Sinister Resistance

Genre: Action-’em-Up, Third-Person Adventure
Platform: Nintendo Wii
Release Date: March 2008

It was with great trepidation that I booted up No More Heroes . My only previous experience with Suda51’s wacky Grasshopper dev team was the decidedly hit-and-miss puzzle-adventure Flower, Sun and Rain on the DS, which turned point-and-click adventure gaming completely on its head to produce something so unspeakably bizarre, to this day I can’t decide if it’s a work of genius or a product of lunacy. They’re a developer renowned for pushing the boundaries of traditional games, often adopting unconventional visual styles, gaming conventions or storytelling techniques to blur the line between games and “art”; though very much with a tongue firmly wedged in the cheek. From the off, however, No More Heroes is a barnstorming slash-’em-up that’s a riot from start to finish, even if the entertainment it provides feels ultimately hollow.

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