Review of No More Heroes 3, Suda51’s latest action for PlayStation, Xbox and PC

With loose hair, a beard, a neck brace, and two flashy bandages on the thigh and leg, Travis Touchdown presents himself in the opening sequences of No More Heroes 3 as a normal person, essentially a man who grappled with superhuman efforts for years. . However, he needs the right reason (in this case, an unexpected alien invasion) to once again transform himself into the infallible killer we all know, putting disease aside and ruthlessly ignoring the advancing age.

Well, a parallel can be drawn between the last episode of the signed series. in water51 and yes, the charismatic protagonist who must once again unleash the Beam Katana, comb his hair and put on his iconic sunglasses, take on the role of the invincible warrior and face anyone who threatens humanity, even deadly extraterrestrials. with super powers. Behind its security, however, lurks a project run almost exclusively by the power of determination, which in fact presents itself as a kind of incomplete prototype that was closed as well as possible in the absence of any more resources.

This is even more evident on the Nintendo Switch, which has become even more evident on the next-gen platforms, on the one hand clearing the performance ambiguities in live phases (and we’d love to see it!), on the other hand. Underline the absolute ordinariness of the scenarios used by the game as empty quest containers, a simple way to move from one fight to the next, from one cutscene to the next. But what fights and cutscenes!

In short, as you can see, Travis Touchdown’s latest adventure has been confirmed as a controversial experience. Up to what point? we reveal to you. No More Heroes review for PC, PlayStation and Xbox.

Story: ET, housebreaking

Filled with Ultraman, Tekkaman, Rocky and retrogaming references, No More Heroes 3 tells a story History Extraterrestrial, which is practically a “bad” reinterpretation of ET. There is a little boy who befriends a tiny furry alien and helps him return to his planet: The problem is that a few years later, when he returns to Earth, the little creature has become a warrior as strong as he is ruthless, ready to do anything. destroying our planet.

Jess Baptiste VIhis friends brought nine generals for FU, who are considered the most powerful warriors in the universe and own the multinational corporation that he built from the ground up using the mental abilities given to him by his human friend Damon Riccitiello. little alien. this was once very good and beautiful.

Of course, Travis cannot let the extraterrestrials destroy the world: the first of the warriors from outer space falls without much effort, but the fate of the war changes dramatically when FU openly challenges the killer with his Beam Katana, defeating him and killing his own killer. best friends. It will take about twelve hours to be strong enough to defeat the omnipotent alien. duration The No More Heroes 3 campaign progressed relatively fast.

In terms of narration, the game leaves no stone unturned and even shows itself immediately. a concentration of strange ideas, the debut of an admittedly brilliant writer who puts notes and concepts aside for this third installment of the series. In its impressive simplicity, the plot of Travis Touchdown’s latest adventure is an exciting patchwork of quotes with his hobby of breaking the fourth wall, and if you like Suda’s style you’ll love it.

Structure: my whole city, a desert I know

There are three elements that make it up. structure No More Heroes 3: spectacular cutscenes, hilarious fights and terrifying exploration stages. As mentioned, we will have ten main opponents to defeat (nine, we will make the first of them in practice during training), and there will be a large number of sums to collect to access boss fights, sums that we can only collect by completing them. Missions and final stage scattered across five different scenarios.

Therefore, riding on Travis’ very fast bike, the Demzamtiger, we will have to reach these settings and look for points of interest that guarantee access to the so-called “designated conflicts”, that is, we will fight a few key opponents (fights). From this point of view bestiary is actually quite diverse) it will be our mission to earn relevant rewards and grow our bank account.

A key asset in a Suda51 title, a sushi kiosk will allow us to take food with us to replenish our health or energy, or to obtain instant improvements in times of greatest need. However, between missions, nothing can stop us from returning to base and using the points earned. develop the traits of our characterAs well as unlock chips that give Travis exclusive benefits.

There are some secondary activities (see toilets to clog, garbage to be collected, lawns to be cut…), but in general scenarios are very old generation On a conceptual level, he imagined that a resource allocation that was deserted and devoid of interactions, leaving the “world” element exposed during development, could possibly explore innocent children, not only those waiting to be confronted with an open world, but simply pleasant environments.

Gameplay: Here we are

luckily Gameplay No More Heroes 3 largely avoids the frustration associated with the game’s exploration phases: getting off the bike and entering the portals leading to various fights, Travis regains his confidence with his lightsaber and begins slashing, a beauty between quick blows and goodies. slow, spectacular combos, rechargeable special moves, and even a Henshin mod where the character is covered in high-tech armor that allows it to fly and fire missiles at enemies.

Everything works great in this case: impact performance that keeps engagement high, excellent dodges with relative bullet time to deal as much damage as possible to the opponent in the mission, wrestling moves (also inevitable), Beam Katana charged by “beating” for a few minutes, and then of course boss fight: all different, all interesting, and sometimes with an insignificant degree of difficulty that takes a few tries … also with slow and cumbersome access to consumables, it must be said.

Technical realization: problems solved, problems created

while taking care of 60fps Fixed in the action stages, the Nintendo Switch version of No More Heroes 3 suffered from very noticeable drops in frame rates and monstrous pop-ups during exploration, something that clearly didn’t happen on the PlayStation 5, the version that was tested: console Sony has greatly improved the graphics of the game directed by Goichi Suda. It manages with ease, but is designed for a much less powerful machine.

This original sin, if we want to describe it this way, inevitably affects the success of the transformation it offers while acting so well: a visual effect far below the standards with regard to new platforms, it’s two, if not three, generations old. You hardly notice it when fighting thanks to the quality of the design, but it’s almost a tear drop when you travel in Demzamtiger.

It reveals its own in the water, and transforms many of the limits of this production into virtues, or at least specific solutions, filled with more or less clear references and a writing that is so obvious, even insane, that it is not easy to find in a video today. game, but not always control, which often has to deal with a number of practical flaws.

Strictly industry test sound Passed with flying colours: No More Heroes 3’s soundtrack is great, the episodes even have an opening and closing theme, and the voice actors’ commentary (all voices in English, with Italian subtitles) lend themselves perfectly. The atmosphere of the game adds value to the whole package.