Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Hands-On – Let’s Get Shakin’
When Goichi “Suda 51” Suda announced that the No More Heroes franchise would be making a [...]
Something Old, Something New
Oh, and just like in the previous No More Heroes games, you have to charge your weapon once it runs out of energy. But this is easy. You simply hold down the left control stick, and then shake your game system or the controller or JoyCon controller you're using. Within a few hilarious shakes, you're back in business, and ready to strike down your adversaries.
And before you ask, yes, the game allows you to save by pulling up to a toilet, dropping trousers and doing your business. We only saw one save point in the demo, but we know fans that will be thrilled that you'll be able to do this. Gotta stick with the stuff that worked in previous games, right?
Moving on from battling a few different enemies and picking up coins (which can be used to purchase secondary items and power-ups) and ramen (which helps give you a boost of energy before the final fight), you enter into a boss battle with an electrical dude that will stop at nothing to shut you down.
Now, here's where some of the comical writing comes in, as his taunts are nothing short of hilarious. It's obvious Suda 51 and company custom wrote these for the show (they talk about PAX East and how the battle will continue at a European show down the road, like Gamescom). But after a quick discussion, the battle begins.
The first portion of the fight involves you dodging electrical attacks while striking away at this adversary, and taking on any secondary opponents that pop up. Once you chop down his energy enough, he soon flees and begins to shoot energy from the outside. The only way to stop him here is by destroying the four power generators on certain points of the map, while, again, dealing with other thugs. You also have to watch out for charges that appear on the floor, lest you take a hit on your energy.
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Following that battle, the demo came to a close. But it left me wanting more, especially with the frivolous energy and inspired design that went into the first level of Travis Strikes Again. The artwork is stunningly beautiful, similar in nature to the previous games, even if it's presented differently than before. The animations are sharp, and the glitch effects in Electric Thunder Tiger II are novel and original. I liked the dialogue and music too, as it was definitely up the alley of the usual No More Heroes game.
But perhaps the most enjoyable factor is being able to play alongside a friend. The game supports two-player play with controllers or JoyCons, so they can jump in. There's no word yet if this will be the case for the entire game, but we don't see why not.
So with the inspired design, fun gameplay and two-player option, Travis Strikes Again could easily be the most accessible – and enjoyable – game in the No More Heroesseries to date. We still have yet to play through the rest of it, but it sounds like Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture are hitting all the right notes this time around, keeping things familiar enough, yet throwing in something new.
We'll see how the final game fares when Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes arrives later this year for Nintendo Switch.
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