Second Steel

Red Steel was by far the most hostly anticipated 3rd party launch title on the Wii, one that received a lot of gushing previews and hands-on impressions from the press. Final review copies of the game told a very different story, however. A rather confused visual style combined with poorly implemented pointer-based first person shooter controls and clumsy sword combat caused a backlash from 'core gamers that immediately brought into question the Wii's credentials as a 'proper' games console, something that haunts it to this day.

Even though it sold well, Red Steel's name has become little more than a rather sad and painful reminder of the Wii's rocky start. You can imagine the gaming world's collective scepticism when the first solid info surfaced recently about a sequel to the franchise, info claiming that it would set right all that was wrong with the first game.

Well... The thing is, it does actually looks kinda awesome..

Rather than being a continuation of the first game, Red Steel 2 represents a complete reboot of the franchise, retaining only the most basic stylistic and gameplay elements. The modern day Yakuza setting has been dropped entirely, replaced with a fictional (and as yet unnamed) high-tech metropolis, a striking blend of American and Japanese architecture located on the edge of a vast desert. Likewise, Red Steel's protagonist has been replaced by 'The Swordsman', a mysterious peacekeeper who returns after years of wandering to find his clan exterminated and the city he swore to protect in total chaos.

This alone is enough to get me interested in Red Steel 2, but the E3 demo videos demonstrate a whole lot more. Obviously inspired by Metroid Prime 3, the game appears to have absolutely phenomenal aiming and shooting controls, while the previously insipid sword combat has been given a new lease of life by Wii Motion Plus. Judging by early hands-on impressions, the game matches player's movements with the sword with near 1:1 accuracy, allowing for a wide range of slashes, stabs and even parrys against sword-wielding opponents.

It also seems to do a much better job of blending these two disparate combat styles into one coherent whole, instead of going for the original game's rather contrived swordplay set-pieces. The developer describes the combat as feeling like a mixture between tradition FPS gun combat and a kind of first-person brawler, with a selection of quick dodges, special moves and even finishers at your disposal. They also mentioned that the game will contain elements of exploraiton, but didn't go into much detail.

I should also give a big nod to the visuals, which at this stage look very nice indeed. The graphic novel-inspired character and environment designs are not only very stylish, they also do a good job of hiding the Wii's relative lack of grunt when it comes to pushing big geometry and textures. It's interesting to note the lack of blood in the E3 build. Apparently the developers are aiming for a 'T' rating, a smart move considering the target platform, although it's bound to cause some complaint among 'mature' gamers.

I really, really hope Red Steel 2 lives up to it's fantastic E3 showing. It's probably foolhardy of me to get so excited given the franchise's chequered past, but what can I say? I'm a sucker for a (potentially) good Wii FPS and 1:1 sword combat has me drooling all over my wiimote.

Please don't let me down again, Ubisoft.