Equal parts inspired genius and wretched inadequacy, the product of writer and director Suda 51 is a confused, clumsy attempt grasping for the next level in the evolution of videogames. Not just a simple "product," No More Heroes is a statement.
Game Description: You are Travis Touchdown, a normal guy (with an otaku geek streak) who wins a Beam Katana through an online auction and uses the weapon to start a new career as a professional killer. One day, an assassin named Helter Skelter appears before Travis and the two face off in a battle. Travis emerges victorious and finds himself in the presence of Silvia Christel, a mysterious French woman who claims to be an agent with the UAA. Silvia gives Travis official rank of 11 in the organization. Now, it's up to you to become #1. No More Heroes takes place in the city of Santa Destroy, and you are free to explore the town to your liking, taking on missions large and small to collect money and purchase new weapons as you work up towards the 10 main killing contracts. Gameplay is all about using your Beam Katana (via Wii remote) to defeat enemies.
Lapsing into formulaic predictability just moments past the title screen, Ubisoft Montreal makes players repeat the same tasks from start to finish while crisscrossing its beautifully-rendered cities an absurd amount of times, wrongly hoping that the impressive means of navigation would be enough to fool people into believing there's any sort of interesting, engaging gameplay to be found.
WarTech: Senko no Ronde is a trite piece of airy piffle with nothing meaty to recommend it. It's the perfect example of what would have been accurately described as cheaply-produced import bait five or ten years ago, and I'm honestly surprised that someone gave it a green light for domestic release.
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