Though the score is lower than others have been giving it (9s and mid 8s), they have a ton of praise for it. The complaints mostly center around the hub world being clunky, and unpolished, but the actual levels and bosses are unparrelleled.

excerpt

Of course an assassin vs. assassin game would be nothing without great bosses, and No More Heroes has quite a few. Characters are serious in artistic design, but almost cartoon-like in nature, many of them feeling like they were pulled from top-tier anime productions such as Ninja Scroll, Cowboy Bebop, or the Animatrix compilation. Of course they are all original designs by Suda himself, but each one has such an exaggerated style and mood that it really does feel less like a game, and more like a living comic book. Cheesy voiceover and script work (perhaps translated poorly on purpose?) tops off in-game scripted sequences that feel larger than life, again often the reason for pooling groups of people around our desks. Like Kojima, Suda's creations actually outshine the rest of the experience, and we often found ourselves playing the game not for the crisp combat or quirky mini-games, but in hopes of finding the next oddball boss battle and accompanying skit before and after the fight itself. As a final note on boss battles, they are as difficult as they are epic, as No More Heroes doesn't just look and act "hardcore" visually, but also demands a ton from gamers in turn. You'll win battles by the skin of your teeth, put everything you have into a boss fight that you swear you'd never beat, and enjoy every second of it. This is where No More Heroes shines.

full review

It's not one of those games that your looking for to get a 9.0 or higher rating. All I need to know is that its fun to play, which pretty much it says, and I'm getting it.

That's a pretty good score. However, I must admit that the review now has made me a tad hesitant about buying the game. I know I shouldn't be influenced by one website, but I just can't help it. XD

If it gets an average score of 80+, I think there's a 70% chance I'll buy it.

This seems to sum up their feelings on it pretty well

from Matt Casamassina
Like Killer 7 before it, No More Heroes is a game with style over substance. The thing is, it's got so much style and so much raw pop-culture appeal that it becomes easy to overlook its shortcomings in favor of its accomplishments. It's a game you want to like because it's original and just a little bit crazy, too. (The main character drops his pants and sits on the toilet when you save a game, for crying out loud.) And if it were just comprised of battle missions and assassinations, which are well polished, ridiculously cinematic and gory, it would be a pretty amazing affair, I have to admit.

But Suda 51 has overextended No More Heroes' adequate, but hardly dazzling 3D game engine and endeavored to create a sandbox, open-world style experience in which you can drive from place to place. It's clunky and, frankly, it looks dated directly from the start. Filled with mundane tasks and sloppily executed mission structures (the process of restarting a failed mission is stupid), it's just more trouble than it's worth, especially considering that all that style I talked about falls elsewhere.

Get No More Heroes for the cult appeal -- the crazy characters, unpredictable dialog, and stunning amounts of over-the-top gore -- but beware of its technical limitations. When you're fighting with your Wii remote or engaged in a grotesque cinematic, you're golden. But getting there can be a chore.

Suda 51 is very much a cult game maker. The game will be a blast, but low budget, with the obvious technical limitations that come from being a low budget studio.

Read the review, not the score.

It still looks like a great game.

Yeah, read the review, not just look at the score, but some of the stuff said there worries me.

"...painfully low-tech visual offering. Pop-in is everywhere, control is irritating at best, and the frame rate is all over the charts. It’s an absolute mess."


It kinda makes you think, how did it even get a 7.8?

i don't care about the score, i am still getting this game... still have to wait a whole month...

Still a game I may think about buying...