To say that this game delivered would be an understatement. It's rare to see a developer go all out like Grasshopper did with this game. It's wild, hilarious, subversive, and really fun. At times, it feels like the best Adult Swim game ever made. Every piece of this game oozes with style, humor, and personality.

Combat has gotten much deeper this time. The combat system has carried over some elements from Travis strikes again giving Travis more attacks to combat a wider enemy variety than previous games. The original game was simple and satisfying. It never got old. This new system takes more thought and work to get good at it with enemies that are pushing you in different ways to keep the pressure down on me. The sound design is fantastic too. The crashing of the beam katana hitting an enemy and Travis doing a powerful dropkick feel so good. Also, the "KILL!" screen and music that plays when you defeat all enemies in a level is amazing.

The open world is technically nothing special based on modern standards. It also doesn't run well. There are clear framerate drops when travelling around. Luckily, none of the action happens in the open world, so it's not a big deal. What the open world has going for it is that I enjoy doing all the activities in it: returning minigames like lawnmowing, new minigames like the surprisingly fun takedown driving game where you smash into the cars of reckless drivers with your motorcycle to stop them, fun visual novel scenes similar to the ones in Travis Strikes Again, and silly collectibles. I spent a lot of time running around the world, and it didn't get old.

The music is all around fantastic. This is definitely the game to own the soundtrack to. There's a dope rap song that plays when you go to the sushi stand where you can buy health items and temporary buffs. When I first heard it, I had to stop and just groove to it.

There are so many things I don't want to even mention because it would ruin the surprise. This is a must play game, and my current game of the year.

No More Heroes 3 is not the best looking or the most technically impressive game. It does not tell an incredible story or have the strongest gameplay. But it has way more heart, personality, style and charm than most games.

How do I even begin describing its style and vibe? No More Heroes 3 is a punk game. It’s anti mainstream and proudly does its own thing. It takes inspiration and shows love for a lot of pop culture things like anime, videogames, films, wrestling and music and at the same time it also parodies this stuff too. It is very self aware, fourth wall breaking and a bit cheeky and I love it. No More Heroes 3 has so many cool ideas in it like for example when it just stops to discuss Miike films. (Hopefully this gets more people into Miike films; I would recommend Gozu, 13 Assassins, Visitor Q, Ichi the Killer, Audition and the miniseries MPD Psycho). Of course there are problems with this approach the main ones being not all the ideas thrown in are excellent or work really well and you are also relying on your audience to just ‘get it’ and roll with it.

Visually No More Heroes 3 is a mixed bag. On one hand it’s really stylish and has some awesome character designs. On the other hand there are a lot quite simple and bland looking objects and locations. I am not a huge fan of the enemy designs and I think the bosses are a bit lacking too, especially when compared to the first two games. The game works well enough and loads quickly, I am definitely glad I waited and played the PS5 version. There was an issue at launch where the trophies were not working but they eventually fixed it. The game is not big budget and does lack some polish.

Gameplay is mostly pretty fun. The combat is solid and looks cool with a combination of sword, melee, dodge, wrestling, a combo counter, skills and slots activated specials. Travis, the main character, has a skill tree and things called Death Glove Chips that allow you to upgrade and personalise your play style as well. Exploration does start to drag and isn’t very rewarding and Travis’ bike isn’t as fun as it looks. There are things to collect and do in the world. There are seeds to plant, scorpions to catch, alien shells, T-shirts, doppelgangers, kittens, capsule toys and Deathman cards. It is a bit much and starts to feel like a chore. There are also defence missions and mini games. The defence missions are just fights and they get repetitive. The mini games are a laugh at first but quickly become repetitive too. This over the top action game can quickly grind to a halt if you do a lot of this at once. Luckily you are not forced to do too much of this but it’s there for the completionists or people that just want a little more. The main story parts and boss fights are great and the gimmicks mostly deliver.

When it comes to the story and characters it is generally a pretty good time. There is a lot here for returning fans but it is still possible for newcomers to jump in and follow along. It is about Travis returning home to face a new threat and that’s all I’ll say to avoid spoilers. Travis and the returning cast are great and the new villain is cool too. Things move along at good pace. Scenes are well directed and the voice actors nail the larger than life characters. It’s not perfect but I enjoyed the journey. The music is good too. Most of the new bosses are pretty forgettable though and as I said not every idea lands. I love No More Heroes 3’s style and humour but I know a lot of people won’t like it.

The problem with playing and reviewing Suda 51 games is they are subversive. A lot of this game’s ‘flaws’ could be deliberate choices. Like the tedious collectables, the ‘chore like mini games,’ the empty open world and bland looking locations. Lots of it could be Suda’s commentary on modern gaming; he is a mischievous creator that likes to take the piss. Some things are obvious and some not so much. It is up to the player to interpret it all and then decide if you like it and think it’s worth it because deliberately bad is still bad but also fun if that makes sense.

I enjoyed No More Heroes 3 enough to play though it more than once and even considered going for the platinum trophy for a while. The biggest issue with No More Heroes 3 is that after waiting this long and when you compare it to the first two games it is a bit disappointing. It just doesn’t hit as hard and is not as memorable as the first two. For No More Heroes veterans and Suda 51 fans it is still a must play. For everyone else I would recommend you play the other games first but if you really want to jump in here then go for it. No More Heroes 3 is nowhere near a perfect game but who cares it’s still cool as f**k.

7.6/10

No More Heroes was fun. No More Heroes 2, then again, was pretty shit in my books. How the third one fares? Luckily, No More Heroes III is a lot more like it. It's once again an over-the-top action game about Travis Touchdown, a super powerful otaku assassin who seems to live to his fullest in epic life-or-death battles.

Let's get the bad stuff out of the way first. Whilst the first two games seemed to have reasonable production values for their time, No More Heroes III looks and feels like it was either made on a tight budget or pushed out too soon. There's big inaccessible parts in the map. The open world feels a bit of an afterthought again. There's audio bugs. There's the awesome old Unreal Engine jank of textures taking a second to load after the 3D models are already shown. The game is rough in many ways but luckily, it still is very playable and doesn't have anything that breaks the game or stops the fun. It's mostly a case of missed potential. No More Heroes III gets so close to being really good.

Also, while the writing and characters are heaps better than in NMH2, there's still tons of clumsy lines, weird cutscenes and plot points that never go anywhere. For a game that tries to create memorable cutscenes and unforgettable lines, this is unfortunate. Luckily, it's not too bad and there's good stuff in it as well. The biggest saving grace when comparing to NMH2 is that NMH3 succeeds in making likeable characters. Now even Travis' cat even has a bigger role (and a deep, smooth speaking voice to go with it)!

Then, for the good stuff. No More Heroes III is just an-all around fun game to play. The combat is fast, fun and fluid. It's also been tweaked a bit to include four skills with cooldowns and a better system for powering Travis up. The story is quite insane even for No More Heroes standards. The boss fights are once great and creative – as they should be. Many times the boss fights just make you laugh or impress you with some crazy twist of mechanics. Even the mini games aren't that bad this time around (even though they still aren't exactly good).

The game also just oozes style from gameplay to cutscenes, from graphics to music. The soundtrack is top notch again with a really varied selection of genres and styles that complement the really varied boss fights and their visuals. The main villains and the enemies in the game, some sort of planet conquering aliens, have really cool and colourful designs. Their art style is something I haven't really seen elsewhere. The UI either has a funky old PC UI inspired look or retro video game vibe pretty much everywhere and I really liked it. And you also got to love the extremely over the top KILL screen you get every time you finish the fight.

No More Heroes III has its shortcomings, but it's fun, it dares to be silly and it has soul. It's easy game to like. I hope No More Heroes III sold enough to greenlight a new entry in the series. Preferably with a slightly bigger budget to bring the whole experience up to strandards it deserves.

As for my journey with the NMH series, I still have Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes to try. I'll get to it once I can get a nice discount for it.

No More Heroes has been known for crazy stories, twists, violent action and geeky nods. No More Heroes III continues this with great combat, better world design, and the same confident craziness we've come to expect from Grasshopper.

The game continues the same hack-and-slash formula of its predecessors, with the assassin Travis Touchdown taking on either waves of enemies or ten ranked bosses. Travis moves around a handful of tightly designed open worlds and can use his motorcycle to move quickly or fast travel. There are a variety of side quests, featuring minigames for cash, finding special cards/cats/doppelgangers/you name it, and getting enough money to enter the next ranked match.

Travis has a single beam katana in this game, though he has up to four special Death Glove moves that are essential to managing enemies, some upgradeable special moves (fast combos, charges, special dodge bonuses) and a slot reel that gives a random bonus that can REALLY turn the tide of battle. Professional wrestling makes a return, and a few giant robot transformations too!

The story and characters are the real meat of the game though. Featuring more kills and twists than you can shake a katana at, this story of aliens coming to throw down with Travis at his most confident is the best that this series has to offer. Grudge-filled rematches, surprise genre changes, ambiguous motivations, and the thrill of the kill. While the game subverts expectations at every turn, the last boss battles do not disappoint.

Given that this is No More Heroes, it's not designed to be the most graphically advanced or expansive but it doesn't need to be. It's fun, it's confident, and creatively twisted after all this time. If this is the last this series gets, it goes out on a very high note.