No more story

For a game that oscillates between hardcore violence and low level/wacky minigames, No More Heroes is short. Maybe even as is to be expected from such a game.

I mean, really, there's no story to it. A guy who's into Japanese pop culture and Mexican wrestling wants to be the top assassin in America. It almost sounds like something from Infinite Jest. But it never could be found in that tome, because that's where the story ends.

This guy wants to get into the panties of this woman who offers him the chance to fulfil his dream, and she promises she'll let him once he succeeds. You can add that to his motivation, actually.

If his psychology were delved into, his reasons for wanting what he does, then he could be compared to Orin Incandenza in some ways. In a way, the name Travis Touchdown almost grasps at the comparison, but never reaches it.

Cat finding and gas pumping are nevertheless (strangely) entertaining distractions between the game's bouts of violence. A mix that also sort of mirrors Infinite Jest's switching between acts of horrific violence/behaviour and slightly off and awkward plot meanderings. Well, kind of like how the biggest beetle in the field mirrors a lion in the Serengeti.