No More Heroes is in an odd position. Grasshopper's last title, killer7, was an odd beast of a game. While it had enough style to fill ten games and an outrageous yet strangely intriguing plot, it simply couldn't overcome its most basic flaw - terrible gameplay. This combination of an oddball style and poor game mechanics doomed killer7 as a sales train-wreck. Because of this, the game's director, Suda-51, decided to create a game that was catered more towards an American audience, with improved gameplay at the forefront of his development concerns. No More Heroes is the first of Grasshopper's games born of these new ideals and while it has its fair share of issues, the interesting style, over the top storyline and solid game mechanics make it a title that every serious Wii action gamer should look into.

No More Heroes places you into the imaginary city of Santa Destroy, a city that is at the same time completely insane and disappointingly bland (more on that later). It's here that you meet Travis Touchdown, an extremely cocky yet utterly geeky ex-wrestler. While Travis may be arrogant, he's not as adept a lady-killer as he strives to be. You see, after chatting up the vivacious Sylvia Christel at a local bar, he finds that she has little interest in him - that is, unless he can become the United Assassin Association's #1 ranked Assassin. This sets Travis on a journey to take down the top 11 assassins with his newly purchased "Beam Katana" (read: lightsaber) at his side, all in order to score a date - and maybe more - with Sylvia.

The main thread that holds No More Heroes together is its sense of style. The character designs, especially those of Travis and his fellow assassins, are abstract, bizarre and truly fascinating. Every time you're introduced to a new assassin you'll struggle to fathom how Suda manages to conceive such wild characters. From a classic cowboy to a crazed, pudgy witch, the variation in the assassins seems limitless. It certainly doesn't hurt that nearly all the dialog for these and most of the other characters in the game is smartly written and playfully acted either. Sure, there are some strangely delivered lines - especially those of the salespersons and receptionists at the stores throughout the city - but these usually only add to the mystique of the world.

The soundtrack is also surprisingly catchy, if a little sparse at times. Some of the simple tunes are catchy enough and a few had a tendency to stick with me long after I was done playing. The sound effects are equally solid; the thrum of the Beam Katana is satisfyingly cool and everything sounds as it should do while traversing the game world. The only real disappointment is the lack of diversity in the basic enemies' dialog, which it rarely varies beyond "get him". It would have been nice to see some more interesting dialog from these enemies, especially considering how seemingly insane their boss can be.

The game is also stuffed with classic gaming throwbacks - a pixelated mini-map inhabits the bottom-left section of the screen, the game plays an NES-era song when new missions open up and an early arcade era scoreboard keeps track of where you are in the UAA rankings. These effects are all well done and don't interfere with the game's functionality at all, while enhancing its style.

All of these gaming throwbacks compliment the simple nature of the combat well too, even if it borders on the basic side. The core mechanics are pretty rudimentary if taken on their own; you've got your basic slash attacks, charged attacks and stun attacks - pretty basic stuff, even with high and low stances being toggled by the position of the Wii remote. Fortunately, there are some nice bits of flair added to keep things interesting. When opponents are stunned, for instance, you can grab them with the B button to execute a pro-wrestling move via imitating the directions on the screen with the remote and nunchuk. Similarly, if your opponent's life is low, an arrow pops onscreen directing you where to slash the remote. Once executed, one or more of your opponents are usually either decapitated or split in two, leaving a fountain of blood spewing out of the wounds. Don't let the anime style fool you folks; this isn't a game you should buy your Naruto-loving child; sexual innuendo and extraneous amounts of blood are plastered all over the place, justifying its Mature rating.

Upon completing your first assassination, you're let loose to explore Santa Destroy on your ludicrous looking motorcycle and it's here that you'll first notice the game pushing itself too far. While the typically small-scale interior sections of the game run smoothly most of the time and look pretty solid, the game starts to falter during these open world sections. Both textures and even entire buildings will begin to pop up right in front of you, taking away from any cohesiveness the world may have had.

After getting used to the abundant pop-up and somewhat loose driving controls, there are a few interesting options at your disposal. You can purchase a few things throughout the city, including new clothes, old wrestling tapes to learn new grapples, new Beam Katanas or upgrades for your current one, and workout sessions at the gym to increase your stats. You can also find Lovikov Balls around the city, which you can then hand into a drunk at the bar in order to unlock new abilities. While these activities seem like they would add some variety to the game, they rarely do. In fact, you'll most likely get into a routine while traversing the city. You'll find yourself traveling to each of the points, picking up all the upgrades available and maybe some new threads along the way. You'll be looking for something new and exciting to do in this seemingly open world, but you probably won't find anything, as despite the open world look of Santa Destroy, there is very little to do, aside from these distractions. It is impossible to draw your Beam Katana during these sections and there are no enemies in the city at all. What this means is that the city ends up being a relatively inefficient menu system for the game, rather than feeling like a cohesive open world.

In order to participate in most activities, along with unlocking the next ranked match, you'll first need to find some cash. With no other way of raising funds at first, Travis is relegated to performing mundane jobs around Santa Destroy, ranging from pumping gas to collecting coconuts. While you'd think that the game would try to add some sort of twist to these activities, it doesn't. They're interesting at first, as you'll want to see what weird job Travis will be relegated to next, but they all end up feeling pretty mundane and you won't want to repeat the same one more than a couple times before moving on. Luckily, after completing each task only once, new assassination missions open up, allowing you to take on groups of enemies with different objectives and limitations, in order to gain more cash. These missions, while a nice change of pace from the dull part-time jobs, are repetitive in their own right. The objectives don't deviate too far from each other, with pretty much every one being "kill everyone" or simply "kill the V.I.P", with very little change to the formula. This is especially noticeable later on in the game when you are doing the equivalent of grinding these missions for money to open up the next ranked match. It also doesn't help that most of the enemies are repeated constantly throughout the game. Some camera sweeps even seem to revel in this fact, showing an entire row featuring a dozen of the exact same enemy. While it's expected that some models will be repeated in a beat 'em up, it's still disappointing to see it here. With all of the main characters having such loving detail put into them, the clones you have to fight only detract from the overall unique feeling of the game.

Once you feel you've upgraded enough for your liking and you have the necessary funds deposited at the local ATM for your ranked match entrance fee, it's off to the best part of the game - the boss battles. As I mentioned earlier, each assassin has a unique personality and offbeat charm. Before you can meet each assassin though you must first make your way through a gauntlet of lackeys, usually through small corridors. While this adds a little bit of an epic feel to the time leading up the main showdown, they usually end up being just another obstacle between you and the cool boss battles. Luckily, the bosses themselves rarely disappoint; each requires learning a certain pattern and once you think you've got it figured out, it's all about the execution. They almost uniformly attain just the right balance of being challenging and genuinely entertaining to fight; in fact, they're so entertaining that the rest of the game can sometimes feel like a chore in order to reach them.

Upon completion of No More Heroes, there isn't a lot left to do . You can choose to run through the game again on the harder "Bitter" difficulty, keeping all of your old upgrades, weapons and clothing. Unfortunately, this option, along with finding all of the Lovikov Balls, doesn't equal a ton of replay value. Still, coming in at around ten to twelve hours, the main game should hold enough entertainment for the money for all but the stingiest of gamers.

No More Heroes is a game that is somewhat more style than substance. Fortunately, what substance is there is enough to keep you entertained while the story, characters and boss fights propel you forward. It may not be perfect, but No More Heroes is a great game that every action-loving Wii owner should experience.

Reviewed by Jordan Wasilka for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).