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This thread has been linked to the game 'Red Steel 2'.
It seems like ages since I used the MotionPlus on the Wii. In fact the last game I tried it for was Tiger Woods way back in the summer of last year. It feels as if the impressively accurate device has been somewhat underused since its debut appearing in no more than ten titles to date. So of course any opportunity to dust it off once again is enough to get me excited. Enter Red Steel 2. At first the game failed to pick up my attention (after the overly disappointing original that came out during the Wii’s launch) but with the promise of improved accuracy thanks to the add-on and a completely revamped and rethought engine, I began to think that this game could actually be good.
While on first glance, Red Steel 2 may look like your everyday generic shooter, once you start to play it you’ll soon realise it is so much more. Sure there is shooting in it and you get the usual assortment of weapons at your disposal, but what really takes the centre stage here, is the swordplay. With the added accuracy of the MotionPlus, you soon realise that this is how the original should have felt. Slashing side to side, up and down or jabbing is all mapped to your actions almost perfectly, and furthermore the amount of power you put into your swing is also taken into account too.
The story failed to really have much impact partly thanks to how boring and lazy it feels. You are the last of your kind, and after a less than pleasant drag behind a motorcycle it is then up to you to recover a sacred blade that has been stolen. With little to no real meaning to what it is your doing and why everything just feels like it is falling apart at the seams. As I said it fails to draw you in and at no point during the game did I feel that I wanted to watch the cut scenes and learn what was going on.
The structure of the game is nothing new but it gets the job done. You’ll venture round towns and villages selecting missions from a notice board in your safehouses with objectives ranging from taking out clans of enemies, destroying trucks or simply getting to a particular location. The missions are simple at best, but thanks to the great fun to be had with the combined sword and gun play you won’t actually care. Throughout your journey you will be rewarded with cash that can in turn be spent on upgrades for your katana, guns, bullets or armour. There is a fair amount to buy and it definitely pays to keep your eyes peeled for the coins in each new environment.
As mentioned before, the controls work really well. Never at any point do you feel like the game is reacting randomly to your actions and after a couple days practice you’ll see yourself pulling off stylish combos and kills easily. While the game may have been advertised as a shooter, you’ll likely be spending more time with your sword to battle tougher opponents which is by no means a bad thing. Guns do come into play against easier enemies and to get out of a tight situation so it’s vital to learn when best to use each method of attack. The way the game handles the smooth switch between gun and sword at any time is awesome and something developers could look to for future games. It feels very natural.
The game isn’t without fault though, as there are some issues that can dampen the experience. For one, loading times are far too frequent and long. Having to reach a new area only to have the door leading to it take ten to fifteen seconds to load and open is not my idea of fun. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the areas been much bigger, but since each section is so small, you’ll often find yourself staring patiently at a door time after time. Also while the Motion Plus definitely makes a world of difference in terms of accuracy and control, there are the odd occasions where it can spaz out and require recalibration. Not handy during a heated battle. One more final thing to note is that things become a little too easy, especially toward the latter half of the game. Thanks to a combination of more powerful weapons, larger amount of health and more armour that you can unlock, battles can feel nowhere near as dangerous and tense as they should. The fear of losing that last chunk of health goes right out the window when you are built like a tank with plenty of strength to spare. Even with these few annoyances though, Red Steel 2 is still a fun experience.
Visually the game is outstanding. From the unique art style right up to the constantly surprising locations and fluidly animating characters, Red Steel 2 is definitely one of the best looking titles on the Wii. The music too is surprisingly good with a great blend of western and eastern tunes which in the end create something new and fresh. If there is one aspect that some may loath, it’s the over the top, cheesy voice acting. While some may argue, it is all part of the overall “not taking itself too seriously” presentation, others may see it as down to poor writing and just hate it from the get go.
While the constant debate of whether it is worthwhile to bring a mature title to the Wii is never ending, it seems a shame that more and more developers are quickly becoming more hesitant to take chances. Chances like Red Steel 2 that offer something unique and more importantly fun. To me this will be the last real teller as to whether mature titles are dead in the water on the Wii, and if a great game like Red Steel 2 cannot bring in the punters then it seems like no one stands a chance.
While on first glance, Red Steel 2 may look like your everyday generic shooter, once you start to play it you’ll soon realise it is so much more. Sure there is shooting in it and you get the usual assortment of weapons at your disposal, but what really takes the centre stage here, is the swordplay. With the added accuracy of the MotionPlus, you soon realise that this is how the original should have felt. Slashing side to side, up and down or jabbing is all mapped to your actions almost perfectly, and furthermore the amount of power you put into your swing is also taken into account too.
The story failed to really have much impact partly thanks to how boring and lazy it feels. You are the last of your kind, and after a less than pleasant drag behind a motorcycle it is then up to you to recover a sacred blade that has been stolen. With little to no real meaning to what it is your doing and why everything just feels like it is falling apart at the seams. As I said it fails to draw you in and at no point during the game did I feel that I wanted to watch the cut scenes and learn what was going on.
The structure of the game is nothing new but it gets the job done. You’ll venture round towns and villages selecting missions from a notice board in your safehouses with objectives ranging from taking out clans of enemies, destroying trucks or simply getting to a particular location. The missions are simple at best, but thanks to the great fun to be had with the combined sword and gun play you won’t actually care. Throughout your journey you will be rewarded with cash that can in turn be spent on upgrades for your katana, guns, bullets or armour. There is a fair amount to buy and it definitely pays to keep your eyes peeled for the coins in each new environment.
As mentioned before, the controls work really well. Never at any point do you feel like the game is reacting randomly to your actions and after a couple days practice you’ll see yourself pulling off stylish combos and kills easily. While the game may have been advertised as a shooter, you’ll likely be spending more time with your sword to battle tougher opponents which is by no means a bad thing. Guns do come into play against easier enemies and to get out of a tight situation so it’s vital to learn when best to use each method of attack. The way the game handles the smooth switch between gun and sword at any time is awesome and something developers could look to for future games. It feels very natural.
The game isn’t without fault though, as there are some issues that can dampen the experience. For one, loading times are far too frequent and long. Having to reach a new area only to have the door leading to it take ten to fifteen seconds to load and open is not my idea of fun. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the areas been much bigger, but since each section is so small, you’ll often find yourself staring patiently at a door time after time. Also while the Motion Plus definitely makes a world of difference in terms of accuracy and control, there are the odd occasions where it can spaz out and require recalibration. Not handy during a heated battle. One more final thing to note is that things become a little too easy, especially toward the latter half of the game. Thanks to a combination of more powerful weapons, larger amount of health and more armour that you can unlock, battles can feel nowhere near as dangerous and tense as they should. The fear of losing that last chunk of health goes right out the window when you are built like a tank with plenty of strength to spare. Even with these few annoyances though, Red Steel 2 is still a fun experience.
Visually the game is outstanding. From the unique art style right up to the constantly surprising locations and fluidly animating characters, Red Steel 2 is definitely one of the best looking titles on the Wii. The music too is surprisingly good with a great blend of western and eastern tunes which in the end create something new and fresh. If there is one aspect that some may loath, it’s the over the top, cheesy voice acting. While some may argue, it is all part of the overall “not taking itself too seriously” presentation, others may see it as down to poor writing and just hate it from the get go.
While the constant debate of whether it is worthwhile to bring a mature title to the Wii is never ending, it seems a shame that more and more developers are quickly becoming more hesitant to take chances. Chances like Red Steel 2 that offer something unique and more importantly fun. To me this will be the last real teller as to whether mature titles are dead in the water on the Wii, and if a great game like Red Steel 2 cannot bring in the punters then it seems like no one stands a chance.
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It seems like ages since I used the MotionPlus on the Wii. In fact the last game I tried it for was Tiger Woods way back in the summer of last year. It feels as if the impressively accurate device has been somewhat underused since its debut appearing in no more than ten titles to date. So of course any opportunity to dust it off once again is enough to get me excited. Enter Red Steel 2. At first the game failed to pick up my attention (after the overly disappointing original that came out during the Wii’s launch) but with the promise of improved accuracy thanks to the add-on and a completely revamped and rethought engine, I began to think that this game could actually be good.
While on first glance, Red Steel 2 may look like your everyday generic shooter, once you start to play it you’ll soon realise it is so much more. Sure there is shooting in it and you get the usual assortment of weapons at your disposal, but what really takes the centre stage here, is the swordplay. With the added accuracy of the MotionPlus, you soon realise that this is how the original should have felt. Slashing side to side, up and down or jabbing is all mapped to your actions almost perfectly, and furthermore the amount of power you put into your swing is also taken into account too.
The story failed to really have much impact partly thanks to how boring and lazy it feels. You are the last of your kind, and after a less than pleasant drag behind a motorcycle it is then up to you to recover a sacred blade that has been stolen. With little to no real meaning to what it is your doing and why everything just feels like it is falling apart at the seams. As I said it fails to draw you in and at no point during the game did I feel that I wanted to watch the cut scenes and learn what was going on.
The structure of the game is nothing new but it gets the job done. You’ll venture round towns and villages selecting missions from a notice board in your safehouses with objectives ranging from taking out clans of enemies, destroying trucks or simply getting to a particular location. The missions are simple at best, but thanks to the great fun to be had with the combined sword and gun play you won’t actually care. Throughout your journey you will be rewarded with cash that can in turn be spent on upgrades for your katana, guns, bullets or armour. There is a fair amount to buy and it definitely pays to keep your eyes peeled for the coins in each new environment.
As mentioned before, the controls work really well. Never at any point do you feel like the game is reacting randomly to your actions and after a couple days practice you’ll see yourself pulling off stylish combos and kills easily. While the game may have been advertised as a shooter, you’ll likely be spending more time with your sword to battle tougher opponents which is by no means a bad thing. Guns do come into play against easier enemies and to get out of a tight situation so it’s vital to learn when best to use each method of attack. The way the game handles the smooth switch between gun and sword at any time is awesome and something developers could look to for future games. It feels very natural.
The game isn’t without fault though, as there are some issues that can dampen the experience. For one, loading times are far too frequent and long. Having to reach a new area only to have the door leading to it take ten to fifteen seconds to load and open is not my idea of fun. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the areas been much bigger, but since each section is so small, you’ll often find yourself staring patiently at a door time after time. Also while the Motion Plus definitely makes a world of difference in terms of accuracy and control, there are the odd occasions where it can spaz out and require recalibration. Not handy during a heated battle. One more final thing to note is that things become a little too easy, especially toward the latter half of the game. Thanks to a combination of more powerful weapons, larger amount of health and more armour that you can unlock, battles can feel nowhere near as dangerous and tense as they should. The fear of losing that last chunk of health goes right out the window when you are built like a tank with plenty of strength to spare. Even with these few annoyances though, Red Steel 2 is still a fun experience.
Visually the game is outstanding. From the unique art style right up to the constantly surprising locations and fluidly animating characters, Red Steel 2 is definitely one of the best looking titles on the Wii. The music too is surprisingly good with a great blend of western and eastern tunes which in the end create something new and fresh. If there is one aspect that some may loath, it’s the over the top, cheesy voice acting. While some may argue, it is all part of the overall “not taking itself too seriously” presentation, others may see it as down to poor writing and just hate it from the get go.
While the constant debate of whether it is worthwhile to bring a mature title to the Wii is never ending, it seems a shame that more and more developers are quickly becoming more hesitant to take chances. Chances like Red Steel 2 that offer something unique and more importantly fun. To me this will be the last real teller as to whether mature titles are dead in the water on the Wii, and if a great game like Red Steel 2 cannot bring in the punters then it seems like no one stands a chance.
While on first glance, Red Steel 2 may look like your everyday generic shooter, once you start to play it you’ll soon realise it is so much more. Sure there is shooting in it and you get the usual assortment of weapons at your disposal, but what really takes the centre stage here, is the swordplay. With the added accuracy of the MotionPlus, you soon realise that this is how the original should have felt. Slashing side to side, up and down or jabbing is all mapped to your actions almost perfectly, and furthermore the amount of power you put into your swing is also taken into account too.
The story failed to really have much impact partly thanks to how boring and lazy it feels. You are the last of your kind, and after a less than pleasant drag behind a motorcycle it is then up to you to recover a sacred blade that has been stolen. With little to no real meaning to what it is your doing and why everything just feels like it is falling apart at the seams. As I said it fails to draw you in and at no point during the game did I feel that I wanted to watch the cut scenes and learn what was going on.
The structure of the game is nothing new but it gets the job done. You’ll venture round towns and villages selecting missions from a notice board in your safehouses with objectives ranging from taking out clans of enemies, destroying trucks or simply getting to a particular location. The missions are simple at best, but thanks to the great fun to be had with the combined sword and gun play you won’t actually care. Throughout your journey you will be rewarded with cash that can in turn be spent on upgrades for your katana, guns, bullets or armour. There is a fair amount to buy and it definitely pays to keep your eyes peeled for the coins in each new environment.
As mentioned before, the controls work really well. Never at any point do you feel like the game is reacting randomly to your actions and after a couple days practice you’ll see yourself pulling off stylish combos and kills easily. While the game may have been advertised as a shooter, you’ll likely be spending more time with your sword to battle tougher opponents which is by no means a bad thing. Guns do come into play against easier enemies and to get out of a tight situation so it’s vital to learn when best to use each method of attack. The way the game handles the smooth switch between gun and sword at any time is awesome and something developers could look to for future games. It feels very natural.
The game isn’t without fault though, as there are some issues that can dampen the experience. For one, loading times are far too frequent and long. Having to reach a new area only to have the door leading to it take ten to fifteen seconds to load and open is not my idea of fun. It wouldn’t have been so bad had the areas been much bigger, but since each section is so small, you’ll often find yourself staring patiently at a door time after time. Also while the Motion Plus definitely makes a world of difference in terms of accuracy and control, there are the odd occasions where it can spaz out and require recalibration. Not handy during a heated battle. One more final thing to note is that things become a little too easy, especially toward the latter half of the game. Thanks to a combination of more powerful weapons, larger amount of health and more armour that you can unlock, battles can feel nowhere near as dangerous and tense as they should. The fear of losing that last chunk of health goes right out the window when you are built like a tank with plenty of strength to spare. Even with these few annoyances though, Red Steel 2 is still a fun experience.
Visually the game is outstanding. From the unique art style right up to the constantly surprising locations and fluidly animating characters, Red Steel 2 is definitely one of the best looking titles on the Wii. The music too is surprisingly good with a great blend of western and eastern tunes which in the end create something new and fresh. If there is one aspect that some may loath, it’s the over the top, cheesy voice acting. While some may argue, it is all part of the overall “not taking itself too seriously” presentation, others may see it as down to poor writing and just hate it from the get go.
While the constant debate of whether it is worthwhile to bring a mature title to the Wii is never ending, it seems a shame that more and more developers are quickly becoming more hesitant to take chances. Chances like Red Steel 2 that offer something unique and more importantly fun. To me this will be the last real teller as to whether mature titles are dead in the water on the Wii, and if a great game like Red Steel 2 cannot bring in the punters then it seems like no one stands a chance.