If it wasn't for the Wii's motion controls I could swear I was playing a Dreamcast game.
This game is Jekyl and Hyde all the way with a great side and terrible side. I will start with what works for this game. The combat system is a lot of fun. NMH is a button masher where A attacks with your saber and B grabs your opponent for a wrestling move. The wrestling moves are simply executed with a wiimote gesture or two. When attacking with the saber each enemy receives a finishing move with a wiimote gesture of slashing. For this you are rewarded with gracious fountains of blood spewing all over the screen. If you keep your attacks up long enough and build up combos as you mow down a room full of baddies you are automatically entered into "Dark Mode". This is essentially a burst of invincibility combined with video filters distorting your view as your character executes special kills in one swipe. All of this combined makes the action parts of the game a blast to play. Your goal is to work your way up the ranks to be the Number One Assassin in all the land. There are 10 assassins above you with plenty of minions between you and them.
Now for the terrible stuff in the game. After defeating each assassin the game throws you into this horrible copycat GTA clone overworld to grind your way through meaningless side jobs for cash. You need lots of cash to enter the next round of fighting against the next assassin. You get cash by taking BORING side jobs like collecting coconuts or picking up litter. This opens up battles on your map where you clear a room of bad guys for cash. That part is obviously more fun than the side jobs and fortunately generates cash quicker. When you finally have enough for the next round you take on the next assassin. Then rinse and repeat.
The graphics of the game are drab, blurrly, low resolution, low polygon crap that would have been frowned upon for a Dreamcast game 10 years ago. The physics are no better. The motorcycle, your only form of transportation, handles poorly. If you come within the 10 foot invisible bubble around any vehicle on the road your bike instantly stops. It can also get stuck in random locations thanks to all the glitches in the overworld game. There is no interaction in the overworld map with the exception of only a few buildings. A clothes store to play dress up. A video store that rents you videos to teach you new wrestling moves. This turns out to be pointless since the game randomly chooses what move you do. A building for your side jobs. A building for your battles. A building for weapon upgrades that are mostly pointless. And your Motel room that serves as home base. There are no side quests or missions in the game. Just the long grinds for cash. The game does offer one fetch quest involving collecting glowing Pokemon balls scattered around the map. These are traded in for new abilities. A couple which are useful.
The only thing that kept me playing this game was the action sections. It was enough to carry me through the 10 hours of gameplay leading to an ending that was extremely unsatisfying. Making those last 10 hours seem completely pointless and meaningless.
If you can stomach the money grind long enough to reach the battles you will probably enjoy this game. Otherwise don't believe the hype about how wonderful this game is.
RENT IT ONLY