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Revenge is an all-consuming disease that can’t stop while there are still living people who care about each other. Travis Touchdown killed a lot of people to get to the top of the United Assassins Association and walking away from it all won’t absolve him of his actions. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is a story about the repercussions of murder, regardless of reason, and the continuing cycle of violence Travis can never escape from.

The bloodied streets of Santa Destroy are the stage in which this opera of carnage plays. Three years after the events of the first game Travis finds himself removed from the UAA rankings but after being sought out by Skelter Helter, brother of Travis’ first kill, he winds up back on the list at number 51 and has to climb his way back to the top if he wants a chance to take down the mysterious assailant that murdered his best friend Bishop Shidux. Throughout his rise back up the ladder Travis’ passion for revenge is echoed in his opponents, many of whom have a personal vendetta either against Travis or someone else in the ranks. Because of the strong vengeance motif the United Assassins Association becomes a powerful metaphor for warmongering interests and serves to inject a vague, but poignant note on war profiteering.

As poetic as the themes of the narrative are, don’t let the weight of the story dissuade you if you came for No More Heroes’ brand of stylistic mayhem, it’s all still there. Between the hyper-sexualized women and the playfully gory violence are an infinite number of WTF moments wrapped up in a self-aware blanket of humour. No More Heroes 2 recognizes the first’s strength of style and expands upon it ten-fold with more varied bosses and ranking battle locations.

Travis continues to be an equally bizarre vehicle to explore the America as interpreted by Japanese absurdism, but is joined this time by his brother Henry and former combatant Shinobu who are also playable characters. They are playable of course only in the most minimal sense, Shinobu only handles 2 ranking matches and Henry is only playable within a single dream sequence. It’s for the best though as in an effort to vary gameplay Shinobu was given the ability to platform and as with any non-platforming game that decides to throw in some boxes for players to climb, things get sloppy and unrefined. Platforming is made measurably worse when combined with the game’s second weakest point; an uncontrollable camera that is constantly bombarded with filters and excessive shadow, making it impossible to see what’s going on at points.

Shaking things up from a gameplay perspective is what No More Heroes 2 is all about though and while it may be easy to blast the game for containing two incredibly frustrating sections it’s fine to overlook it for all the irregular interjections that it gets right. Between a few abnormal boss fights and the all-new 8-bit themed side-job minigames there is much less repetition than Desperate Struggle’s predecessor. Players will often be thrust in to unfamiliar waters but it’s exciting and challenging most of the time, a far cry from the wash-rinse-repeat formula of the first game.

With quicker access to each ranking battle focus is put on what players enjoyed most about the first, the tactile fun of combat. No More Heroes is one of the few Wii titles that understands how to use the motion controls to increase a sense of player involvement without making it arduous for extended play. Using the motion controls as accents rather than as a replacement for buttons makes No More Heroes 2 a more engrossing experience that impacts the player in a way that buttons and sticks just can’t seem to match.

It’s ironic then that in their infinite wisdom Grasshopper Manufacture included the ability to plug-in a Classic Controller and play the game without the motion controls. While it would be unfair to deduct points for something that’s completely optional, it would be impossible to as well. The traditional control scheme plays fine and is even preferred during some elements of the game (you can switch on the fly), but flicking the thumbsticks doesn’t carry the same weight as lopping off an enemy’s head with a swing of your hands.

No More Heroes 2 is all about removing the annoying bits of the first game and filling the voids with fun new elements. Where the predecessor would have Travis drive across town to get to a boring and poorly executed side-job minigame, now he can teleport there from the world map. Where before Travis would have had to face a string of wipe-the-room levels there are only a few in the sequel. Almost every criticism of the first game is eradicated, leaving enjoyment of the product as a whole to be solely based on whether you enjoy the mechanics and not whether you can endure the menial portions to get to the fun.

Suda 51 is one of those few game developers who knows how to leave an impression. Every project he heads is unmistakably his own. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle is not a reinvention of the first, but does take a strong evolutionary step. There’s still work to be done on the camera and depth of combat, but for those who have never played No More Heroes (and that’s a majority of you), Desperate Struggle is the better way to enter Santa Destroy and wet your lips on the beautiful insanity only Suda can deliver.

No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle was released on January 26th 2010 for Nintendo Wii.