of time.
(SPOILERS)
My main issue with the story however is that it decides to pull the same Let's Shake stunt multiple times. I mean I can kinda see why in all with the fact that multiple people want to stop the aliens from taking over but this plot point keeps constantly popping up out of nowhere. Characters like Black Night Direction, Vanishing Point and Sniping Lee don't get any chance to shine through their boss fights because they get killed off by someone else. The only time this works is when Fu kills Paradox Bandit as it shows his insane desperation for him to fight Travis, the rest though felt like they didn't have the development time to include boss fights or further screen time for them.
Characters like Shinobu, Bad Girl and Bad Man are incredibly underutilised. Not only does Shinobu get her arms ripped off, Bad Man gets killed off at the beginning because Fu got pissed at Mr Blackhole's death??? Suda why, he was one of my favourite characters from Travis Strikes Again. I feel like the story should have spent less time introducing new characters and focus on the ones they already established instead of back seating them. The new characters like Nutorious are entertaining but the more the story goes on with these random plot points, the less structural it feels.
For the parts of the story I did manage to understand, I absolutely loved it. Although Sniping Lee's death was a disappointment, despite coming out of nowhere, Destroyman returning with a factory of himself is one of my favourite moments in the game. Fu's final confrontation I'm glad still involves the other characters but it's that first cutscene between him and Travis that always gets me; easily the best cutscene in the entire game. Gold Joe is a shitpost, Sonic Juice is my favourite alien for his story alone and Velvet Chair Girl was sad.
I wasn't sure about him at first but Henry Cooldown is... Interesting. I love the cutscene where he kills Travis on the toilet as it feels like a nice callback to the first game where he duels his brother outside the cubicle, as opposed to now. I think my main issue with this is that I wish it wasn't so ambiguous, there are some great ideas at play here but without playing Travis Strikes Again, you're going to be incredibly confused. That goes for a lot of this game as a matter of fact including Damien who you won't understand why he hates Travis unless you've played what is essentially that game's prologue.
The ending is bonkers but I feel like it's done on purpose for satire which I'm completely fine with. The smash bros reference absolutely killed me and the chibi post credits scene lives in my head rent free.
(END SPOILER)
In summary, I have more things to say but think of this review as someone who wanted to spout their thoughts on paper rather than writing a constructed review. I still think the first game is the best in the series as it's story is the most consistent, the second game has the best soundtrack but this game has by far the best villain, opening and individual moments. A very interesting game overall that didn't disappoint me as a No More Heroes shill.