The Future of Shooters? Not Really.
Originally written February 2, 2007. Since then we've obviously seen much better shooters on the platform. I haven't made any big adjustments to the text in the review, but I have adjusted my score a little lower than I might have put it back then, and put in some italicized comments..
Easily the second most hyped up Wii launch title behind Twilight Princess was Red Steel. Since its E3 showing it gained an enormous fan base for a new IP that was yet to even be released. This fan base included yours truly and it was the second game I bought, after Twilight Princess of course. So was it a smart buy, or did I waste my money?
STORY
There really isn't much to say because there isn't much of a story to talk about. Your girlfriend, Miyu Sato, has been kidnapped by a rival gang of her father's, Isao Sato, and you must set out to find her. It also seems to follow the tried and true Mario story of "Our princess is in another castle" since on many occasions you will see Miyu on only to fight your way to her location, with the end result being she's gone and been taken somewhere else. If you're looking for a plot driven shooter, move along.
GRAPHICS
Red Steel offers one of the best looking environments of all Wii launch titles to date (which in hindsight, look like ass). But you'll be too busy shooting or being shot at to really notice. The game is almost constant action (what?) so you'll be more focused on your enemies than your surroundings. I gotta say that I really enjoyed the explosions since they looked great. However other than that I really don't have much too say about how this game stacks up visually but you've really got nothing to worry about.
SOUND
Along with graphics Red Steel also shines in the audio department. The game makes limited use of the remote's speaker for when you switch guns and reload. Aside from that it acts as a ringing cell phone but disappointingly the phone call is relayed through the TV instead of the remote which would've been pretty cool (as we've seen done in future games like No More Heroes and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories). The worst sounding part I must say is the voice acting. They sound so terrible and corny that it's ridiculous and unfortunately there's no way around it at all since they didn't provide a skip button. The Engrish levels are through the roof with this one.
GAMEPLAY
And this is where everything starts to unwind. The shooting aspect of the game makes use of the Wii's pointer functionality. Other shooting aspects such as reloading (shake nunchuk side to side) and picking up a new weapon (shake nunchuk down) work well. As you may have heard, sword movements aren't 1:1, and I should mention that if you were looking to buy this game for its sword fighting then you should think again. Red Steel is a first person shooter that throws in a sword fighting minigame every now and then. The worst part however is when you need to learn new technique and are then asked to perform it. One of the simplest parts in the game, just doesn't work. For example, there's a move that requires me to slash left, right, nunchuk left, then something else (I guess I couldn't remember and didn't bother looking it up. Oops.). The problem? I slash left and it reads it as if I just went upwards. I spent 10 minutes trying to get it down but only got it once (they want it 3 times) and that was a fluke.
The game is also not without its fair share of bugs. Among them you will sometimes see an enemy floating up to the roof and they will stay there. I had an enemy shooting at me and had no idea where he was. I looked up and he was right above me, floating in the air. At times you will also see a fallen enemy's weapon floating up at eye level. It doesn't keep you from picking up the weapon or its ammo but it's annoying none the less.
LASTING APPEAL
Frankly, it just isn't there. If you set your mind to it you will be able to complete the main game but I suppose there are some amongst you who would become frustrated with it and stop part way through it. The game does feature a multiplayer mode but frankly it sucks. It really feels like it was thrown together at the last minute. It's dead silent during a multiplayer match which I can't understand. The game has such a nice soundtrack but it wasn't used in multiplayer. And maybe it was just me but I felt the levels looked terrible. They seemed about half the quality of what you'd see in the single player missions and as a friend put it, it was pretty much GoldenEye on Wii. ( Oh shit, what?! )
Easily the second most hyped up Wii launch title behind Twilight Princess was Red Steel. Since its E3 showing it gained an enormous fan base for a new IP that was yet to even be released. This fan base included yours truly and it was the second game I bought, after Twilight Princess of course. So was it a smart buy, or did I waste my money?
STORY
There really isn't much to say because there isn't much of a story to talk about. Your girlfriend, Miyu Sato, has been kidnapped by a rival gang of her father's, Isao Sato, and you must set out to find her. It also seems to follow the tried and true Mario story of "Our princess is in another castle" since on many occasions you will see Miyu on only to fight your way to her location, with the end result being she's gone and been taken somewhere else. If you're looking for a plot driven shooter, move along.
GRAPHICS
Red Steel offers one of the best looking environments of all Wii launch titles to date (which in hindsight, look like ass). But you'll be too busy shooting or being shot at to really notice. The game is almost constant action (what?) so you'll be more focused on your enemies than your surroundings. I gotta say that I really enjoyed the explosions since they looked great. However other than that I really don't have much too say about how this game stacks up visually but you've really got nothing to worry about.
SOUND
Along with graphics Red Steel also shines in the audio department. The game makes limited use of the remote's speaker for when you switch guns and reload. Aside from that it acts as a ringing cell phone but disappointingly the phone call is relayed through the TV instead of the remote which would've been pretty cool (as we've seen done in future games like No More Heroes and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories). The worst sounding part I must say is the voice acting. They sound so terrible and corny that it's ridiculous and unfortunately there's no way around it at all since they didn't provide a skip button. The Engrish levels are through the roof with this one.
GAMEPLAY
And this is where everything starts to unwind. The shooting aspect of the game makes use of the Wii's pointer functionality. Other shooting aspects such as reloading (shake nunchuk side to side) and picking up a new weapon (shake nunchuk down) work well. As you may have heard, sword movements aren't 1:1, and I should mention that if you were looking to buy this game for its sword fighting then you should think again. Red Steel is a first person shooter that throws in a sword fighting minigame every now and then. The worst part however is when you need to learn new technique and are then asked to perform it. One of the simplest parts in the game, just doesn't work. For example, there's a move that requires me to slash left, right, nunchuk left, then something else (I guess I couldn't remember and didn't bother looking it up. Oops.). The problem? I slash left and it reads it as if I just went upwards. I spent 10 minutes trying to get it down but only got it once (they want it 3 times) and that was a fluke.
The game is also not without its fair share of bugs. Among them you will sometimes see an enemy floating up to the roof and they will stay there. I had an enemy shooting at me and had no idea where he was. I looked up and he was right above me, floating in the air. At times you will also see a fallen enemy's weapon floating up at eye level. It doesn't keep you from picking up the weapon or its ammo but it's annoying none the less.
LASTING APPEAL
Frankly, it just isn't there. If you set your mind to it you will be able to complete the main game but I suppose there are some amongst you who would become frustrated with it and stop part way through it. The game does feature a multiplayer mode but frankly it sucks. It really feels like it was thrown together at the last minute. It's dead silent during a multiplayer match which I can't understand. The game has such a nice soundtrack but it wasn't used in multiplayer. And maybe it was just me but I felt the levels looked terrible. They seemed about half the quality of what you'd see in the single player missions and as a friend put it, it was pretty much GoldenEye on Wii. ( Oh shit, what?! )
