It has been a while since I played a game from beginning to end in a single sitting willingly. Say No! More is a fantastically funny take on the on-rails shooter genre. Instead of shooting, you’ll be shouting No! at every enemy you meet. By enemy, I mean evil office worker as this game is all about overturning that toxic corporate culture. I am so here for it!
Each level of Say No! More works like an on-rails shooter as you control a customisable intern at a new corporation. As you run through the office building, workers will stop you and ask you to do something random. Most of them have a timer to them but to experience the game at its best, I recommend you let the timer run as close to zero for each interaction as possible. There is no score to the game, it is simply pressing the No! button before the timer runs out. There is literally zero difficulty to the game but that allows you to enjoy the two and bit hour story campaign. When you say No!, usually your enemies blast away comically and the building is destroyed around you.
There are additional things you can do to change up your No! and this revolves around confidence. For bosses and security staff you’ll need to use charged No! attacks by holding the button but this reduces your confidence. You can boost your confidence by performing irritant moves such as a sarcastic nod or laughing in the face of your co-workers. You can also change the style of your No! to be lazy, cold, wacky or heated. Using different types of No! or preambles will gain you some additional confidence but that is literally where the tactics stop.
Instead, you will be enjoying the barmy story and offbeat comedy. It is over the top in a very Japanese visual comedy style. People fly off-screen, the wooden character animations are comedic and the soundtrack emphasises this perfectly. The whole game is voice acted and so is every encounter. If you have to live with toxic corporate culture (I do) you’ll get an extra kick out of hearing someone talking about meeting rooms and then screaming in their face. It is like the comedic version of Falling Down.
To go much further into why I love this game would spoil it too much. I’ll just state that whilst you’ll largely be pressing and sometimes holding a single button to play the game, its brief runtime and constantly switching story means you are never bored. instead, you’ll be laughing at its send-up of the corporate world whilst also enjoying the fact you can say no sometimes and that’s ok. The character customisation is quite detailed for a game of this style and even more fun is that you can choose to say No! in loads of different languages. I tried a few out and shouting no in Mandarin is strangely extra cathartic!
Put simply, this is one of the most enjoyable experiences I’ve had in recent years. My score is purely reflective on the sheer amount of fun I had during its runtime. This is the antidote we need against the world-weary misery we get (and I often enjoy) elsewhere. It takes me back to the days when games were designed to entertain through laughter, colour and silliness. Long may that reign.
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