First of all, please be aware that No More Heroes is rated "M" for good reason. It has an overabundance of cursing, over the top violence and sexually suggestive (and sometimes overly blatant) content. If these things don't bother you, however, you may very well enjoy this game. The extent to which you enjoy the game (if you have no problem with the "M" rated content) will come down to two factors: whether or not the style appeals to you and whether or not you enjoyed the combat. I enjoyed both, but let me describe them in detail.
The style is, well, unique. It has anime influences, but you don't control a typical japanese protagonist. He's actually kind of a jerk. I personally found this refreshing, kind of like how playing as Wario was fun after being Mario for so many years. He even gets blown up several times during the course of a level (as if he's some sort of cartoon character), which was done entirely for comedic effect. The bosses you fight in the game are amazingly creative. You never know what to expect, and that fact in of itself was enough to keep me playing.
The second consideration is the combat. Now, this is something I didn't care for at first, but it grew on me. It first seemed like everything boiled down to hitting the "A" button over and over to swing your beam katana, and while you can play this way, you won't get the full benefit of the controls. There is a high/low attack system in place and it works with your enemies' ability to block high or low. There is also a stun attack ("B" button) which only works if you hit the enemy where they're blocking. After stunning them, you can grab them and body slam them, which is a fun alternate attack. There is also a guard system, wherein you guard most attacks by holding Z (so long as you're not in the middle of attacking). When an enemy attack can break through your guard, you will see the enemy flash brightly before performing it. You will at this point need to do an emergency dodge, accomplished by pressing a direction on the control pad, to avoid the attack. Most powerful attacks, when avoided, leave enemies wide open to your own attacks. Altogether, there is a very soothing flow to the fighting, balancing guarding, dodging and attacking. The boss fights, on the other hand, take these elements and usually put some sort of spin on them, as most bosses have very unique special attacks that require altering your strategy. Figuring that strategy out is a large part of what makes the boss fights the best part of the game.
Unfortunately, there are some slow parts to the game, mainly when you are asked to gather X number of dollars in order to fight the next boss. While not that annoying at the outset, the time it takes to earn money by doing stupid side jobs and setting up fighting missions will get to you. In my opinion though, the rest of the game is worth it. Yeah, I wish it wasn't that way, but the game is still a lot of fun . . . when you're not mowing lawns and killing the same dudes for the tenth time.
Buy No More Heroes!
