Having left Santa Destroy after hitting rank No.1 at the end of the first game, and subsequently plummeting back down to rank No.51 due to absence, Travis Touchdown has returned to confront the greedy corporation Pizza Butt, who have since taken over and turned the city in a tourist nightmare, and are responsible for the heinous murder his close friend Bishop. A less cheerful tone than the original, Desperate Struggle steers the story down a grimmer path. No longer seeking fame and glory, Travis is driven by anger and revenge, and won’t stop the bloodshed until his friend’s killers pay with their lives. It would seem the only reasonable way he can accomplish this is to again kill his way through the many ranking UAA assassins and confront the murdering mastermind at the top.
If looks could kill.
Really though, even with darker themes the game hardly takes itself too seriously. The writing is fully loaded with jokes and self-referencing humour, sparing nothing in its onslaught of parody, and a kaleidoscope of larger-than-life character personalities wrapped in a ludicrous plot sees you jumping from one moment to the next with the kind of wreckless abandon that would make a rock star blush. One minute you’re sneaking past security guards into an offshore prison to fight the supernatural, and the next thing you know you’re towering over a city as you pilot your own personal mecha. It’s all to the rhythm of an incredibly varied soundtrack ranging from up-tempo funk and dirty rock to thumping techno and slick hip-hop, and presented with a sheek artistic grace that endlessly references pop-culture entertainment as well as the 8-bit origins of video games.
But the real fun is in the gameplay, with the core combat and level mechanics remaining pretty similar to the first game, and thankfully just as satisfying too. Its beat-em-up nature has you rapidly slicing and dicing through legions of unfortunate thugs and gangsters, finishing them off with responsive motion controlled execution and wrestling moves, all to be rewarded with glorious dismemberments and a shower of crimson rain. High and low stances let you choose between slashing in rapid succession or heavier hard hitting blows, and the slot-machine reward system for each kill returns with some new power-ups, one of which sees Travis transform into a huge Bengal tiger, chomping into enemies as they run and cower in fear. There are a few new toys to play with, including an awesome dual beam katana, and as the game progresses you’ll jump into the shoes of two fantastic additional characters, each with their own unique powers and abilities to separate them from the norm. Each of these main levels ends in one of the numerous ranking boss fights, an assorted cast of killers including but not limited to a high school girl, an anime inspired robot, and a disillusioned astronaut, each with their own diverse range of flashy attacks, with final battles capped off with an interactive spectacle of gore controlled by context sensitive finishing moves.
Desperate Struggle in all its uncensored gory...err, glory.
Desperate Struggle really goes a long way in keeping the combat a bit more varied than the first game, which is probably a good thing as the pacing of battles has dramatically increased. This faster pace comes courtesy of response to the much complained about hub world of the first game. Removed entirely, along with ranking fees, there’s no need to dwell on mini-games and side-job anymore, grinding to earn big bucks just to progress the story. Jumping from battle to battle, as well as traversing Santa Destroy, is as simple as selecting options from menu.
That’s not to say that all the fat has been cut. Optional odd job mission still exist, and have Travis flipping burgers, exterminating insects, collecting trash, delivering pizza, and much more, with many of these games rendered in glorious 8-bit style, complete with midi sound effects, and even an opening audio cue of blowing into the cartridge. If you fancy something a little more violent, there are also combat focused revenge missions to kill some time, each throwing you against waves of enemies and against the clock, with the goal of either killing a unique individual or simply everyone in the room. Most of these optional missions reward you with hard cash, and with ranking fees no longer putting a hole in your wallet money can be directly spent on new clothing and weaponry, as well as training at the gym to buff Travis’ health and attack power.
Fat cat is fat.
Even then the optional extras don’t end with odd-jobs and revenge missions. Travis’ now overweight cat can be played with in a number of hilarious minigames to help her shed some kilos, and switching on the apartment TV will boot up a vertically scrolling shoot ‘em styled after Travis’ favourite anime; Pure White Lover Bizarre Jelly. Suffice to say, there’s never a dull moment or a lack of things to do, and being optional rather than forced makes them all the more appealing, and a great diversion from the main missions, going to great lengths in extending a play-through to around ten hours.
It is sad then that with all its improvements in some of the most important areas, Desperate Struggle falters in others. One of the previously mentioned additional characters has a jumping ability, which is utilised in platforming segments for their stages. Though brief, these parts of the game are clunky and frustrating at best, with poor collision detection and difficult jumping controls making it too easy to miss a landing, forcing you to backtrack and start again. There are also some technical issues, with the framerate occasionally dipping quite low, though thankfully these incidents are restricted mostly to cinematics. Ultimately, the biggest issue with Desperate Struggle is the essence of missing content in certain areas of the game. Naomi’s weapon shop, for example, will sell only two new weapons throughout the entire game, and no weapon upgrades unlike the first game, making it seem a little odd that an entire menu option was dedicated to something so basic.
Yeah dude, this totally makes sense.
Yet, like previous Grasshopper Manufacture titles, it’s almost as if the rough edges add their own personal charm. There’s no decision that appears unintentional, even when questionable, and no moments that seems unnecessary, no matter how absurd, and when combined with the sharp style and quick wit of the rest of the package it delivers something truly unforgettable. Like an exploitation film damaged after so many watches from underground circulation, there’s a richness and purity applied to something that isn’t afraid to be different, to disregard conventions of its medium and abandon all reason in favour of absolute entertainment and joy, even if it’s not all perfect.
Ultimately, being different is where Desperate Struggle succeeds above all. It really isn’t like anything else out there. Outside of the first game, it’s a totally unique experience, one of which has taken a number of measures to fix many complaints found with the previous title, making for an arguably better experience. It's fast, it's brutal, it's positively crazy, and it's fun-first mantra is one you can’t help but wish was echoed by more developers. What we’re left with is not only one of the best action titles on the Wii, but one of the most memorable of this generation.
. Even to the score. Although in my opinion the 1st game does a better story. This revenge story doesn't have as much charm compared to some of the WTF of the 1st game. That and i feel some of the ending cutscenes to some of these ranking fights feel a bit rushed/short and don't have the same feel to the ones in the 1st.
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