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A Few Issues but Very Nicely Done

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 51 / 53
Date: February 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Red Steel combines gun fighting with swordplay in a modern world. As a launch title for the Wii, you have to put up with some iffy results with the implementation of the remote and nunchuck.

Knowing that this would be a challenge with its high intensity, first person shooter use of both controllers, I put off this review until after I'd played thoroughly about 15 other Wii titles. By this point we knew we had the fundamentals down of swinging, slashing, and a good handle on the graphics the Wii could offer.

So, on to Red Steel. I love Japanese culture, and I love sword-based games. I also enjoy gun battle games, so I figured this would combine the best of many worlds. You set out as the bodyguard of a wealthy, slightly flaky woman - and you're about to ask for her hand in marriage. Her dad shows up, and in come the assassins.

Soon you're involved in a variety of gunfights and swordfights. For gunfights, you simply point and shoot. You can zoom in and out by moving your remote closer to and further from the screen. Your nunchuck lets you jump and crouch.

It seems silly sometimes that you have a gun but you're spending time swinging your sword. It's something you just have to accept and go with the game flow. Also, the swordfights are more of a 'dance' - i.e. it's not about who hammers a slice button the quickest, but more of a dodge-then-slice, slice-then-turn and whoever gets the right combination is going to win.

I found the graphics difficult in some areas, trying to spot where to go or who was shooting at me. I did think it intriguing that tilting your wrist made your gun hand tilt - i.e. you could shoot straight-on or "sideways" gangsta style.

It was also cool to have items around your enemies blowing up - pipes with holes letting out steam, the typical exploding barrels, chunks flying out of walls, etc. The environment is nicely destructable, which is especially great if you have a high powered firearm in your hands.

I can definitely see if someone got Red Steel as their *first* Wii game that they'd be having problems. Trying to get used to the Wii remote and nunchuck on a game that is this immersive would be like trying to learn how to ski on a black diamond hill. It's too much at once. However, really do give Red Steel a chance once you've mastered the standard Wii skills. While the graphics aren't great, there's definitely scenes that are well designed, artistically. And while the plot line may be a bit cliche, the combination of full-out gun battles and graceful dance-like sword fights is very nice.

What happened?

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: January 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Red Steel had a lot of people pulling for it. Fans and advertisers piled on.

So I'm wondering if the developers were paying attention to the hype.

Red Steel, as far as the controls go, is a joke. Turning to and from enemies takes about 10 years. While other reviewers have claimed that the game does not demand quick turns, this is bogus. I found myself having to turn rather quickly. While sharp turns were not required as often as they were in COD3, they were necessary, especially about 30 percent of the way into the game.

The swordfigthing, if you wish to call it that, should have been scrapped altogether. It sort of goes like: 1) You swing wii remote.
2) some years later, your sword goes, "Hey! I think I need to move!" The result feels very unnatural, especially for a video game.

The graphics, especially in Japan, were usually well done, but you can't decorate a piece of crap.

And thats exactly what this game is. The only reason people like it is because they want to like it.

Don't do UBIsoft any favors. They might make a sequal.

DON'T BUY THIS GAME

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: November 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

OK, I know that many of you have been waiting to play this game because you have heard about it for such a long time but let me tell you that it isn't worth it. I bought this game because i thought it would be really cool but it is full of bad A.I., glitches, and very poor voice acting. The game play isn't much better and the plot isn't very well done, it feels like it was pushed to production. The A.I. is very stupid. They will stand right in front of you and they won't even know you are there. Plus there are tons of problems with the game. Objects, like guns, will hang in the air. I really wish i could give this game a good review but it really doesn't deserve it. So please don't buy this game.

Nothing special here except the controls

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: December 06, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The controls will sink in and it'll become clear how great first person shooters will be on the Wii, but Red Steel has first generation game written all over it. This game wouldn't have half the bad rap it does if it weren't so hyped prior to launch, because nothing could live up to that. It's a decent but glitchy shooter that Ubisoft tried way to hard to stylize, and they should have spent more time ironing the bugs out and focusing on multiplayer.

The sword play goes from a nice distraction to annoying really quickly (honestly, you just want to pull your gun out and shoot those guys). It's all "gesture" based, so the sword doesn't move the way you move the remote. You "swipe" the remote in a certain way, and it's like you'd pushed a button on a normal controller. So dispel any notions you might have of freeing yourself from the pre-programed attack motions of every other game.

The gun aiming controls would be perfect except they inexplicably spaz out from time to time. When it happens, you can hit the menu button, and move the Wii system cursor around just fine. But come back into the game and it starts jumping around again. So it's not my remote, my sensor bar or my Wii that's the problem -- it's the game. It's not consistent, but it happens enough to be annoying.

I can ignore the awful voice acting, and poorly drawn cut scene images. But since there's so much room for improvement in the game, I have to complain about them. I'd rather have no voice acting, no cut scenes and heck, no plot if it was a solid shooter. Sadly it's not the case.

Ubisoft tried too hard to be different here, and it's just too apparent their talents would have been much better utilized in other areas. The whole "focus" system (sort of a stop time effect) is awkward to pull off and makes taking out a group of enemies too easy. There's a whole earning respect points business that feels forced, and I'm constantly wondering why it's in the game. Also, it feels cheesy that you can just hide behind a box and magically make all your bullet wounds heal. It's not that a traditional "health box" would make much more sense, it's just too easy to hide and heal. When you do die, if it's at the beginning of the level, you have to sit through whatever speech there was prior to play every time -- Really annoying when you sit through it five times and keep getting sniped by some guy you can't find.

Some of the weapons are cool, but you can only hold two of them, so it's a constant juggle as you try to guess what gun you're going to be able to find ammo for later. The sniper rifle is just awful however, and deserves to be mentioned. Instead of zooming the entire screen into a snipe view like every other shooter, the whole screen fades so it is too dark to see, except for a tiny cross hair that you have to move around. It forces you to scroll all over trying to see anything. Also, instead of detecting where you hit an enemy (giving headshots more damage for example) they opted to cop out and just make the sniper rifle kill in one hit regardless of where you hit people. It's sad when Goldeneye -- an early N64 game -- has more features and thought behind it than this. They could have just ripped off it's features and had a better product.

The multiplayer mode has no computer controlled opponents, so unless you happened to get 3 extra remotes and 3 extra nunchucks, you aren't ever going to play it. I haven't yet, and probably won't be able to any time soon.

Aside from all that, it's still a fun FPS when you ignore its faults. Busting into a room and taking everyone out can be exciting, especially when you start accidentally blowing up cars or whatever they are hiding behind. If you're really starved for a Wii FPS (and have $50 to burn) give it a shot, but honestly you're probably better off renting it.

I want my money back

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 17
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I really wanted to like this game.. unfortunately for me, it blows. I'd trade it for a migraine if I could. The gameplay is pretty horrible, the sword scenes are reminiscent of PC adventure games circa 1992, where you press the "Attack" key and swing your sword aimlessly at the bad-guy. The run & gun part of the game is nothing to write home about either. It feels like being teleported into the body of a cracked-out, 1 legged, drunken monkey.

Also, I know the graphics aren't the Wii's strong-point, but that is no excuse to regress back to 8-bit. When you're trying to shoot someone across the room, it really sucks when you can't tell them apart from a flower pot.....or is that a lawn chair?

The cut scene's were obviously supposed to look like Sin City. I stress the word SUPPOSED cause they were probably strung together by some poor intern after the development team went into hiding. They look like an amateur flash slide-show. Kinda like what your local mom & pop video editor would have put together if your little nephew had gotten his way and had a Sin City themed Bar Mitzvah.

This game is a joke. Anybody associated with it should be embarrassed.

Tons of problems and glitches, but somehow still fun to play

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 8
Date: December 07, 2006
Author: Amazon User

[...]

There's a good chance that if you've got a Wii right now, you've already got a hold of Red Steel. The game has become the Wii's biggest third-party launch title, and second only to Zelda overall. Ubisoft's been putting hype on Red Steel as the Wii's big FPS outing for some time, although critics and players have been less than receptive with the final product.

Don't go into this game expecting a shooter on par with Gears of War or even anything much more than Goldeneye 64 for that matter. In all reality, if you take the Wii controls out of Red Steel, what you have is one of the most lackluster FPS's in years. The graphics aren't even close to Resident Evil 4 for the Gamecube, so this game is definitely last-gen in terms of presentation.

But the fact of the matter is the Wiimote is here in full force and the gameplay is what truly matters. Unfortunately, while it may be Red Steel's saving grace from being bargain bin trash, it can also be one of the most frustrating of aspects. Aiming with the Wiimote is not the immediately intuitive experience people have been lead to believe, and numerous problems surround the implementation. One of the most notable things being that the aiming system is very glitchy, apparently at the fault of the game, not the Wii. Many point to Red Steel's rushed development cycle to be out at launch as the game's biggest fail point, and it seems that may likely be true. Having your reticule randomly jerk around while trying to precision aim a headshot is well beyond annoying. On top of that, various other types of glitches are present in the game, such as AI errors and game freezes. It seems obvious this game shouldn't have been released when it was.

However, take all this with a grain of salt. Red Steel does deliver in providing a refreshing new FPS experience, despite its many shortcomings. Its flaws will certainly turn a number of gamers away, but just as many are likely to truly enjoy the game despite it's problems. When it's working correctly, the aiming system is an amazing new way to play, albeit turning your character can be a bit of a chore at times, depending on your sensitivity. As you learn to shoot well with the Wiimote, you'll find that if you can handle higher sensitivity levels with accuracy, the game will become much more enjoyable. In other words, hardcore players on high sensitivity are going to have a better time than those stuck on low so they can hit anything. It follows thus that this game gets better as you the player get better, an interesting aspect of this and many Wii games.

You better be a fan of the nunchuck if you want to enjoy Red Steel, because you'll be working that little thing's accelerometer to death. The simple downward flick motion is probably the most used command in the entire game, controlling everything from reloading, picking up new weapons, and opening doors. While one might worry a bit about mapping so many things to a motion, it generally works out ok, minus maybe the rare case you want to reload while standing on a gun you don't want to pick up. The nunchuck and Wiimote movements respond well and feel good in Red Steel, and smaller features such as the reload sound from the Wiimote speaker are nice additions.

We can't forget about swordplay now, as it does play a major role in Red Steel's single-player. Unfortunately, the controls aren't 1-to-1, and don't always translate perfectly. Your movements translate based on the way you swing. Swing to the left, your character will follow with a left swing, usually. In the end it's a good combat and control system, hurt more by AI issues than anything else. The AI during sword battles seems to always be either way to stupid to put up a fight, or so ridiculous you have to play kind of cheap to win, usually by simply breaking their sword with power moves, something that's often way to easy to do. What's truly disappointing is the sword battles make no appearance in any form of multiplayer. Two-player duals seem entirely doable and would help give the title some much needed replay value, but they remain absent for unknown reasons.

Speaking of the multiplayer, how does Red Steel fair as the Wii's first 4-player FPS? Hate to say it, but not well. The steep learning curve makes it not so pick-up-and-play as most shooters. The options, characters, and modes are also extremely limited, with no unlockable content. The killer mode is the only thing of true interest to speak of, a mode where players get special orders by answering their Wiimote as a phone. However, it doesn't seem this mode was too well thought out, as there are a few implementation issues. Still, it's a novel idea that hopefully will make a future appearance.

Red Steel is a tough game to review. On the one hand, the game is horrendously flawed and was almost certainly rushed out of development too early. On the other hand, despite a long list of glitches and problems with the game, it was still a very enjoyable game. There's certainly not the replay value to recommend a purchase of it, and I feel many will find themselves disappointed if they shelled out $50 for it. However, I myself am not severely regretting my own purchase, and I think many will find an enjoyable experience to be had here. Because of the learning curve, I can't recommend simply sitting down for only a little while and trying it. I'm going to highly recommend everyone Rent It and try to beat in a free weekend. Feelings on this game are going to vary all across the board, so do yourself a favor and sit down and play it for a good while before you judge. The game grows on you, and the innovative experience is worth playing through. Some will love it, some will absolutely hate it, but either way the game gives some really high hopes for Red Steel 2.

Save your money.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 8 / 9
Date: November 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Like one of the other reviews that I've read, I really wanted to love this game. I had read some reviews on a respected gaming site about a week before Ninento Wii was released and some of the editors mentioned that they were weary of this game and the hype that Ubisoft had created. At this point, I was skeptical. But I mushed on... hopeful.

About half way through the game, with the Wii Remote and nunchuck swinging in my hands, I can say that I'm dissapointed.

Controlling the aiming and movement pretty much at the same time with the Wii Remote was a challenge. It seemed that the developers had spent some time trying to get this right, but it just didnt' work. I was constantly analyzing the control to that of a PC or traditional control set-ups. With the Wii Remote, for this particular game, it didn't work.

As for the "sword-play" -- it was pure s**t. When I swang the sword with the Wii Remote, it took about a half-second to register on screen. It may sound small, but in a high action game, this is significant.

The story is over-rated. It's just plain boring.

Like I said at the beginning of this review: I really wanted to like this game.

Bottom line: buy another game.

Tyler

Red Steel - Da bomb

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 10 / 13
Date: December 01, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I read all the daunting terrible reviews and ignored them and bought the game myself.

Day 1 - pop it in, hate it, can't get into it, hate controls, want to return it
Day 2 and 3 - play hours nad hours of zelda, no red steel
Day 4 - go back to Red Steel, get into the controls, get used to them, starting to really enjoy teh game
Day 5 - more Red Steel, it only gets better as I progress, getting new guns and learning new sword moves
Day 6 - I can officialy say I love Red Steel and that everyone out there needs to get used to the controls and you'll love it, you HAVE to give it a chance, its a game that requires getting used to, but the work is worth the reward. I love this game and think everyone should pick it up for sure.

Worse game mechanics

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I can't stand this game after 5 minutes. The game is so unresponsive its not funny. The first board I wanted to throw my remote. My friend watching asked me what the hell was going on. I seriosly didn't move the remote at all and my guy starts spinning around. At first I thought maybe the control calibration is wrong but then I was playing trauma center before and after Red steel and not once did i have a problem with the controls. Seriously the worst game i ever played

Okay concept, Poor execution

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: July 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The thing about this game is, it really is a solid idea. There is no better way to utilize the Wii's unique controls than with a shooter with a bastardized "bullet time" and sword controls. But that is where the good ends. The game is frustrating. Bottom line. The action is broken up by sword fights which feel awkward and control even worse. There are combos but don't even bother to learn them. They have no use outside of the training dojo where you learn it. Often times, in fact, I found myself getting angry because the wiimote wasn't even registering my simple sword movements (like, uh, swinging it).

The gun play fares slightly better as it is easier to control and sometimes really fun altering time with the focus technique. You will, I repeat, you WILL die because of some issue where the wii remote thinks you wanted to turn around when really you didn't and will take many bullets for it.

In short, rent it if you can and only if you think you have the patience for it. It's not even the learning curve that is difficult, it is just the unresponsiveness and unforgiving controls that bumble along when you want to stride. I ended up giving up almost through the end because the wii mote simply wouldn't respond in a critical sword battle. Its infuriating!!!!

Hopefully the rumored sequel will have these bugs fixed. Until then, it's not a must play.

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