I just wanted to update real quick on my new appreciation for Goichi Suda, or Suda 51. I played No More Heroes a couple months ago and loved how unique and unexpected the experience was. The game always kept me on my toes and wondering what will happen next. Really tough to find games like that these days, everyone seems to follow the same tried and true formula.
No More Heroes had a couple small downfalls as everyone knows. The "open world" gameplay and side quests are just not fun and you want to get back to the missions as fast as possible. But I found it easy to ignore the frustrations because the rest of the game shines so bright. I highly recommend playing it.
After beating NMH, I decided to look up some more Grasshopper/Suda51 games. I kicked myself into playing Killer 7 all the way through. Immediately I felt the same issues as NMH, some basic game design frustrations. But I pushed on and ended up playing what will go down as one of my favorite games. Killer 7 offers an experience I have not seen in games. A multi-layered level of story depth that still has my mind stirring. On the surface, Killer 7 offers an interesting story with a cool plot twist. Then as you finish the game, you begin to question what all the unexplained pieces mean. You dig deep, and the more you dig the more you appreciate the game. As my mind stirred I began to search for story analysis and immediately found this huge faq analysis and was blown away at the level of detail. I advise not looking at this until you played the game once. Killer 7 Plot Analysis
I can only hope that another game like this will be created. I'm really looking forward to Flower, Sun, and Rain for the DS this year. Apparently it is very much like the movie Groundhog Day. And Suda 51 is teaming up with Hideo Kojima for a project, possibly a Snatcher sequel.
I even played Samurai Champloo a little bit. Unique style again and great presentation. It eventually got stale after a few hours though.
So go down to gamestop and deflect all the pre-order pitches and pick up NMH(if you like unique game-play) or Killer 7(if you like story).
Now I'm off to play some Beyond Good & Evil. Another apparent gem I passed up.
