Common Sense Media Review
By Chad Sapieha
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Extreme violence, profanity, and sex make this not for kids.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 18+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Play
Videos and Photos
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
What's It About?
A decidedly mature action game, NO MORE HEROES 2: DESPERATE STRUGGLE stars Travis Touchdown, a man on a revenge mission who has to fight a series of bosses to make his way to the villain who killed his friend. The incredibly violent action sequences see players using retractable blades to carve their way through countless generic baddies en route to considerably more challenging stage bosses. Between fighting missions, players watch a series of sexually charged cut scenes that show scantily clad women and feature chats with heavy doses of sexual innuendo. Players can also engage in a wide variety of retro mini-games that look like they could have been made for an 8-bit console like the Nintendo Entertainment System and feature simple objectives such as grilling steaks and catching falling coconuts from trees.
Is It Any Good?
A fun combat system and several interesting ideas sure to appeal to longtime game lovers -- including retro mini-games and the stars’ awareness that they are merely characters in a story -- are spoiled to a large degree by No More Heroes 2’s poor writing and puerile obsession with large breasts. This is a game no child should play, yet relentless crotch and boob shots and incredibly lame sex jokes make it seem as though it was meant to be little more than forbidden fruit for mischievous adolescents. To be sure, they’re the only ones who could be excused for giggling at phrases like “I feel like that pervy teacher in a porn,” and “I’m gonna touch you down, Travis Touchdown.” The mindlessly vulgar and wholly unsophisticated humor weighs down what otherwise could have been a good gory grown-up romp filled with fun elements of nostalgia.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about sexuality in games. As hardware improves, game developers are increasingly using the added processing power to render sexualized characters. However, many of these characters have unrealistic proportions and wear inappropriate clothing. What impact could such characters have on the minds of impressionable players? Why are virtually all of the sexualized characters in these games women?
Families can also discuss the purpose of extreme gore in some games. Clearly, some players like being able to lop off heads and arms and see blood cover the environment, but why? It’s widely assumed that adults are capable of digesting this material more safely than children. What is the key difference between adults and kids that might make this so?
Game Details
- Platform : Nintendo Wii
- Pricing structure :
- Available online? : Not available online
- Publisher : UbiSoft
- Release date : January 26, 2010
- Genre : Action/Adventure
- ESRB rating :
- Last updated : August 31, 2016
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