Let's face it, most video game sequels aren't exactly paragons of originality: Final Fantasy's writers are becoming progressively lazier with each installment in the series. It seems like every title features an androgynous protagonist with a weather-related moniker who has to overcome a scientific/spiritual source of doom with the aid of a ragtag bunch of loveable and/or annoying sidekicks. Similarly, most of the new games in the Mario and Zelda franchises only feature the bare minimum amount of alteration to the original game's plot or setting. But when I heard a follow-up to the 2008 action title No More Heroes was going to hit the streets in January, I dared to hope: How could the series' creator, Suda51, possibly produce anything unoriginal?

Alas, Suda51 seems to have fallen victim to, for the first half of the game, at least the "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality that plagues the aforementioned games and so many other titles in the video game medium.

For those unfamiliar with the prequel to No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle, the original Wii title followed otaku Travis Touchdown as he battled the top ten killers of the United Assassins Association. In reality, the plot is of little import; what makes the game is its over-the-top brutality, twisted sense of humor and unique character personalities.

And, while I hoped Desperate Struggle would be much the same (just because the original was so fantastic), I still expected some innovation and a few improvements. Instead, Suda51 and his company, Grasshopper Manufacture, just took the best features of the original game (including its plot-Desperate Struggle is essentially the same journey, except with a briefly touched upon revenge element tossed in) and exaggerated them to an unappealing degree in Desperate Struggle.

In the first No More Heroes, for instance, characters were outrageous but frequently had some depth to their personalities. In Desperate Struggle, however, assassins are so extreme and so shallow that they sometimes border on uninspired stereotypes: There's the jock and his legion of murderous cheerleaders, the poison-spitting nymphomaniac, two subservient schoolgirls (which is two more than I needed) and a bounty of other caricatures with no backstory and massive cases of hero-worship. Fortunately, as Desperate Heroes progresses, the game moves beyond the "Whoa, Travis! I joined the UAA to fight you!" dialogue that dominates the first portion of the game; by the second half, in fact, it has been replaced by the witty banter and somewhat disturbing back-and-forth that made the original title so entertaining.

And, while I was fond of the first No More Heroes' helter-skelter battle system and even enjoyed the button mashing it required, I expected Grasshopper Manufacture to come up with something a little more advanced for Desperate Struggle. But I hoped in vain: You still bring about bloodbaths by frantically pressing the A button and occasionally pulling off a randomly generated wrestling move. No combos, no Wii-remote-enabled swordfights and no innovation were involved in the making of this game's fighting style, or in the layout of its "levels." For, much like in the first title, each ranked assassin is preceded by a series of rooms filled with lackeys, although Desperate Struggle does occasionally switch things up a bit by throwing you right into the boss' lair or by giving you an opportunity to ride your trusty steed/chopper, the Schpeltiger, into battle. And, for several brief periods of the game, you'll get to play as a giant robot and also as Shinobu (who is now one of the subservient schoolgirls I mentioned; what happened there?) and Henry, both of whom made an appearance in No More Heroes.

But, I suppose I shouldn't complain about the lack of innovation in Desperate Struggle, as some of the title's greatest flaws lie in its new features. When you do get a chance to fight astride the Schpeltiger, for instance, you'll find yourself facing an opponent capable of performing donuts on his motorcycle while you're stuck spending 15 to 20 minutes turning around to face him. Don't worry, though: If you're having difficulty dealing the winning blow, just wait a bit, as chances are the boss will run himself off a cliff due to the game's poor artificial intelligence. (No, really: I did, in fact, win a portion of the game after an assassin ran himself off of a cliff. The UAA's standards are pretty low nowadays.) Further, while Shinobu's jumping abilities make for a fun battle mechanic, they are next to useless while you're trying to navigate the landscape of certain levels, as Shinobu is apparently physically incapable of grabbing ledges and thus slides off of the edges of half of the surfaces you attempt to climb.

Regardless, I have to give credit where credit is due. Suda51 fixed a significant amount of the original title's greatest flaws. The money-earning mini-games are now fun throwbacks to the eight-bit era, and the boring, empty Santa Destroy (the city in which both games take place) of yore has been replaced by a streamlined map from which you select your next destination, and Desperate Struggle is still a better title than 90 percent of those games that are currently available for the Wii-unless, of course, you're a fan of titles composed primarily of mini-games featuring avatars with obese skulls. And, the boss battles are, at the very least, interesting and occasionally challenging to a frustrating degree: In the first fight, the room in which you battle will be filled with falling objects and lasers before finally catching on fire. However, don't be fooled by your starting position as the 51st-ranked assassin in the UAA: By the time the game concludes, you'll have engaged in only 13 ranked battles (two of which feature assassins from the first No More Heroes, if you have taken the time to play it) and two other "boss" fights, one of which is hidden.

Ultimately, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy another round of swinging ye olde Beam Katana. But, while the game is certainly worth playing for its end-game content, excellent soundtrack and characters who could only have been created by Suda51 himself, the title will most likely only feel fresh for those who missed out on Desperate Struggle's predecessor.