Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes Reviews
For a budget No More Heroes experience with more content on the way, Travis Strikes Again is a fun ride.
If there’s one take-away I have about Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, it’s that it feels like a lower budget take on the series. I’m reminded of when a series on the PSX or GameCube would get a game on the GBA; It’s noticeably different, and not as highly polished, but in the end it’s still fun for what it is.
Like nearly every project from Grasshopper Manufacture/Suda 51 you gotta say here: Love it or hate it. Fans of their previous work get everything you could wish for. If you never played any title the studio has released so far and are not a fan of Indie Games you still get a decent Hack and Slay Co-Op Experience with some unimaginative enemy design and little technical hiccups.
Review in German | Read full review
While going away from the franchise's roots may have been an interesting idea in some far off universe, we instead got a game devoid of any cohesion or structure that is also really badly designed to the point of frustration. Suda51's off-the-shelf humour couldn't save a story so full of holes that you can mistake it for Swiss cheese. Nothing in this world can make me recommend this game. With dull combat, terrible visuals and just lazy design, this is an instantly forgettable game that failed its legacy completely. A true tragedy.
Travis Strikes Again is an oddity, to say the least. Sometimes, it can be a lot of fun, but at other times, it can be a repetitive drag. The characters and writing are fantastic, but the game’s tendency to flip between different gameplay styles makes its quality inconsistent.
Fans of Travis’ previous adventures may be disappointed by this down-scaling but in reducing the size of his vision, Suda has been able to finally begin adapting it for a modern market.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is a unique arcade-style hack-and-slash with sub-standard, repetitive combat and an interesting narrative for hardcore Suda fans, but offers little else for players who are not.
Travis Strikes Again doesn't live up to the name No More Heroes or the talent of Suda51 and bores for almost seven hours with blunt action, uninspired level design and the eternal unwinding of the same processes.
Review in German | Read full review
Unfortunately, though there is fun to be had battling bosses and experiencing its off-the-wall storyline, Travis Strikes Again is difficult to recommend even at the discounted asking price. For an evening of co-op play, there are better options out there, and playing solo robs the campaign of its potential for fun combat.
Serving as a spin-off of the previous two titles, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes features some of the charm and DNA of the past games, but mostly ends up as a disappointment after the years of waiting for more from this unique series.
The title left me with a bitter taste and thinking about what might have been, if the developers had the required budget,
Review in Greek | Read full review
I don’t know why Travis Strikes Again exists, but it does, and that’s what I’d call “unfortunate” within the broader context of the series. No More Heroes was a great-but-crude product of its time, and with clever writing, its style of humour can be brought into the modern era. There’s so much to draw from for a new game in the series, and Grasshopper just didn’t. Quite the opposite, in fact. Many series staples were removed in favour of bland gameplay, frustrating and boring design, and some visual and thematic hints that this game might have actually been good had the vision been there. As it exists now, however, I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, not even longtime fans. You lose nothing from not playing this… Well, except perhaps the hope of another title in the series.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is a solid return for the assassin but one not without its problems. While the writing feels just as sharp as ever, unfortunately, its six-game premise doesn’t feel like it totally lives up to its potential. Still it’s great to see a new entry in the long-dormant series and hopefully, this marks the beginning of a brand new chapter for Travis Touchdown and the league of assassins.
Full of trademark style and promising concepts, it doesn’t manage to live up to its own potential, let alone expectations, due to repetitive gameplay and gimmicks that don’t pan out.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes has almost lost all the factors that made the original game and its sequel cool and fun. This is not the reunion we were looking for, so let’s hope that they don’t drop the Death Ball in the third main game.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Suda51 is nothing if not subtle. His games always feel outrageous and over-the-top in ways that can be difficult to hold onto some measure of appeal. I love his stuff solely because I can never expect what he’s going to do.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is without a shadow of a doubt a good game. But, it doesn’t try and push the boundaries of game making though. Without the Travis factor, this game would be fairly average. So the non Travis fans will not have as much of a good time as the fanatics. As much as it pains me to say this, I am having to judge this based on how good it is, rather than how much I liked it. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes has been awarded a Thumb Culture Silver Award.
It’s going to be hard to recommend it when I’ve knocked it as being repetitive several times (which is ironic, when you think about it). But then, that’s what usually creates a cult classic: it may not come out to critical acclaim and rapturous praise, but if the little seed of charm is in there somewhere, it just needs time to grow. It’ll be tough, and not everything it grows will be to everyone’s taste, but there’s something in there that you want to survive.
While fascinating art style, catchy music, and Travis Strikes Again storytelling can be appealing to Suda51 fans, superficial gameplay, repetition of campaigns, bad design, enemies and bass have wasted the game's potential. TSA can be a fun experience if you have multiple problems and can cope with the repetition of gameplay. Otherwise, we recommend you don't go overboard and wait for a new title experience from Suda51 to No More Heroes 3 release.
Review in Persian | Read full review