On the game. Not me beating it. 
 
I thought it was awesome, myself. The combat was really well put together, and switching between gunplay and swordplay worked very smoothly, which I thought was actually somewhat unachievable. The story, of course, wasn't anything worth mentioning, but I think it progressed well enough. 
 
Favorite parts: 
-Last boss fight. I only played it on medium and I needed to step up my game. On hard, this would be a fucking pain, I'm sure. The setting, the fight, it was just a really cool gameplay moment. 
-The train. I thought that this just had so much rooted in Western mythos, and because of that, really thought it fit well. Besides, it perfectly molded the two themes of the game. Fight ninjas on a train. East and west. Done. 
 
Least favorite parts: 
-The fucking minigunners. These things were just an incomprehensible fuckup to take out half the time, to the point where it wasn't difficult, jusrt annoying as shit. 
-The ending. Unfortunately, after killing the boss (in a very badass way), the game just sort of stops with your character looking out into the distance. That was pretty lame. 
 
What do the rest of you think? OR DID YOU NOT PLAY IT?

With this thread and the E3 momentum in my head, I was finally able to pick this up again for an hour or so after a long hiatus.  It's still Red Steel 2 with its strengths and weaknesses:
 
+ The combat is fun as heck. Seriously, for the combat alone everyone needs to at least try this game. Especially in mid- and endgame, when you have all of these moves at your disposal. Every kill is satisfying and you REALLY get into it. I love it. 
+ The art and sound design is lovely and very well crafted. 60fps is a big plus. 
+ Level design gets progressively better, kind of lame at the beginning. 
o I don't see why they didn't include a 2-player battle mode.
- Its repetetive! This is really bad and what hurts the game the most. A little more variety in what you do outside of combat and a little less predictability would have been nice. No, not nice - necessary. Its very much like Mad World in that respect. 
- - There is no story! I would even have accepted stupid stories like those in other action games, but in RS2 there is literally nothing but the promise of more combat satisfaction to keep you going. And while this is a strong motivation thanks to the incredible battle mechanics, sometimes it is just not enough. 
 
I am in no hurry of finishing the game, but I just might. In hindsight, though, it is much more saddening how much they sacrificed in order to nail the combat.

" On the game. Not me beating it. "