It’s been nearly 8 years since we last saw Travis Touchdown the “otaku” assassin who is the main “hero” from the No More Heroes series. Travis refuses to stay down though as he returns once again in a brand-new game dubbed Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. Aimed to be a different experience then the last few games, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes brings Travis and Badman—father of Bad Girl—into a retro themed beat ‘em up where the price of losing is death. Is Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes a worthy spin off title to the amazing No More Heroes franchise? We find out in our review below and you should, too!

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes changes the usual action heavy No More Heroes games into a top down—with some other surprises—beat ‘em up. Players control either Travis or Badman as they slice enemies apart and beat them down in various game worlds. Players can either go alone or team up with a friend in 2 player co-op. Level up your two heroes and equip various new skills to slaughter your foes! Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes offers up some new mini-games as well such as racing through a virtual world on a virtual motorcycle. Play at home or on the go and be the butt kicking assassin you’re meant to be in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes.

Travis Touchdown has grown tired of the assassin spot light and has sought some peace away from the deadly world he was once part of. However, Travis’ past hasn’t been forgotten…especially by a man named Badman. Seeking revenge for his daughter—Bad Girl—Badman has found where Travis has secluded himself and wants his head! While in the midst of a fight between the two, Travis’ rare gaming system called the Death Drive MK-II transports the two into the game world within. Now Travis and Badman must team up to beat the games, find six legendary Death Balls—to revive Bad Girl obviously—and show that even in games Travis still reigns supreme. A strange adventure awaits in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes!

The Nintendo Wii was known for some amazing games, but here at Honey’s Anime, one of our absolute favorites was No More Heroes 1 and 2. Created by Suda 51—known for Killer 7 and The Silver Case—and Grasshopper Manufacture, No More Heroes was a living testament to how a hack and slash game could be done with visceral action and beautiful visuals/style. We’ve waited years for word on a No More Heroes 3 and while we didn’t get the game we wanted we did receive something…else. Dubbed Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, this spin off title intrigued us here at Honey’s Anime and we knew a review was needed! Let’s see how this new title from Suda 51 fairs in our review of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes for the Nintendo Switch!

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes as we said isn’t a main title in the series, but instead, a sequel side story. Players are once again in control of the wise cracking—and kind of rude—Travis Touchdown as well as a new enemy/ally named Badman. Thrust into a game world with the hopes of finding six Death Balls to revive Bad Girl—sound like a familiar anime— Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes just focuses on telling a new tale and that works overall. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes’ story is fine and it still has that No More Heroes charm we adore. However, just like many things we’re about to talk about in our review, even the story suffers from some issues such as occasionally being a bit boring and text heavy. There will be a theme to our review for Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, everything that it does right it equally falters at.

With that in mind, our first major point to talk about in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is the gameplay itself. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes isn’t a third person hack and slash but a top down beat ‘em up with other retro themes thrown in for good mix here and there. As far as combat goes, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes works quite well with attacks being dedicated between heavy, light, special attacks and skills that each have cool downs. Combat works well but where Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes falters is how repetitive the combat is and how simple it also is.

The beauty of No More Heroes games was that combat—while also a bit repetitive—was fun and challenging. In Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, those two elements are removed in favor of generic beat ‘em up gameplay that really is tough. Enemies and bosses are all overly simplistic to beat where players just need to find a pattern to their attacks and use skills that hit hard and fast to win. There were a few bosses that made us truly have to rely on dodging and timing when to use specials/skills but most of them are simple.

Controls also mirror the gameplay where they work sometimes and other times feel…odd. For example, charging Travis’ legendary beam katana use to be done by holding the Wii mote in a rather proactive way and waggling the controller to regain battery. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes has players hitting the left thumb stick and hitting the right one up and down. It works fine, but ultimately, it feels lackluster in comparison to No More Heroes 1 and 2. The same can be said of combat which works but not well.

Outside of combat, players will enter the story sections which are again, a mixed bag. During the story segments, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is all text with almost no voice acting and or animation. There’s a noticeable moment in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes where Travis makes a joke about video games relying too much on text and dialogue before getting to the good stuff. Ironically—or not— Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes does the same thing with these story moments being minutes of text only! Losing the snarky Travis dialogue and seeing the strange ensemble of characters conversing with him in actual cutscenes was one of our favorite elements of No More Heroes games. Now it’s all regulated to text and that makes for dull moments that, while occasionally funny, aren’t as enjoyable.

Lastly, we should talk about the visuals and music. Not to sound like a broken record, but the graphics and sound have the same issues seen in the entirety of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. While the visuals are strong during the few cutscenes and during some of the levels, most of Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes looks pretty bland. We know Suda 51 for his amazing art direction and style that ooze out of his games but Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes loses a lot of this in favor of simple designs. The same can be said of the music which is often okay at best.

Alright let’s end this review on a good note. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is chock full of gaming, movie, anime and series references which are almost a game to find them all in of itself. We loved how Travis has various T-shirts that he can wear that reference titles like Absolver, Dead Cells, Enter the Gungeon and the list goes on. There is even a Terminator reference seen when Travis enters the game world and appears on screen. We’re glad Suda 51 and Grasshopper added all these elements in Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes as the game is clearly inspired by several of these titles in some way or another.

Here’s the deal with Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. On one hand, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes isn’t a terrible game and fundamentally works at everything it gives players in terms of gameplay, story and comedy. However, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes fails at making any of those key points we mentioned above work well enough to make the whole experience enjoyable overall. Combat is repetitive, the story works sometimes and others times is boring and at the end of the day, Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes doesn’t feel like a true No More Heroes title but more akin to an unwanted spin off game. What worries us is that if Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes truly is the only way to help Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture make a third No More Heroes title, then everything rides on this title doing well. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes will be only for true diehard fans of the No More Heroes series, but equally, they will be the ones who—like us—will feel disappointed with the end product. If you need a new No More Heroes game and want to support the series then you’re no doubt going to buy Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes. Everyone else though might find it easier to pass up on this title as it just doesn’t do much different than the millions of other action/beat ‘em up titles out there and barely plays like a No More Heroes game.

We didn’t dislike our time with Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes, but we felt underwhelmed by it equally. We know Suda 51 and Grasshopper Manufacture are capable of some amazing games and that’s why we felt Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes was so lackluster in comparison. We still hope and pray that Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes sells incredibly well so No More Heroes 3 can release on the Nintendo Switch in the future, but does that make buying Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes worth it? Let us know your thoughts on Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes in the comments below and tell us if you love the game or have issues with it. If you enjoyed our review, be sure to keep stuck to our hive for even more game reviews and gaming articles courtesy of us here at Honey’s Anime.