1. What makes Travis' Schpeletiger new is that it is now twice as long (in addition to the better controls).
2. This has already been verified, but there have been doubts and concerns as to how Grasshopper is going to have 50 unique bosses, from their appearance to actual fighting capabilities. Suda explains to EDGE that basically there is nothing to worry about as they incorporated both the original NMH development team and the NMH2 team (many members being of both teams including the character creator) to brainstorm and according to Suda they had no problems shooting out several ideas and characters from that.
3. The name of the "schoolgirl assassin" we all know about is Kimmy. How appropriate. Suda also mentions that Kimmy wants to keep Travis "all to her self." Possible Misery references?
4. At the end of every boss fight, a 2D image of Travis will walk from one end of the screen to the other to hop onto the Schpeletiger and drive off, accompanied by some new piece of midi music.
5. The idea of Travis using other weapons, even projectiles, was considered by Suda, but ultimately canned as Suda says that the sword/beam katana is what Travis should always use. Suda calls Travis the "modern samurai."
6. It was implied that Bishop actually does not die or get killed off, as the article explains that Bishop will have a bigger role to play in the game. At the same time, Suda says that "Travis is fighting for himself" not for anyone else. Travis is fighting for revenge, but perhaps for someone else other than Bishop?
7. Speaking more specifically on the city, Suda explains that Travis had actually left Santa Destroy for those three years, and it wasn't until he came back that he had seen how much it had changed. Where Travis had gone is not said. Only a portion of the original city will be traveled, based on fan responses on the first game. The streets and sidewalks will be much more busier and cars will "get out of the way" of Travis' bike. There are construction signs and lights everywhere. One of the fighting grounds will be a "new school", "construction yard", and a graveyard. Not sure if the school is new in the sense that it is an additional one to the Santa Destroy High School or if it is just a remodeled SDHS.
8. There are still side jobs such as coconut collecting and a new one involving plumbing. Suda explains that he still wants the player to feel like he has to work hard to play the game as that is what it means to be a punk. Otherwise, he says, there is a disconnect between the videogame world and reality. Still, the side jobs are still improved and provide humor as well as entertainment.
9. It is confirmed that Destroyman comes back as a cyborg as wanting revenge against, who else, Travis.
10. Finally, the bosses themselves: it will not be as difficult, time consuming, and at times boring to collect enough money to advance to the next boss fight. In fact, Suda purposely wanted to mix things up to keep it from getting repetitive by having Shinobu and Henry as playable characters and, at times, fighting more than one boss fight, sometimes one right after the other, and sometimes simultaneously.
Kiss my ass.
They repaired my Wii in 10 days and shipped it back to me for free. Sad to hear about your Greece distributor.
I can't believe the game is launching like 6 months late, or is it 7 months after the US?
Rising star is releasing it in europe, they did Little Kings Story and the original NMH as well. These guys are like the European XSEED. I think they should be supported.
Played almost 4 hrs of this at the weekend.
It's oh so sweet. The opening had my jaw on the floor, the music, the directing, the cutscenes, the graphics. Visually it looked so much better than the first game it looked incredible. I still had that CG cutscene of the first game that never made it in, stuck in my mind. How ridiculously cool was it that they let you re-enact it?
Then the game sort of dipped for a while. It's not consistently polished, there are some assy textures, copious amounts of slowdown - in the cutscenes of all things!
The first proper boss, the irish dude was irritating as hell with his lasers and moving floors and rockets. Suddenly the game felt like the first No More Heroes, warts and all.
There is no open world in this game, there is this map and it's so hassle free to use it actually feels pretty amazing - a mark of how shitty the N64 openworld of the first game was. At the same time you lose something by cutting out the overworld, you lose a sense of cohesion, of progression. When you are selecting levels off a list you get that.
If you remember the first game, it wasn't until Shinobu that the game lit up for me. In the technically shoddy game, among the boring side jobs, you were suddenly in this pitched battle that felt more like a lightsabre dual than any other game. There was a rhythm to it, there was strategy involved, it was badass.
I got to that point in NMH2 with a similar boss. The section is littered with descrutable scenary and you can hack through pillars and furniture and walls. So can he. I got beat down probably 6 times or so but kept coming back for more. This was EXCELLENT fun.
It's almost impossible to talk about why this game is so awesome without spoiling the fun for everyone else coming into the game. It's best played with no foresight. Unfortunately I spoiled some of the game for myself by watching videos.
The game is just outrageous at times, when it pulls the unexpected out of its hat as a complete suprise it can have you grinning from ear to ear. When it's mundane, it's mundane, but when it's at its best it had my jaw on the floor on several occasions.
Some of the dialogue, the lines uttered by the characters are just RIDICULOUS. Ridiculously cool, quoteable and unexpected - these guys should be making films. Most good games have wow moments, some of the freaking dialogue here are wow moments.
I started playing as Shinobu. I thought I would hate these sections as I wanted to play as travis, but her two levels are so far the best of the bunch. Her animation is particularly great. It reminds of when you first saw the 3D Prince of Persia doing his thing in the Sands of Time. It's archaic now but the impact then is the same thing I feel about Shinobu.
She jumps as well, adding some verticality to the levels, a boss fight in a Scrooge McDuck type vault has you going up and down in a large chamber with tiered levels. One of the levels reminds of call of duty, starting from a low point and working your way upwards, seamlessly whilst being able to see where you started. Holy hell one of her levels is huge and you can see the cliffs in the vista and there are no loads. Very impressive.
The combat is the same as the first game for the most part. I was worried it was going to be cannon fodder but the difficulty ramps up and once you save there is no quitting levels. You can't go back to the overworld to power up or buy a new, stronger sabre. You just have to plug away at that boss and use all your skill. Which makes it very satisfying.
There is this running dash move that is freaking awesome, where you swish the remote to use whilst running. It's as powerful as a charged slash and saps your batteries just as much.
At first I was thinking that this was no better than the first game only with slightly improved visuals. But the more I play the more memorable the game becomes and it's not saddled with the horrible overworld and boring minigames of the first game.
The game just hits you with so many memorable moments -gah! - can I spoil them for you or what? I have to say something. Well, I'll just say that they play subtle homages to a couple of well know franchises as well. And ----- GAH! I can't say or you guys will kill me.
Oh and the 8-bit minigames are excellent, there are even some really addictive ones like fitting shaped tiles into a box or lining up water pipes. You could release this stuff on wiiware and it would be worth owning.
Oh yeah and the graphics can still look like ass on an HDTV.
Oh oh! The finishing moves are totally awesome
It's not quite QTE and it's not quite gameplay. Sort of reminiscent of Madworlds over the top finishers but more cool and awesome. That perfect punctuating moment on a boss well beaten.
Oh and turning into a Tiger = gaming ecstacy. The enemies cower on the floor and you rip their faces off. So... satisfying.
One more thing. In design and polish terms, it still feels like these guys are lagging a fair few steps back from the best - Capcom/Platinum. Which still leaves this franchise in the "COULD be amazing category".
But creatively these guys are unrivalled. I can only imagine what would happen if you paired off their creative team with an actually awesome - technical developer.
Another thing is that with the first game it was all original. Here, cause its a sequel there are many familiar elements, like the transitions and saving and fighting and even a few characters. You know all this already so that stuff doesn't feel fresh, it's the unexpected stuff which hits you.
One more thing, technically this is only 75% of the way there. It feels like a third game is needed to finally nail the experience as it should be.
Games like Shattered Memories, Dead Space Extraction and Red Steel 2 have raised the bar in terms of what I expect from a 3rd party on wii in terms of polish.
Okay below I will edit out everything that could possibly spoil anything out of my post.
thanks GG. i really can't wait for this game. having only recently played the first to completion, and loved every minute of it, this is coming at a great time for me.
when i love certain things about a game i really find no need to nitpick on what is less than perfect. in other words, I understand the game is lacking in the purely technical side of things but for me it more than makes up for it in attitude, style, gameplay, art and tons more. so I expect to have a really great time with this game like i did with the first one
I read your summary and it is basically how I felt about it when I played it back in Feb or whenever it was (though of course, as you know I disagree with any criticism of the first game -- in a fanboyish lunatic way, so there is no point in even talking about it with me).
I agree with there being a bit of a lull for a few levels. And unfortunately that is capped by a horrible boss battle before it get back to being good. (The boss battle I am speaking of -- and I don't think this will spoil it for anyone, since it is just the location -- takes place in an office). Have you gotten to that point yet?
I don't think so.
I'm stuck on a bike boss at the moment.