Frayhua Reviews: Red Steel

Red Steel


System: Nintendo Wii
Style: 1-Player First-Person Shooter (4-Player Multiplayer)
Developer: Ubisoft Paris
Publisher: Ubisoft
Release Date: November 19,2006
ESRB Rating: Teen

Story- A man named Scott Monroe wants to marry Miyu, the daughter of Yakuza boss named Sato. Things don’t go well and your on your quest to save Miyu.

Presentation

Graphics- If you saw the E306 trailer for Red Steel you were like, Wow the Wii has graphics like the PS3 and Xbox 360. That isn’t true the real graphics look like a Gamecube game. The environments look great, but the enemy models could use a little more work. Framerate issues occur at random making this truly feel like a old Gamecube game.

Sound- The voice acting is well done. The music and sound effects are great, but the music can be generic at times. When characters speak Japanese there are no English translation of what they said.

Gameplay

Single-Player-(Gunplay) The controls take some getting use to for the Wii. Holding the A Button is lock on and moving the Wiimote forward will allow you to zoom in. When zooming in aiming reticle is still on screen to allow new players to easily score headshots. Holding the A Button and thrust the Wiimote in a fast motion to cause Focus Mode. Focus Mode is when time stops and you can kill all the enemies or make them surrender. To make enemies surrender you must shoot their weapon out of their hand and wave you Wiimote in a series of up and down jesters. The B Button is to shoot. The C button is to jump. The Z Button is crouch. Press Left on the D-Pad to switch weapons. To reload press Right on the D-Pad or flick the Nunchuk in an up and down motion. Hold Down on the D-Pad to select grenades. When holding Down on the D-Pad you use the Nunchuk to throw grenades in an under or overhanded jester. Melee attacks are done with the Nunchuk when close to and enemy. The camera is sensitive because if you get the Wiimote off screen, the camera will spin like crazy until you get the Wiimote back on screen. Overall, the gun controls work well, but the A.I. is smart and stupid at the same time. The A.I. is very accurate from really far away, but there are times that they really dumb like when they freeze for no reason sometimes, stands out in the open waiting to get shot, and not having any time to avoid grenades.

Single-Player-(Swordplay) In addition to you standard shooter there are sections where you use your sword to combat enemies in an one-on-one sword fight. Sword fighting controls: For movement hold the C Button plus the control stick to evade enemy attacks. Hold the Z Button to execute an attack with both swords in both hands. The Wiimote is slash in many dirrections, but you can’t thrust. Flick the Nunchuk left or right to block or parry enemy attacks. There are three problems with sword fighting.

1.) If you use the Nunchuk how the game wants it to be used, you’ll lose in the later fights.
Note: I switched to the way the Tanto was shown on screen and fights became even easier.

2.) You can’t skip sword fights.

3.) The sword fights are very generic, especially if you fight Mama San Sasori and Tokai because it’s just a cheesy excuse to dodge more often.


Multiplayer- This is your shooter with Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and a mode called Killer, where players are offer a objective for that round and you hold the Wiimote like a cell phone to hear you objective. There are only four maps: Dojo, Restaurant, Games, and Docks. This was a Wii launch title, so that means that there is no online play.

Overview

+ Good Control Ideas
+ Decent Attempt With Physics Using The Unreal Engine 2.5
+ Solid sound
+ Decent Story
- Dumb A.I.
- Decent, but Flawed Visuals
- Sensitive Camera
- Sword Fighting With The Way The Game Wants To
- Generic Sword Fights
- Not Being Able To Skip Cutscenes or Sword Fights
- No Translation When Characters Speak Japanese
- Long Load Times