I tried really hard to love this game, but unfortunately the most I can say is that I liked it. I do love how completely Suda this game is though. There's so many little quirky things the game does in its presentation. It feels like the man just said "fuck it, I'm gonna do what I wanna do" and I appreciate him for that. The style is at its best here imo.
The story was cool. Not great. I still think the first game probably has the best story. That's not the only thing I think the first game has the best of, as I'll soon elaborate.
General gameplay is ehhhhh. I can see all the love and attention put into making the player feel cool, along with the new gameplay features, but I still think I enjoyed the first game's combat the most overall. Enemies have too much health and they often spam their attacks all at once, giving you little time to breathe, considering the game wants you to focus on one enemy at a time. It feels like an overcorrection for how trivial common enemies were to take down in the first two games, their frustrations aside. I can see the appeal in mastering the combat system, and maybe I just need to git gud, but I don't think it works that well. The mech sections are cool, though.
The side activities weren't terrible, but I think I enjoyed the second game's ones the most. I think the bit with Travis needing to work to earn money is a bit redundant at this point, considering he's walking around with hi-tech gear and Kamen Rider armor. I get that having back-to-back fights isn't fun, but there has to be a better way at this point, right?
No More Heroes III definitely has some very rough edges, yet the charm still did shine through for me. I liked what I played, but my frustrations with the combat weighs it down a bit. You can tell this game has a lot of cut content and restrictions due to what I assume is budget and the Switch's hardware limitations. It's unfortunate. If this game was fully realised (and they tweaked the combat a bit) I think it could've been my favourite NMH. As it is though, I can see a charming, but ultimately flawed game.
To state my thoughts on No More Heroes overall:
They're an interesting series of games, yet I ended up not enjoying them as much as some people seem to. I think there's a great opportunity here for me to replay them and see how my thoughts evolve. Like through playing the sequels, I think my opinion of the original has improved. I appreciate it for what it is and for what it got right compared to the other games. Suda seems like a cool guy who tried the best with what he had, and I really admire his vision and creativity. I definitely want to check out some of Suda's other works in the future.
The story was cool. Not great. I still think the first game probably has the best story. That's not the only thing I think the first game has the best of, as I'll soon elaborate.
General gameplay is ehhhhh. I can see all the love and attention put into making the player feel cool, along with the new gameplay features, but I still think I enjoyed the first game's combat the most overall. Enemies have too much health and they often spam their attacks all at once, giving you little time to breathe, considering the game wants you to focus on one enemy at a time. It feels like an overcorrection for how trivial common enemies were to take down in the first two games, their frustrations aside. I can see the appeal in mastering the combat system, and maybe I just need to git gud, but I don't think it works that well. The mech sections are cool, though.
The side activities weren't terrible, but I think I enjoyed the second game's ones the most. I think the bit with Travis needing to work to earn money is a bit redundant at this point, considering he's walking around with hi-tech gear and Kamen Rider armor. I get that having back-to-back fights isn't fun, but there has to be a better way at this point, right?
No More Heroes III definitely has some very rough edges, yet the charm still did shine through for me. I liked what I played, but my frustrations with the combat weighs it down a bit. You can tell this game has a lot of cut content and restrictions due to what I assume is budget and the Switch's hardware limitations. It's unfortunate. If this game was fully realised (and they tweaked the combat a bit) I think it could've been my favourite NMH. As it is though, I can see a charming, but ultimately flawed game.
To state my thoughts on No More Heroes overall:
They're an interesting series of games, yet I ended up not enjoying them as much as some people seem to. I think there's a great opportunity here for me to replay them and see how my thoughts evolve. Like through playing the sequels, I think my opinion of the original has improved. I appreciate it for what it is and for what it got right compared to the other games. Suda seems like a cool guy who tried the best with what he had, and I really admire his vision and creativity. I definitely want to check out some of Suda's other works in the future.