Travis Strikes Again is an oddity, to say the least. Sometimes, it can be a lot of fun, but at other times, it can be a repetitive drag. The characters and writing are fantastic, but the game’s tendency to flip between different gameplay styles makes its quality inconsistent.
No More Heroes: Travis Strikes Again
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture Inc.
Price: $29.99
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
MonsterVine was provided with a Switch code for review
No More Heroes is a series I’ve always wanted to try, but never had the chance. (Hunting down an M-Rated Wii exclusive sequel, or the first game’s disc-only PS3 port? Good luck.) So as a newcomer to the franchise, Travis Strikes Again has shown me that the world and characters of No More Heroes are right up my alley, though because of how ridiculously diverse and seemingly random the gameplay styles of Travis Strikes Again are, I have no idea as to whether I’ll like their gameplay as much as their story.
Taking place seven years after No More Heroes 2, Travis Strikes Again follows Travis as he lives out a life of gaming and slacking in a trailer in the southern United States. No longer a working assassin, Travis aspires to live out his days doing nothing but gaming. This life of newfound bliss is interrupted by Badman, an assassin who seeks to kill Travis in order to avenge his daughter, Bad Girl, who was an assassin in the first No More Heroes. After briefly fighting, Travis and Badman are suddenly teleported into the Death Drive MK-II; a cancelled game console that Travis owns. The rest of the story is difficult to summarize, as it goes entirely off the rails as it parodies different game genres, anime, and game development. It’s a weird and almost nonsensical ride, but I was certainly never bored throughout the entirety of the story. I mean, you collect “Unreal Engine” tokens and t-shirts with indie game logos on them. It’s completely unashamed of how ridiculous it is, and I love it for that.
A big part of this enjoyment comes from Travis Touchdown himself, who is one of the most entertaining main characters in gaming. Not only is Travis unironically called an “epic gamer”, but he takes a great deal of joy in being a blatant otaku, and in screaming profanities as he carves up enemies with his laser sword. He strikes this weird balance of being a complete badass while also being pretty pathetic, making him stand out amongst other game protagonists. Travis also does a lot of fourth-wall-breaking, which is quite well done for the most part. Characters giving “meta” commentary has become somewhat tired in recent years, but Travis makes sure to clarify that he was talking to players “before that Deadpole pervert”. Travis is just a lot of fun to play as because of how weird he is, making him one of Travis Strikes Again’s biggest strengths.
“I’d say 60% of the games are fun the entire way through, while 20% have fun parts mixed into them, while 20% of the games are just tedious to get through.”
For the most part, Travis Strikes Again is a hack-and-slash brawler with some very minor RPG elements. The premise of the game has Travis and/or Badman jumping into different games, each with its own variation of the core gameplay. One game has you solving puzzles by making paths throughout a suburban neighbourhood, while another has you partaking in straightforward motorcycle races. I’d say 60% of the games are fun the entire way through, while 20% have fun parts mixed into them, while 20% of the games are just tedious to get through. Travis Strikes Again is at its best when it focuses on the hack-and-slash gameplay, and at its worst when it tries to take on slower genres like puzzle games and mysteries in addition to its core hack-and-slash mechanics.
Bosses are the best part of each game, as their designs are strange but fitting for each game’s world. It helps that final bosses in each game bring Travis Strikes Again back to being a sole hack-and-slash game, meaning there aren’t really any gimmicks or cumbersome new details to deal with. They’re just straight-on fights with a boss, each of which has their own fighting styles, keeping the fights fresh and fun.
Like the gameplay, the visuals of Travis Strikes Again are all over the place. It’s not an ugly game by any means, as the fairly basic models compliment its eccentric character designs perfectly. Outside of one big cutscene at the beginning, most of the story is presented through either text boxes, or the very meta Travis Strikes Again DOS-inspired visual novel. The art in these “Scenario” sections is fantastic, as it evokes nostalgia for this older style while contrasting it with goofy dialogue that pokes fun at its inspiration. The music is similarly varied, with a few memorable new tracks and a sick remix of the main theme of No More Heroes, used mainly in the Scenario mode.
The Final Word
Travis Strikes Again is a difficult game to assign a score to, because it’s so weird and full of different types of gameplay that it feels like I’m reviewing half a dozen games at once. The peaks and valleys in Travis Strikes Again are so diverse that I can’t really say whether you’ll enjoy the game or not. I love its characters and writing, but found its gameplay to vary between fun and tedious. If you’re a No More Heroes fan, you’ll probably love the game, and if you’re a newbie like me, you may find yourself becoming interested in the series. Just know going in that it’s a very mixed ride.
MonsterVine Rating: 3.5 out of 5 – Fair
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