No More Heroes 2 gives you more of the same, but in a more streamlined fashion.
The story of No More Heroes 2 wastes no time taking off, pitting Travis Touchdown on the same roof that the first game started him on, fighting the brother of the assassin he killed on that very rooftop. After Travis dispatches him while adding insult to injury, he returns to his motel room where he receives a package containing the head of one his best friends. Angered beyond words, Travis vows revenge, and coincidentally, Sylvia, who ran the ranking competition in the first game, returns and tells him the person who killed his friend just so happens to be the number one ranked assassin. This is all the incentive Travis needs to compete in the tournament again, so he immediately grabs his beam katana and sets off for the 51st ranked assassin.
Gameplay is exactly the same as in the first No More Heroes. You swing the beam katana with the A button and depending on whether you hold the Wiimote up or down, Travis will swing high or low. You can swing the Wiimote and make him unleash a powerful slash. Kick attacks are performed with the B button and target locking is done with the Z button. When an opponent is dazed, you can press the B button and perform a wrestling move finisher by following the on-screen prompts.
Travis' beam katana depletes energy when it's used to defend, or used in stronger attacks, such as charged strikes. In order to regain the energy, you press the 1 button and shake the controller as you would a rechargeable flashlight. You can also find batteries in treasure chests that will fill it up instantly, as well as pizza that will replenish health, and all sorts of different collectibles spread throughout Santa Destory's levels.
When you're engaged in combat, sometimes you'll be given a prompt to swing the Wiimote a certain way. If you perform it correctly, Travis will execute the enemy in a brutal fashion, and a slot machine will begin spinning. If the slots match up, then Travis will be given a very destructive ability, such as turning into a tiger for one-hit kills, or a devastating blow that kills every enemy in the area at once. There's also an ecstasy gauge that fills up when you make successive hits, but depletes when you get hit yourself. Pressing select enters Travis into Ecstasy Mode, where he strikes lighting fast, whittling an enemy's health down to nothing in seconds.
The main story missions are called Ranking Fights. Some will have you fight just a few enemies before taking on a boss, while others will have you fighting so many enemies, you'll wonder if they'll ever stop coming. There are some levels that take you straight to the boss fight, forgoing battling enemies entirely, and the boss battles is where the game truly shines. Because the levels are so varied, the game has a hard time establishing a steady pace. Some missions go on forever, while others are completed in a blink of an eye.
Just as with the first battle, the designs of the bosses are absolutely ridiculous, but in a good way. They're bizarre, unorthodox, contradictory, mysterious, intriguing, offensive, sexy, etc. You just can't find enough adjectives in the dictionary to describe how awesome these guys are. Even a couple of old bosses from the first return, more souped up than before. Fighting them is pretty fun, as well. They all have their own attack patterns, and survival means learning them and capitalizing on their weaknesses. For the most part, they're pretty easy, but a few can be either frustrating or just simply drawn out.
The biggest change fans of the first game will notice is that you'll no longer be able to drive around in Santa Destory on your gigantic motorcycle. The free-roaming aspect of the first title felt tacked on, but instead of actually spending time to improve it, it was ditched altogether. Instead of driving around to your next fight, shop or side job, you just select down a list of places, and then off you go. You also cannot visit a Revenge Mission - a side mission where you kill all enemies or a targeted enemy in a given time - once its been completed. It makes the game a little less informal, because you no longer feel attached to the city of Santa Destroy.
Another big change is how the side jobs are handled. Except for the last, all of the side jobs are 8-bit styled mini games. They're fun to play at first, but the novelty very quickly begins to wear off once you realize how often you'll need to play them to earn enough money to buy anything in the game. There are a ton of a clothing articles that Travis can buy, as well as a couple of expensive beam katanasa. There are also training sessions in Ryan's Gym to improve your strength and stamina, but they can be very costly because the mini-games can be quite tricky. Completionists who'll want to buy everything will end up spending more than twice the time playing the mini game than the actual game itself; it's imbalanced.
This game screams for 720p or higher, but unfortunately, the Wii just can't do that. As a result, the game doesn't look that great on a high definition television. Still, the visuals can be appreciated on an artistic level. Just as with the first game, project leader Suda 51 has taken cel-shading and given it a bit more depth than most cel-shaded games have. This gives the title a smooth cartoon feel without really looking too much like a cartoon. The special effects adorning the game are also pretty lively. The beam katana snakes in the air with trails of light, and the enemies explode into fountains of blood. No More Heroes 2 also has a thematic 8-bit presentation, as several of its menus are done with 8-bit lettering. This helps add a unique sense of style and charm to the game.
In the audio department, it sounds identical to its predecessor. A lot of the same music was used, and just about every sound effect has been recycled. Returning cast members are voiced by the same actors. If any one weak point in the game's audio existed in the first game, it would be a problem here, but that's not the case. The music is still crazy and befitting (although some levels oddly enough lack music), the voice acting is still done well, and the sound effects are still painful and loud. Even the 8-bit games sound good, considering the technical boundaries of 8-bit code.
If you loved the first No More Heroes, you'll most likely enjoy Desperate Struggle. If you're expecting a completely overhauled and improved sequel, you'll set yourself up for disappointment. The only things that feel new in No More Heroes 2 are a pair of beam katanas Travis can dual-wield, and the 8-bit mini-games. The exclusion of free-roam in a weird way makes the game seem a lot smaller, but if you really hated it in the first, you'll be glad it's gone. A few minor issues such as the horrible camera system still haven't been addressed, but you won't find anything new that's wrong in the sequel. If you just couldn't enough Travis Touchdown the first time around, then purchasing No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle will be a sound decision.