No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle

Hey Poor Player: 4 / 5 by Heather Johnson Yu

I’ve had more fun with No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle than many of the games I’ve played this year, which speaks volumes to the quality Suda51 and team continue to release; despite all my frustrations, the franchise is still one of my all-time favorites. If you’re set on picking up No More Heroes III in 2021, it’s pretty much a requirement to brush up on No More Heroes and No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. And for $19.99? You could do a hell of a lot worse. So grab both and take a souped-up bike ride down memory lane — you won’t regret it.

GameGrin: 8 / 10 by Simon Brown

Extremely well put together remasters that stay true to the original games. Travis' brash personality is fun to inhabit and the combat is still extremely satisfying. The series is well worth your time, especially if you missed out on them originally.

Noisy Pixel: 8 / 10 by Jacob Kavanaugh

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle has some great gameplay moments, even though it misses the mark on what the original did so well. The adventure hosts some great boss fights, a responsive combat system, and an unlockable difficulty mode that makes the entire experience even more enjoyable with the addition of a kick-ass soundtrack. Still, it remains in the shadow of its predecessor. It’s less goofy and more absurd and ends up being a heavy-handed retelling to correct the original’s plot. If this weren’t a sequel, I would have been praising it far more, but it spends most of its time desperately struggling to figure out what its own identity is.