TRAVIS STRIKES AGAIN: NO MORE HEROES

All hair and no there

Having been absent from PlayStation since 2010, Travis Touchdown makes his return to the platform. This topdown spin-off from the No More Heroes series aims to deliver the same stylish action as the mainline titles, albeit in bite-sized hack-and-slash chunks. It works, for the most part, letting you dish out all manner of light and heavy attacks as you pound your way through legions of faceless goons. The problem is, that’s all there is to it.

The basic setup proves interesting at first: Travis and nemesis BadMan are sucked into a retro-inspired games console called the Death Drive MK-II and forced to fight through various fictional games to gain their freedom. The premise allows levels to morph and twist, but that doesn’t make what you’re doing within them any less repetitive. Often it feels like all you do is mash r.

Luckily, the shift in perspective hasn’t in any way lessened the creativity of boss fights. These turn out to be Travis Strikes Again’s saving grace, forcing you to shake up battle tactics and take true advantage of special attacks (accessed via Skill Chips, 1 which are dished out to you gradually). Less creative, however, are the game’s brief flutters with alternate genres like racing, puzzle, and visual novel.

The PS4 game includes the Black Dandelion and Bubblegum Fatale DLC, which add two playable characters and more stages2 to the base game. Like the main game, though, they’re all style and little substance. Travis Strikes Again spends so much time calling back to other games, it forgets to be fun itself. Aaron Potter

These give Travis the ability to shoot electricity, create a doppelgänger, and more. BadMan’s daughter Bad Girl is one DLC character, making her return from the first game.