No More Heroes (Wii, 2008)

Travis Touchdown is a scoundrel.  He watches anime and pornography in his apartment in the town of Santa Destroy, his only companion being a kitten named Jean.  He doesn't have a job, and he visits the bar much too often.  His luck is about to turn around though, now that he has won a beam katana (essentially a lightsaber) in an internet auction, and upon one of his trips to the pub, he is hired by a mysterious woman named Sylvia to assassinate "the Drifter".  He does, and finds that she represents the United Assassins Association, and now he is ranked 11th among the world's greatest killers.  Now Travis is on a quest to find and kill the other ten assassins and become the number one ranked, and possibly get Sylvia to sleep with him if he does.
This is the beginning of No More Heroes (2008), one of the most unique games you will ever play.  It was created by Suda 51, who also directed the acclaimed Killer 7 and the recent, not-so-acclaimed Lollipop Chainsaw.  His games, even when they are no good, always carry his fingerprints.  Cel-shaded graphics, quirky characters, and an anti-hero as the protagonist are all his trademarks.  His games all have an over-the-top and dry sense of humor, and it really comes through in this game.
The game starts you out on a mission to take down the tenth ranked assassin, Death Metal, a retired rock star, now wallowing discontented in his mansion, waiting for his final battle.  This is where the player is taught the rules of the game.  Travis can fight by either using his beam katana or a number of wrestling moves that he has learned by watching WWE fights.  Be careful with the katana though, since it can run out of battery power (which is recharged by shaking the remote in a masturbatory fashion).  When you have drained an enemy's health enough, you can perform a finishing move by swinging the Wii remote in whatever direction the on-screen cue tells you to.  In lesser games, this is known as a "quick-time event," where you have to press a button or buttons in a timed sequence, and failure to do so results in death.  It works in this game though, since they are always expected, you have plenty of time to react to them, and failure does not have fatal consequences.  The reward for success is a hilariously stylized death, with dismemberment and a shower of blood.
When Travis gets to the end of a level, he has a one-on-one duel with the assassin.  These are the best parts of the game.  All of these battles are incredibly fun and unique, with the standard being set by Death Metal.  You arrive with him sitting alone by his pool, sipping on wine.  They have an exchange:
Death Metal:  "Quite beautiful, wouldn't you say?  Paid for with the lives of many.  When you have the strength to take life for yourself, that is true wealth.  I am free of desire, so long as I have this scenery to look upon.  I need nothing more.  Please, leave me be."
Travis:  "You're the one leaving, in a body bag."
Death Metal:  "I'll only say this once more, leave here now!"
Travis:  "Hey, you know what paradise is, right?  This is paradise, the place where dreams are fulfilled.  Well, you've had your dream, old man, time to wake up!"
Death Metal:  "Paradise.  This is no paradise."
Travis:  "Okay, then what is it?"
Death Metal:  "A place to die."
Death Metal comes across as a man who is sick of the game, and Travis is unaware of the risk he is about to take.  He does not understand that to get into the game of killing means you can never escape.  Once you are one of the top ranked assassins, there will be others trying to kill you.  It is an endless cycle of killing that only ends with your death.  Death Metal knows this only too well, and while he is not going to give up the fight on purpose, he is eagerly awaiting his release from the system, so that Travis can take his place.
Not all of the assassins are on the same page as Death Metal.  There is Shinobu, a high school girl who is in the same mindset as Travis, kill all those in your way and become the best.  There is Destroyman, an actor who plays the superhero personality that has taken over his twisted mind.  Dr. Peace, a corrupt detective, has been left cold and unfeeling by his divorced wife and estranged daughter.  The only thing he enjoys anymore is killing.  Travis's motivation changes over the course of the game as a conspiracy starts to make itself apparent, and suddenly it becomes about more than simply being number one.
No More Heroes plays like the best of a samurai film or western.  If I could point out a few flaws, they would be centered on the sections in-between missions, where you roam around Santa Destroy, doing odd jobs to make enough money to pay for the next admission fee for a battle.  You can level up your stats here and get new stuff, but it feels more like padding than anything.  This aside, It is a highly original and fun game, one of the best and most original for the Wii.