Support NeoGAF

[SpongebobSquaredance]

MC: 76/100
OC: 79/00

No More Heroes III Reviews

Travis Touchdown returns to Santa Destroy after a ten-year absence. There he finds a huge artificial island metropolis floating in the sea, and a mysterious flying object hovering high above. What kind of crazy dangerous assassins will Travis face off against this time?!

www.metacritic.com

No More Heroes 3 Reviews

No More Heroes 3 is rated 'Strong' after being reviewed by 123 critics, with an overall average score of 76. It's ranked in the top 33% of games and recommended by 66% of critics.

opencritic.com

To be honest, I've expected the game to be rated poorly (like Deadly Premonition 2), but as it turns out the ratings are in check with the predecessors and only slightly worse. I would've gotten it either way, but now I will get it very soon.

Attack of the Fanboy - 9/10

No More Heroes 3 is a fantastic sequel that fans deserve, delivering everything you’ve come to expect from the series and more.

The SixthAxis - 9/10

No More Heroes 3 shines with its fourth-wall-breaking self-awareness, zany characters and stunningly slick combat. It's not afraid to be what it is, Suda 51 and his team delivering a great instalment to the franchise that welcomes us to the Garden of Insanity.

TheEasyAllies - 9/10


Destructoid - 8.5/10

Even in this resplendent era of weird, as indie developers self-publish their outlandish concepts with pride, outside of Swery, no one does strange like Suda 51. Although this is likely the safest No More Heroes game to date, it’s still incredibly memorable and fun to play, whether you’re rushing to the end or taking in Santa Destroy and beyond. Go into No More Heroes 3 with an open mind and enjoy the ride.

NintendoLife - 8/10

No More Heroes III has the faults of both its mainline predecessors – it’s a little more tedious than No More Heroes 2, and a little less meaningful than No More Heroes. It makes up for this, however, by being another inarguably impressive, balls-to-the-wall carnage-fest, a blood-spattered love letter to excess, and a Suda51 fan’s wet dream splashed across the Switch. The story it tells is cool. The game it plays is cool. Neither of these crucial aspects reach the heights of the series' Nintendo Wii origins, but nobody who truly gets No More Heroes could reasonably be disappointed with this third incarnation. The joke’s beginning to wear thin, but it’s all in the telling. And Suda51 can still spin a very fine yarn.

NintendoWorldReport - 6.5/10

When No More Heroes III is good, it’s really good, and I keep finding myself wishing other action games played like it from time to time. But when I really sit down and think about playing the game, it’s tough to remember any particular moment outside of the boss fights because they all blended together; my strongest memories are those of frustration as I desperately struggled to push through the bullshit to get to the stuff that was actually fun. Even the game’s style and technical performance are wildly inconsistent between the sublime combat and sterile overworld. It feels half-baked in the most literal sense, with one half being cooked to perfection, and the other half still cold from the freezer. I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m the one doing something wrong, because I’m just not sure how a game can be so incredibly good, and yet so very bad.

Gamespot - 4/10

If you had a mandate for all of the things a No More Heroes game shouldn't be, "boring" would be near the top of the list, but this sequel frequently is just that. No More Heroes 3 lacks the irreverent charm and personality of its predecessors. Combat picks up the slack, and there's a degree of vivid style to be found there, but the game falters in so many other areas. After an 11-year wait, maybe No More Heroes 3 was always destined to fall short of our expectations. But to end without so much as a touchdown is a mighty disappointment.

 

[jigglet]

What the fuck, that's a lot of 9's. Ok it has my attention. I loved #1.

 

[jaysius]

Padded reviews from the outlets that are essentially Nintendo reviews OR underdog fetishists, honest reviews elsewhere. So everything is normal.

Will have to wait for the physical copy to go into the bargain bins, as Nintendo's Eshop will never have a reasonable price on this, but at least retailers get tired of wasted space enough to put it on sale, for me this is a $20 or less title.

 

[SpongebobSquaredance]

Padded reviews from the outlets that are essentially Nintendo reviews OR underdog fetishists, honest reviews elsewhere. So everything is normal.

Nintendo outlets weren't the ones that rated it with 9's.

 

[jaysius]

Nintendo outlets weren't the ones that rated it with 9's.

Underdog fetishists.

You missed that part.

Easy Allies: "Feels like a nerdy kid grew up and got to live his dreams"

So they're living vicariously through him.

Dtoid... if you want to see score padding for indie/darlings underdogs then look no further, they're always an outlier and their written reviews never justify the scores.

 

[Buggy Loop]

That Easy Allies review score is surprising, i'll have to watch that during lunch time.

 

[CGiRanger]

I definitely wasn't keeping track of this one, as the footage I had been seeing was so budget and not very impressive. May have to take a closer look.

 

[Buggy Loop]

I definitely wasn't keeping track of this one, as the footage I had been seeing was so budget and not very impressive. May have to take a closer look.

Everything combat seems fine, the overworld exploration part though..

The boss fights look really fun

 

[jigglet]

Everything combat seems fine, the overworld exploration part though..

The boss fights look really fun

That was the case with #1 as well. Bad over world but everything else was great. And even the over world wasn't that bad cause it was so small. You could get to pretty much any spot within like 30 seconds if I recall correctly.

 

[SpongebobSquaredance]

Everything combat seems fine, the overworld exploration part though..

<img src="" data-url="https://media1.giphy.com/media/4baoNZ5Qo8dX2/200.gif" class="bbImage" data-zoom-target="1" style="" alt="puke GIF" title="puke GIF" width="" height="" />

Yeah, makes me think why they didn't do it like in NMH2 were they scrapped the overworld part entirely.

 

[infinitys_7th]

Everything combat seems fine, the overworld exploration part though..

The boss fights look really fun

So basically what NMH has been since the beginning lol

I didn't get NMH1 when it came out for the overworld exploration - I got it for the bosses.

 

[saintjules]

I remember playing the first one. I can't recall if I ever finished. I see that the first two are on Switch? I may have to play those again before getting to the 3rd one.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

I never understand when a game series just seems to not evolve at all. Within 3 games the open world stuff is still awful and boring. While the combat sees some minimal enhancements. Just seems like a total lack of vision for where the series could go.

 

[RaptorGTA]

I never understand when a game series just seems to not evolve at all. Within 3 games the open world stuff is still awful and boring. While the combat sees some minimal enhancements. Just seems like a total lack of vision for where the series could go.

Cant speak about the 3rd but I really thought the 2 vastly improved from the first. I haven't gone back to reply them but I recall really loving what they did with the 2nd game.

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

I loved 2 on Wii! One of the greatest game of the system. I guess I'm not getting a Switch for this.

 

[mcjmetroid]

Guys...the performance and it looks like dogshit.

Sorry but I believe GameSpots 4 rather than these 9s.

 

[Dr.brain64]

Looks like it's worst than 1 or 2... yikes

 

[R6Rider]

What the hell is that awful running animation?

 

[SpongebobSquaredance]

Guys...the performance and it looks like dogshit.

Sorry but I believe GameSpots 4 rather than these 9s.

Well, Gamespot is the only review that is vehemently negative. Meanwhile the majority is positive. Maybe not 9/10 positive, but nonetheless positive, that is if you can excuse the technical shortcomings (that are mostly present in the overworld).

 

[Astral Dog]

I never understand when a game series just seems to not evolve at all. Within 3 games the open world stuff is still awful and boring. While the combat sees some minimal enhancements. Just seems like a total lack of vision for where the series could go.

They put the low budget on the 'fun' parts maybe if NMH3 sells millions you will see an improved open world in NMH4

 

[Boy bawang]

Lots of positive reviews, I'm surprised. I won't get it, but I'm glad it's reviewing well.

 

[Punished Miku]

I'm picking up my copy today. I kinda had the feeling the game would deliver.

This game will have a ton of style and fun moments I'm sure. Not expecting a massively polished graphical showpiece. Just something outrageous and fun.

I remember playing the first one. I can't recall if I ever finished. I see that the first two are on Switch? I may have to play those again before getting to the 3rd one.

I'm playing part 1 now. Runs pretty well on Switch and has full controller support if you don't want to do the motion stuff.

 

[tommib]

I’ll get it but not now. Too much of a backlog. Looks super fun.

 

[RaptorGTA]

Downloading now. Will hopefully get some time to play tonight and this weekend

 

[kunonabi]

Cant speak about the 3rd but I really thought the 2 vastly improved from the first. I haven't gone back to reply them but I recall really loving what they did with the 2nd game.

2 is actually a step down from 1 in like every way including the combat.

 

[Dr. Suchong]

Way more 9s than I expected.
The performance doesn't bother me in the slightest, the first was a literal slide show on Wii.
Looking forward to getting reacquainted with Travis

 

[Dr. Suchong]

2 is actually a step down from 1 in like every way including the combat.

Mini games were fun though!

 

[Fbh]

Surprisingly high reviews.
Everything I've seen of this game (other than the fun reveal trailer) has looked awful. Also tried NMH1 on Switch recently and it was one of the worst games I've played in years.

 

[kunonabi]

Mini games were fun though!

Problem with those is they were all pointless outside of the meteor one since it gave way more money than everything else once you figured out the trick. Money that has way fewer uses than before outside of buying clothes. Clothes that randomly vanish from your closet forcing you to rebuy them again and again.

Seriously, screw that game.

 

[Javthusiast]

I like that Suda is going for crazy shit, but not a single game of his ever felt polished and really awesome to play for me personally.

 

[Danjin44]

I enjoyed the first two games, so defiantly picking this game up.

 

[Gordon Freeman]

They put the low budget on the 'fun' parts maybe if NMH3 sells millions you will see an improved open world in NMH4

Its just all the same things like mowing lawns etc. It’s so copy and pasted. They added a lot of weird gatekeeping to progression too. It’s just a really weird trilogy of games that never really got better.

 

[e0n]

Open-world looks like padding to justify the price. They should have just done a hub world.

 

[mcjmetroid]

Well, Gamespot is the only review that is vehemently negative. Meanwhile the majority is positive. Maybe not 9/10 positive, but nonetheless positive, that is if you can excuse the technical shortcomings (that are mostly present in the overworld).

Technical shortcomings?

It doesn't have a stable frame rate... The ign review I saw looked horrific.

Like I agree graphics are something that can be overlooked but not performance like this...

It's awful. And I only have to look at it to know it's a 4 or less...

Switch or no Switch you should expect solid performance on the system. Games on the GameCube usually ran at a solid 60fps.

This is bad. Reminds me of the arguments I had with deadly promotion 2 where I felt it should have gotten a zero.

 

[Spukc]

A 9 and a 4 ?

well that is fucked

 

[SpongebobSquaredance]

Technical shortcomings?

It doesn't have a stable frame rate... The ign review I saw looked horrific.

Like I agree graphics are something that can be overlooked but not performance like this...

It's awful. And I only have to look at it to know it's a 4 or less...

Switch or no Switch you should expect solid performance on the system. Games on the GameCube usually ran at a solid 60fps.

This is bad. Reminds me of the arguments I had with deadly promotion 2 where I felt it should have gotten a zero.

Yes, but the unstable framerate is mostly in the overworld, not at the action set pieces, not during combat, not during boss fights, not during cutscenes and I see those as the meat and bones of the game. And yes, even poor performance can be overlooked when the game behind it is enjoyable enough. There are plenty examples of this, especially during the 360/PS3 gen where a lot of games had inconsistent framerates, including big AAA titles.

The bolded part is a little weird. Like sure, I can look at Big Rigs and say that it is a bad game without even playing it and that opinion most likely won't change even if I did play it. But Big Rigs is a game that is completely broken, something you can even see by watching a video of it. NMH3 isn't broken and what makes the series enjoyable is the unorthodox style, interesting set pieces, characters, soundtrack, boss battles etc. etc., and those are hard to grasp when not playing/experiencing it, especially at such a detail.

btw. IGN are the same people that gave God Hand a 3 and Gamespot gave DKC: TF a 6.

Maybe the game will receive a PC port with more consistent framerate or patches the improve the issue.

 

[Robb]

NMH1 and NMH2 are pretty much 7/8 out of 10 games imo, so the average here seems spot on in regards to what I expect.

Can't wait to play it and see all the crazy stuff they've come up with this time! Hoping for plenty of awesome boss fights.

 

[mcjmetroid]

Yes, but the unstable framerate is mostly in the overworld, not at the action set pieces, not during combat, not during boss fights, not during cutscenes and I see those as the meat and bones of the game. And yes, even poor performance can be overlooked when the game behind it is enjoyable enough. There are plenty examples of this, especially during the 360/PS3 gen where a lot of games had inconsistent framerates, including big AAA titles.

The bolded part is a little weird. Like sure, I can look at Big Rigs and say that it is a bad game without even playing it and that opinion most likely won't change even if I did play it. But Big Rigs is a game that is completely broken, something you can even see by watching a video of it. NMH3 isn't broken and what makes the series enjoyable is the unorthodox style, interesting set pieces, characters, soundtrack, boss battles etc. etc., and those are hard to grasp when not playing/experiencing it, especially at such a detail.

btw. IGN are the same people that gave God Hand a 3 and Gamespot gave DKC: TF a 6.

Maybe the game will receive a PC port with more consistent framerate or patches the improve the issue.

On the bolded: dude that was years ago. Different reviewers.

And yes of course frame rate dips here and there can be accepted in quality games. As well as a fee hitches in certain levels. We all accepted the Korak forest in Breath of the Wild.

But this is the overworld we're talking about. You are going to be spending a lot of time there.. if it's anything like the first Wii game anyway.

Look it believe the reviews you want to believe. I'm just saying bad performance on this level shouldn't be accepted. Even Doom Eternal on the Switch managed a solid 30 most of the time and that wasn't created for the ground up for the Switch.

This was a game specifically created for the Switch from the ground up and they couldn't do it?

To me it this needed at least 6 more months in the oven to fix these issues.

Just because its quirky and Japanese shouldn't excuse it from performance issues.

 

[IbizaPocholo]

No More Heroes 3 is an amusing but extremely uneven sequel only likely to appeal to Suda 51 diehards – and even for that audience, it takes several steps backward from the likes of No More Heroes 1 and 2. Combat can occasionally find its flow, particularly during its entertaining boss battles, but poor technical performance and the barebones tedium between them make this a lackluster homecoming for Grasshopper Manufacture’s flagship series.

 

[DenchDeckard]

That easy allies review, Holy shit!

The open world looks terrible but the rest looks amazing.

 

[Danjin44]

No More Heroes series are niche, you either like them or you don’t.

I personally really enjoyed Drakengard 3 despite of technical issues.

 

[ethomaz]

Seems like a drop in quality compared with previous games.

Edit - Seems like this review nailed it.

No More Heroes 3 is an amusing but extremely uneven sequel only likely to appeal to Suda 51 diehards – and even for that audience, it takes several steps backward from the likes of No More Heroes 1 and 2. Combat can occasionally find its flow, particularly during its entertaining boss battles, but poor technical performance and the barebones tedium between them make this a lackluster homecoming for Grasshopper Manufacture’s flagship series.

Now why they choose to depart so much from 1 and 2 is the big question.
It is a niche titles with a loyal userbase but if you do a game that not cater that loyal userbase anymore what are you really doing?

 

[Buggy Loop]

Gamespot..

Anyway, user impression seems very positive. I'm not quite sold yet especially at $80 canadian, but i'm keeping it on my radar. That easy allies review is very positive.

 

[StateofMajora]

I got mine this morning. Media blackout so I did not even read your op lol.

To everyone that got it, enjoy! Going to play it in a day or two after I set up my new 48 inch Oled.

 

[Porcile]

I love it so far. The script and direction is absolutely brilliant.

 

[Mercenary09]

I really hope this comes to PlayStation later on like Travis Strikes Again did. The game apparently runs at like 360p in handheld on the Switch. It's 2021we shouldn't be playing games at that low of a resolution anymore.

 

[nordique]

Good enough for me

love NMH

 

[Porcile]

I really hope this comes to PlayStation later on like Travis Strikes Again did. The game apparently runs at like 360p in handheld on the Switch. It's 2021we shouldn't be playing games at that low of a resolution anymore.

It's 2021. We shouldn't even be playing a new No More Heroes game. Thank god we are.

 

[Captain Toad]

From what we've seen, it looks terrible. I'm surprised the reviews were even this high.

 

[Punished Miku]

That reversible cover is amazing.