MrNinjaSquirrel
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Red Steel was, for all intents and purposes, a failed tech demo. Though it promised to blend shooting and sword play using the new Wii Remote, it failed on almost every level. So it's surprising that Ubisoft even decided to release a sequel, and even more surprising that it turned out so good. With the first game having such a bad reputation, most people weren't expecting much, if anything from Red Steel 2. But Ubisoft has finally delivered on their promise. They've combined first person shooting with the sword, in a way I didn't think was possible. It's a rare day for a third party to release an actually good game on Wii, but Ubisoft has done more than that, as Red Steel 2 is easily one of the best games on the console.
Story
Set in a sort of Japanese wild west, you play as an unnamed swordsman. The last in an ancient line of swordsmen, the Kusagari, you carry a sword of great power, one that many have killed trying to claim. The Kusagari have long protected it, but now they've been hunted down and murdered, leaving only you to protect it and the town they used to call home. You meet up with a small cast of characters, and reluctantly set to work discovering who's behind it all.
The opening of Red Steel 2 immediately sets the tone of the game to come. Tied to the back of a motorcycle, you witness from first person a ridiculous chain of events, as you get free of your captures, and make your way off, leaving nothing but explosions in your wake. Red Steel 2 doesn't try to tell an incredible story, in fact there is barely one at all. Normally this ends in disaster, but I think the game is all the better for it. It's like a summer action movie: the plot has hardly any depth, the characters are paper-thin, and the writing isn't winning any awards. Everything exists to move from one action set piece to the next, and this suits Red Steel 2 surprisingly well. The pacing is excellent, and you'll fly through the game as the clock ticks away. While it's always nice to have a good story, I'd much rather a game that knows what it is, than one that stumbles to find it's way and feels disjointed. Ubisoft knew what they wanted, and have succeed at capturing that vision. The story exists only to give context to the gameplay, and that's the real draw of the game.
Gameplay
Though it controls like a shooter, guns are very much a secondary weapon. Red Steel 2 is all about swordplay, and unlike basically everything but Wii Sports Resort, it actually works. Requiring Wii Motion Plus, the game is able to track how you swing and translate that into the game with a great deal of accuracy. Though it's by no means 1:1, it's more than enough to allow for a ton of cool combos. The game can best be described as a ton of micro arena battles. When you encounter enemies the game blocks off the exits, and you have to slice your way through them to proceed. It's a dated mechanic, but swinging your virtual sword is just so much fun that I didn't care. You're constantly learning new moves during the game, and these can almost all be easily woven into your combos. They're are just so many cool ways to dispose of enemies, that you keep wanting to fight more to experiment and find the best strategy. For those that don't want to learn combos and are more interested in reenacting Zorro in their living rooms, you can play through the game without having to resort to any of these. This makes Red Steel 2 extremely accessible, which is always great as it allows more people to enjoy the game.
Their are guns in the game, but they aren't as fun as using your sword. The revolver is really cool, but the other weapons never really felt that good to control. In the few instances where you actually have to resort to guns only, the game becomes a very average shooter. Luckily, this happens extremely rarely, and using them with your sword is a lot more fun. Their isn't any delay between slicing and shooting, and this creates a ton of cool scenarios (one of my favorite is launching an enemy in the air, and then filling him with holes from my revolver). I also really like the health system in the game. It refills after every fight, so you never go into one while still healing. It just makes the game more fun. The mission structure on the other hand is very, very dull, having you do little more than go from A-B pulling switches or killing X number of enemies. You get these missions from a billboard, and this creates a disconnect between the characters and the missions. Then there is the fact that you're required to backtrack to the safe house after every mission. Thankfully levels are designed with this in mind, so it doesn't usually take as long going back as it did the first time, but because enemies don't respond it all fells strangely empty. The game is short enough that this never really becomes annoying, but it could have been greatly improved.
There are a few more places where the game stumbles. Even with Motion Plus there are still times when the game won't interpret you movement correctly, most notably thrusting toward the screen. This doesn't typically have a big impact on the game, but it can be annoying. Red Steel 2 doesn't really have any replay value either. You can replay levels in a highscore mode, but without any sort of leaderboard this is rather pointless. And lastly, there is one ridiculously stupid quick time cutscene early on. It feels completely out of place and more like an old DVD game than something that you'd find in a modern game. It could and should have been replaced with a standard cutscene, if only to avoid the frustration of trying to do the correct motion before time runs out. In the end though none of these can hurt the heart of the gameplay. There is just something incredibly fun about using the Wii remote as a sword that never gets old. Combined with the shooting it's very unique, and very addicting. I couldn't stop playing the game!
Presentation
At times, it's really hard to believe this is a Wii game. Using a cel-shaded comic book look, Red Steel 2 somehow manages to push incredible visuals out of the box. The characters have a ton of personality, and the animations are superb. Also, it all runs at a nearly completely solid 60FPS. The environments aren't as amazing as the character models, but compared to just about everything else on the platform, it's hard not to be impressed. There are so many details in every area of the game, and they all fit the art style and setting wonderfully. These great visuals come at a cost though, and you'll find yourself spending far to much time waiting for doors to open. The game uses the old Metroid Prime "loading behind the curtain" technique for most of the loading, and it can be ridiculous to see your character repeatedly throwing his weight against a door he just went through a few minutes ago. You can hardly expect otherwise, as the game is seriously gorgeous, but it serves as a constant reminder that the Wii just isn't a very powerful system.
For once, that little speaker on the Wii remote is actually used well. Certain sound effects, like the screech of two swords clashing, come through the speaker and it actually did manage to make me more connected with the game. The other sound effects are also very good, sounding like the soundboard to a classic western. The voice acting isn't terrible, per say, but it's really nothing to talk about. It gets the job done, without making you want to gouge your ears out. I really dug the music in Red Steel 2. It's a combination of the game's to main settings, the west and the oriental, and it just sound awesome! It really sets the mood for the combat, and makes you feel like an even bigger badass,
Verdict
Red Steel 2 fixes nearly all the problems of it's predecessor, and introduces the world to possibly the best sword fighting game to date! The story is all action, and works to highlight the gameplay very nicely. The combination of gun and sword is rarely seen in games, and a lot of fun to use in combos. It's a shame the mission structure isn't very good, and I could have used without the backtracking, but these never took away from the gameplay. It's a beautiful, hectic, awesome collision of great ideas and a presentation that never ceases to amaze. The game set out to do one thing: make you feel like a badass samurai cowboy! Ubisoft has done this, and so much more, making Red Steel 2 a must play for anyone with a Wii, and all those that long to pick up the sword!
Final Opinion: 9/10 Incredible!
Red Steel was, for all intents and purposes, a failed tech demo. Though it promised to blend shooting and sword play using the new Wii Remote, it failed on almost every level. So it's surprising that Ubisoft even decided to release a sequel, and even more surprising that it turned out so good. With the first game having such a bad reputation, most people weren't expecting much, if anything from Red Steel 2. But Ubisoft has finally delivered on their promise. They've combined first person shooting with the sword, in a way I didn't think was possible. It's a rare day for a third party to release an actually good game on Wii, but Ubisoft has done more than that, as Red Steel 2 is easily one of the best games on the console.
Story
Set in a sort of Japanese wild west, you play as an unnamed swordsman. The last in an ancient line of swordsmen, the Kusagari, you carry a sword of great power, one that many have killed trying to claim. The Kusagari have long protected it, but now they've been hunted down and murdered, leaving only you to protect it and the town they used to call home. You meet up with a small cast of characters, and reluctantly set to work discovering who's behind it all.
The opening of Red Steel 2 immediately sets the tone of the game to come. Tied to the back of a motorcycle, you witness from first person a ridiculous chain of events, as you get free of your captures, and make your way off, leaving nothing but explosions in your wake. Red Steel 2 doesn't try to tell an incredible story, in fact there is barely one at all. Normally this ends in disaster, but I think the game is all the better for it. It's like a summer action movie: the plot has hardly any depth, the characters are paper-thin, and the writing isn't winning any awards. Everything exists to move from one action set piece to the next, and this suits Red Steel 2 surprisingly well. The pacing is excellent, and you'll fly through the game as the clock ticks away. While it's always nice to have a good story, I'd much rather a game that knows what it is, than one that stumbles to find it's way and feels disjointed. Ubisoft knew what they wanted, and have succeed at capturing that vision. The story exists only to give context to the gameplay, and that's the real draw of the game.
Gameplay
Though it controls like a shooter, guns are very much a secondary weapon. Red Steel 2 is all about swordplay, and unlike basically everything but Wii Sports Resort, it actually works. Requiring Wii Motion Plus, the game is able to track how you swing and translate that into the game with a great deal of accuracy. Though it's by no means 1:1, it's more than enough to allow for a ton of cool combos. The game can best be described as a ton of micro arena battles. When you encounter enemies the game blocks off the exits, and you have to slice your way through them to proceed. It's a dated mechanic, but swinging your virtual sword is just so much fun that I didn't care. You're constantly learning new moves during the game, and these can almost all be easily woven into your combos. They're are just so many cool ways to dispose of enemies, that you keep wanting to fight more to experiment and find the best strategy. For those that don't want to learn combos and are more interested in reenacting Zorro in their living rooms, you can play through the game without having to resort to any of these. This makes Red Steel 2 extremely accessible, which is always great as it allows more people to enjoy the game.
Their are guns in the game, but they aren't as fun as using your sword. The revolver is really cool, but the other weapons never really felt that good to control. In the few instances where you actually have to resort to guns only, the game becomes a very average shooter. Luckily, this happens extremely rarely, and using them with your sword is a lot more fun. Their isn't any delay between slicing and shooting, and this creates a ton of cool scenarios (one of my favorite is launching an enemy in the air, and then filling him with holes from my revolver). I also really like the health system in the game. It refills after every fight, so you never go into one while still healing. It just makes the game more fun. The mission structure on the other hand is very, very dull, having you do little more than go from A-B pulling switches or killing X number of enemies. You get these missions from a billboard, and this creates a disconnect between the characters and the missions. Then there is the fact that you're required to backtrack to the safe house after every mission. Thankfully levels are designed with this in mind, so it doesn't usually take as long going back as it did the first time, but because enemies don't respond it all fells strangely empty. The game is short enough that this never really becomes annoying, but it could have been greatly improved.
There are a few more places where the game stumbles. Even with Motion Plus there are still times when the game won't interpret you movement correctly, most notably thrusting toward the screen. This doesn't typically have a big impact on the game, but it can be annoying. Red Steel 2 doesn't really have any replay value either. You can replay levels in a highscore mode, but without any sort of leaderboard this is rather pointless. And lastly, there is one ridiculously stupid quick time cutscene early on. It feels completely out of place and more like an old DVD game than something that you'd find in a modern game. It could and should have been replaced with a standard cutscene, if only to avoid the frustration of trying to do the correct motion before time runs out. In the end though none of these can hurt the heart of the gameplay. There is just something incredibly fun about using the Wii remote as a sword that never gets old. Combined with the shooting it's very unique, and very addicting. I couldn't stop playing the game!
Presentation
At times, it's really hard to believe this is a Wii game. Using a cel-shaded comic book look, Red Steel 2 somehow manages to push incredible visuals out of the box. The characters have a ton of personality, and the animations are superb. Also, it all runs at a nearly completely solid 60FPS. The environments aren't as amazing as the character models, but compared to just about everything else on the platform, it's hard not to be impressed. There are so many details in every area of the game, and they all fit the art style and setting wonderfully. These great visuals come at a cost though, and you'll find yourself spending far to much time waiting for doors to open. The game uses the old Metroid Prime "loading behind the curtain" technique for most of the loading, and it can be ridiculous to see your character repeatedly throwing his weight against a door he just went through a few minutes ago. You can hardly expect otherwise, as the game is seriously gorgeous, but it serves as a constant reminder that the Wii just isn't a very powerful system.
For once, that little speaker on the Wii remote is actually used well. Certain sound effects, like the screech of two swords clashing, come through the speaker and it actually did manage to make me more connected with the game. The other sound effects are also very good, sounding like the soundboard to a classic western. The voice acting isn't terrible, per say, but it's really nothing to talk about. It gets the job done, without making you want to gouge your ears out. I really dug the music in Red Steel 2. It's a combination of the game's to main settings, the west and the oriental, and it just sound awesome! It really sets the mood for the combat, and makes you feel like an even bigger badass,
Verdict
Red Steel 2 fixes nearly all the problems of it's predecessor, and introduces the world to possibly the best sword fighting game to date! The story is all action, and works to highlight the gameplay very nicely. The combination of gun and sword is rarely seen in games, and a lot of fun to use in combos. It's a shame the mission structure isn't very good, and I could have used without the backtracking, but these never took away from the gameplay. It's a beautiful, hectic, awesome collision of great ideas and a presentation that never ceases to amaze. The game set out to do one thing: make you feel like a badass samurai cowboy! Ubisoft has done this, and so much more, making Red Steel 2 a must play for anyone with a Wii, and all those that long to pick up the sword!
Final Opinion: 9/10 Incredible!
