3/5 ★ – Gurt's review of No More Heroes III.

Love Suda, Love Grasshopper, and I have played 50 hours of this game on Switch and 20 hours on Steam. It's mindless in a way I really enjoy. This game feels like a great upgrade to the combat, but a downgrade in other areas that I really liked about the Wii games. (1) Despite being graphically limited, NMH1+2 still used a baked-in lighting style that felt like a deliberate choice despite the hardware. NMH3 visuals feel molded by what is easy in UE4 rather than trying to make the a style of its own (big assumption I'm making admittedly). (2) There's also no longer thematic goon fights leading up the boss battles. (3) And then there's the story. Main thing is that I loved NMH1 because Travis was a murderous lunatic and a huge loser and the world around him treated him like it or just ignored him. It was funny and endearing in a Johnny Bravo sort of way. By NHM2 he's a renown hero and through TSA and NMH3 we are being told that he's grown up... Bull. I don't mind a vain and flawed protagonist but the world around Travis has molded to serve him in his hero narrative. Which isn't very interesting as it just makes the entire game feel like a victory lap of self referential humor and extended Sudaverse stuff. I'm sure some fans love that stuff, but it's not a good narrative outside of that.