October2022
Review No More Heroes III (PS5) - A Suda51 Sequel Full of Surprises
Start the game
Grasshopper Manufacture and its founder Goichi Suda are infamous for their oddball ideas, and the No More Heroes games are prime examples of their unorthodox proclivities. The first two games are schizophrenia-fuelled mania operating under the guise of hack-and-slashes, while Travis Strikes Again utilised its smaller team and budget...
October2019
Assassins bleed
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is the kind of the game that revels in poking fun at its contemporaries – and yet somehow finds itself part of the punchline. This irreverent slice of post-modern punk has all of the verve of its Nintendo Wii predecessors, but it’s padded by stale gameplay segments which threaten to undo all...
May2017
Basket case
The Silver Case is one of the early titles developed by renowned auteur Suda51 and his studio Grasshopper Manufacture. Unsurprisingly, the ticks and quirks that have come to define his recent output are present in abundance. Indeed, this is a profoundly strange game, and one that – for both better and worse – often feels...
August2013
Review Killer Is Dead (PlayStation 3)
Crud on the moon
Killer Is Dead is unashamedly stupid. Executive producer Goichi Suda – better known by his nickname Suda51 – has made a living out of his bonkers plots and premises, but the latest product to drop off Grasshopper Manufacture’s production line takes the nonsense of No More Heroes and kits it out in a straitjacket. This is a...
December2012
Review Black Knight Sword (PlayStation 3)
Nightmare before Christmas
Black Knight Sword is a hard game to describe. Its gameplay is nothing new – it’s essentially a side scrolling action game mixed with a lot of platforming. But in motion, the title paints a completely different picture – this is the stuff of nightmares. Saying Black Knight Sword is creepy is an understatement. Its...
November2012
Review Sine Mora (PlayStation Vita)
Without delay
The side-scrolling shooter genre, so prominent in the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, gradually began its demise with the advent of 3D. The newfangled technology rendered the format passé, before refining its DNA into its spiritual successor, the first-person shooter. Those forerunners, however, tested lightning reflexes and memory skills,...
June2012
Review Lollipop Chainsaw (PlayStation 3)
Goddammit, video games
It's generally a bad idea to judge anything by its title or cover, but one look at either pretty much spells out what to expect from Grasshopper Manufacture's latest fever dream, Lollipop Chainsaw: comic books, pop music, rainbows, titillating exploitation and lots and lots of violence. These are all the makings for perfect...
July2011
Review Shadows Of The Damned (PlayStation 3)
The initial announcement of Shadows Of The Damned left us disappointed
When we originally heard that some of Japan's most revered names — No More Heroes' Suda51, Resident Evil's Shinji Mikami, and Silent Hill's Akira Yamaoka — were collaborating on a brand new horror IP, our mind started to get ahead of itself with all the psychological horror...
June2011
Review No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise (PlayStation 3)
We could be heroes
No More Heroes: Heroes' Paradise isn’t about saving the world. It follows Travis Touchdown, an over-sexed Otaku obsessed with violence, wrestling, anime and games (he has a Mega Drive/Mega CD/32X combo in his room). Travis gets drunk in a bar and meets the head of the United Assassins Association, Sylvia Christel. She offers him...
