No More Heroes: Heroes Paradise

As the Wii version is pretty easy to find for around $10, it's hard to recommend this mixed bag of an update, knowing that the less buggy original is $30 cheaper.

Its wanton weirdness is still as charming as it was on the Wii, and its nonsensical narrative is always enjoyable. So if you're anxious to rekindle your bloodlust in the most over-the-top manner available, Heroes' Paradise may be worth a look.

It's really too bad we had to give this version a lower score, but the game just doesn't live up to the potential of being a superior version of a beloved game. Instead, it's an inferior version due to the controls, and the graphical improvements are nearly nonexistent.

It's worthy for the epic clashes with the bosses, sense of humor and simple and fun gameplay.

An unremarkable port. [July 2011, p.92]

A fantastic game, held back by some frustrating design decisions. For every moment spent whooping in delight as you vanquish a foe, you'll spend two more grimacing as you have to mow someone's lawn, or try and pry yourself free from a lamppost. When it's good it's almost unbeatable, but the filler in-between is exactly that.

This game is really strange and has a main character who likes weird stuff, sex, jokes, blood and more. It's actually a Wii-game in High Definition so not an entirely new game. It's funny to play but doesn't offer anything special.

Quotation forthcoming.

The PlayStation Move support, the humor, the style and the gameplay is fun. But No More Heroes: Paradise does also have a lot of less good point, like the side-missions, sometimes the humor is way to cheesy and the driving elements of the game doesn't really work. The game is a bit extraordinary, but fans of this kind of games will enjoy this.

It's a 1:1 port from Wii, it's technically equal and Move isn't fully supported. What worked in 2008, simply isn't enough nowadays.

But really, part of what makes No More Heroes so enjoyable is the nearly nonsensical story, which is still intact here. Lots of 4th wall breaking going on by all parties, and a whole lot pokes are made at popular culture and various geek loves, like Star Wars, Transformers, and others.

Riotous irony and violence, spiked by drudgery and muddy visuals. [July 2011, p.92]

But now, over three years since the release of the original, a lot of the gameplay seems lacking.

Heroes is a fine title taken in small bites, but the repetitive gameplay becomes ever more grinding with prolonged exposure. [Oct 2011, p.81]

As a sandbox game No More Heroes is extremely bad – the city is ugly, repetitive and almost completely empty. Those who dig the Japanese craziness will appreciate the game's biggest treasure – its atmosphere and absolute unpredictability. First you save your progress in a toilet, a moment later you run around with a lawnmower doing a side quest, then you agree to assassinate a corporate boss and at last you listen to the protagonist's philosophical monologue about the meaning of life. [August 2011, p.69]

The many sidejobs and minigames lack both variety and challenges, but the excellent boss fights make up for the tedium. It's not perfect, but it does have a lot going on for it.

As stylish as it is, it's never quite as likeable. [May 2011, p.113]

What we are faced with, then, is a port of a game that probably worked on the Wii but which - three years later on a much different console with an asking price of eighty-odd bucks – is as aggressively inessential as its own open-world elements.