When I sagte I was going to review No Mehr Heroes 2, I meant it. When I discussed the Zurück game, I did mention that I may oder may not review it. I sagte that because, wow, I have to pay double the price of the original game for NMH2. But, in the end, I did it anyway. Because I’m a sad person. But, regardless, here it is. This is a game no one expected would be made. No Mehr Heroes seemed like such a niche game that was fun, but nothing to warrant a sequel. But, low and behold, here it is: No Mehr Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle.



~Story~

Now, Du all know that I Liebe the first No Mehr Heroes game. It managed to jump all the way up to my oben, nach oben ten Favorit games ever in just the span of a Monat of playing it. So, now that I got to enjoy the classic Wii game, how does the sequel fair? Well let’s find out. The story of this game is a little different than before. Three years after the Zurück game, Santa Destroy has become a major tourist attraction with almost every business being run Von the company, pizza Bat. Travis left Santa Destroy, having taken his rank as the number one assassin and left, earning him fame and glory unlike ever before. Now, already, that seems a little strange. In the first game, Travis was a nerd who everyone mocked and made fun of. Now, he’s a celebrity and every girl wants his Beam Katana. But, whatever. Anyway, after Travis kills Skelter Helter and becomes the 51st assassin, his best friend, Bishop, the guy who works at Beef Head Video from the first game, is killed Von the Rank 1 assassin, Jasper Batt Jr. Now on a road to vengeance, Travis cuts down every enemy in his path in order to get revenge. The story is a lot Mehr serious… Sometimes. Instead of just being about some loser trying to get laid, it’s a tale of how revenge is never satisfying. And I have to say, I Liebe revenge stories like that. But how does the gameplay hold up?



~Gameplay~

Well, if Du loved the gameplay of No Mehr Heroes, than you’re going to Liebe it here too. Not much I can say, other than that the camera is a little better. The camera was kind of close to Travis in the Zurück game, but now, it is fixed immensely. Another thing that is fixed are the Darkside Modes. blaubeere, heidelbeere Cheese Brownie is much better in Desperate Struggle. In the first game, Travis blocked most of your view, and it was hard to aim the crosshair. In Desperate Struggle, Du just aim and swing, and the energy balls do the rest. erdbeere on the shortcake allows all enemies to freeze as Travis slices them to pieces. And cranberry Schokolade Sundae turns Travis into a goddamn tiger, with all of the enemies cowering in fear as they try to run. The tiger form gives Travis a faster speed, invincibility, and kills enemies in one hit. When up against a group of enemies, this makes it a lot Mehr fun. One Dark Side Mode that was added into the game, Gooseberry Sugar Donut, allows Travis to wipe out all of the enemies in the area in one attack. It’s basically an area clearing Bewegen like in classic beat ‘em ups. And unlike the first game, I didn’t run into the issue of the Modes coming before all of the enemies were dead, so it didn’t feel as unsatisfying as the Zurück game. Another great addition are the Beam Katanas. While the original game has some good Beam Katanas, we all really just wanted the Tsubaki MK III. In this game, Du have Mehr variety with your Beam Katanas and are Mehr willing to try them all out. There’s the classic Blood Berry, which, let’s be honest, we’ll be forgotten once Du get better ones. D.O.S, the best sword in the original game which looks like an actual Katana. Peony, a sword that is super heavy, but is very strong and gets larger the Mehr hits Travis gets in. And then there’s my favorite, Rose Nasty, duel Beam Katanas which, aren’t just on the cover of Desperate Struggle, but is also a really good weapon to combo with. Man, they really went all out for the gameplay. I’m sure the overworld is even better than before…



In the Zurück game, the overworld was either hit oder miss with some people. Some found it a little fun to go around and do odd jobs, getting a break from the killing, while others saw it as time wasting and boring. Sure, having to take a job, drive to the job, and drive back to retake the job if Du fail could be annoying, but I never had too much issues with it. The overworld of Desperate Struggle, however… Oh my god. It’s just an undetailed and blank map. Gone is the overworld to explore, gone are the chances to find any concept art, and gone is the Schpeltiger. Well, it’s there two times in the game, one being a very boring drive done a road and the other being used for a really bad beginning to an awesome boss fight. Du can still go to some of the places, however. Naomi’s Shop is still around, but only offers two Beam Katanas, and no upgrades. It almost makes it seem kind of pointless if Du grind for money at the beginning of the game. Area 51, while still being there, just titled Airport 51 now, has a bit Mehr unique and Design coordinated clothing. Du can make Travis look like a cool guy, a huge nerd, oder some Jet Set Radio knock-off. I like this. The T-shirts are kinda lame, though. That’s just me opinion. And Ryan’s Gym… Oh lord, I had some trouble with this on the first go. Du can’t mess up once. If Du do, Du just wasted your cash and Du have to pay to train again. Granted, it does become merciful and Du can take a few Mehr hits before being considered a failure, but Du won’t know until the end, and quitting is an automatic failure. And the jobs Du do around town are still there, only now, they are all in an 8-Bit style of gaming. There’s fixing pipes, making steaks, and collecting garbage in space. I always did the old trick of getting to level four of the garbage clean-up, picked up all the trash except one, killed myself, and then picked it up for an extra hundred grand. It’s cheating, but… I don’t care. Now, these odd jobs, while some are fun… are pretty pointless. Well, not pointless, but Du can ignore them if Du want. Rank fights don’t cost money anymore, so Du can just from boss to boss, kicking arsch and taking names. It gets to a point where Du can breeze through New Game Plus in a Tag with all of the upgrades and powerful weapons Du have. But, there are some things Du can do. If Du go back into your apartment at one point in the game, Du can earn some assassination jobs and kill the very guys who took out Bishop. Oh, and speaking of your Apartment, they actually did better on this one. Du can now walk around Travis’ apartment instead of Bewegen around it. Jeane is intractable and can teach Du a new Bewegen if Du help her exercise, Du can read Weekly Backdrops and learn new wrestling moves, and Du can watch the intro to Bizarre gelee 5 on Travis’ TV… Why Du would, I don’t know.



Once again, if anything in No Mehr Heroes stands out, it’s the bosses. And boy, do they stand out in this game. Now, No Mehr Heroes 1, while crazy, was grounded in some reality. Some. Not a ton, but some. Now, in Desperate Struggle, just straight up fuck reality. The bosses in this game consist of football players in giant robots, evil ghost children, moe Anime girls, and The Fury from Metal Gear Solid 3. And in this game, Du get to play as, not just Travis, but also Shinobu and Henry from the first game. Henry is as fun to play through as Du would expect. Fast combos, moving around real quick, and that wonderful Irishness. Henry is so good. But Du only get him for one boss fight. Shinobu, however, Du get for two levels and two bosses. And it is Awful! She can’t jump well at all. In most games, Du have control of your character in the air. With Shinobu, Du have no control. Worse, she always stops her combos to taunt her enemies, which has gotten me hit numerous times when I was doing super well. This is a fucking mess! Anyway, sadly, with the enhanced gameplay, the levels in this game can range from pretty long, to two minutes, to just straight up boss fight with no level before it. It honestly makes the game seem rushed in a sense. Oh, and all of the enemies are the same. In No Mehr Heroes, Du had a good variety of enemies, Design wise. There were security guards, baseball players, soldiers, … gimps… Anyway, in No Mehr Heroes 2, Du are only fighting hitmen from the pizza Bat Company. No designs are changed, and they all look the same. Not to say that fighting them isn’t fun, but Du can only hear, “Getting your jollies” and “Chickenshit” so many times. Now, back to the bosses, I feel that they were much improved from the Zurück game… some of the time. The bosses in the original ranged from that one amazing boss to a majority of pretty fun ones to very dull ones. In this game, they can really make a shitty boss. In fact, there’s a lot of bosses in this game I don’t like. But when there’s a good boss in this game, my god, are they amazing. There’s no okay bosses in this game… Well, maybe Cloe Walsh, but that’s just the one. They are much Mehr fun and Von the Sekunde half of the game, have some of the best characters for people Du only meet for a few seconds. I just Liebe it so much.If Du want to hear what are the best and worst bosses, go read my oben, nach oben 5 Best and Worst No Mehr Heroes 2 Bosses (Shameless self promotion). But then there is the one boss.



~Ending~

SPOILERS AHEAD

Okay, so before we talk about the final boss, we must discuss the second-to-final boss, Alice Twilight (Or Moonlight, since they messed up the translation here in the west). She adds tons of character in just the short time she is here, discussing how she knows she is going to die and prepares herself for her own death and prepares Travis for what he is going to expect, and then begins probably the best fight in the entire series. Yes, even Mehr than Henry. After Travis cuts her down, he goes over the edge. He tells Sylvia that assassins are not for the UAA to use and that he wants to be a hero Von his own standards, promising to put an end to the UAA. After this revelation of Travis’ character, he and Sylvia fuck… Just like that. Hey, at least it’s funny. After that, we get one of the best scores in the game, where Travis runs up the pizza Bat headquarters to fight Jasper Batt Jr., while the classic No Mehr Heroes theme plays. I didn’t talk about the music, but man, does it get Du hyped up in this game. Easily better than the first game. So, after Travis gets to Jasper Batt Jr, this dork with rosa glasses and a limette, lime green suit with a pizza tattoo on his head, the fight begins. And my god, this is one of the worst bosses I’ve ever fought. He starts out easy, but then goes into his Sekunde form, where he knocks Du around and can kill Du instantly if he knocks Du out a window, and then his final phase just has the camera shit the bett Von getting sucked inside of his torso. After Travis kills him in comedic fashion, he falls to the ground below. And Du may notice that the game is play the theme that plays when Travis advances in rank. Yeah, that little 8-bit tune is playing, only now slower as he falls. However, he is saved Von Sylvia, who then tosses him out at his motel and drives off. And then, we go back to the nurse at the Heaven Smiles House. First, yes, that is a Killer7 reference, and two, this woman is the one telling the story of No Mehr Heroes. We find out that the woman is Sylvia and that the listener is Travis, and that they plan to head back to Santa Destroy, with the game ending with Sylvia calling Travis her No Mehr Hero… I wish a girl would call me her No Mehr Hero… I need a drink.



~Legacy~

So, for those who played the game, they were torn on weather this was an improvement to the original game oder a disappointing sequel. Regardless, the game managed to gain a fair share of Liebe as the first game and even got a collectors edition called the Hopper’s Edition… In Japan only. The Hopper’s Edition includes a DVD of what happened before the game started, an art book for the game, the game’s soundtrack, and an erotic manga, which there isn’t even any nudity in. This barely qualifies as a hentai!

~Verdict~

Gotta be honest with everyone, I was pretty disappointed in No Mehr Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. Gone is the overworld, amazing gameplay that only goes into a few short levels oder none at all, poor use of Shinobu and Henry, Du jump from rank 49 to 25 in one boss fight, than ahead twelve Mehr ranks again, than Henry kills three off screen, making the 51 assassins marketing bullshit, and a terrible final boss. But that’s not to say the game is bad. I’d still say that it is a great game that Du should play. But if Du have never played a No Mehr Heroes game, start with the first one, then come to this one. Believe me, you’ll be doing yourself a favor. Aside from those few issues, however, No Mehr Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle, with amazing gameplay, good writing, fun bosses, and one of the best soundtracks I have ever heard in a video game, I think that it gets the Titel of Excavation Worthy!