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Nintendo: Wii Previews

F1 2009 ^WII

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Preview

Red Steel 2

Format: Nintendo Wii

Developer: Ubisoft

Publisher: Ubisoft

Genre: Action

6-Jun-2009 Ubisoft beautiful, bloody sequel is finally unsheathed...

23 Comments

Forget mini-games. Forget tacked on, arbitrary waggling. All we've wanted to do ever since the birth of the Wii was take the Remote in our hands and play a swordfighting game that actually works.

Red Steel 2 is the game that could finally achieve that goal. While the original won plaudits from this esteemed organ way back in December 2006 for its all-action first person shooter stylings, it lost points thanks to its slightly iffy sword-fighting sections. A symptom of motion controls that work fine, but not perfectly.

Two and a half years down the line, the solution to that problem has finally arrived. Wii MotionPlus has transformed this Red Steel sequel from a shoot 'em up into a slice 'em up, and it's all the better for it.

Red Steel 2 had already been years in the making before Ubisoft Paris got their hands on the MotionPlus add-on. And judging by the developers' enthusiasm in talking about the technology, it seems the project only really came alive once the Red Steel team decided to build the entire game around Nintendo's ground-breaking motion-sensing technology.

So the development team are pumped. And once we were allowed a little time to try MotionPlus-boosted Red Steel 2 for ourselves, we could see why.

King Of The Swingers
What is MotionPlus like? It works, that's all you need to know. It knows where your arm is and how you're holding the Remote. It knows how strong your swing of the Remote is, and it knows whether you're going for a vertical, horizontal, diagonal slice, and everywhere in between.

You can't cheat, either. Ubisoft knows how gamers tick so they've made it impossible to play and win by sitting down and waggling with short sharp motions, a la Wii Sports. A quick waggle of the Remote means a quick waggle of the sword - hardly the sort of blow likely to bring down an enemy. To dish out maximum damage it's essential to throw yourself into the swordfighting with gusto, and as a result it can genuinely bring you out in a sweat. Big, aggressive strikes are satisfying, effective and great fun.

But it's not just about waving a Remote around like a nutter. Your sword is also a vital defensive tool, and as a result it trumps the gun during combat. Holding down Z locks onto your chosen enemy and allows you to attack with a swing of the Remote, but holding the C button and swinging it it up to block is just as important. It works just as you'd imagine: you hold your sword up vertically to parry horizontal enemy strikes, and vice versa. It's the same with diagonal strikes - the idea is that parrying attacks then moving in for the kill will become second nature as you progress.

There's also the issue of dealing with multiple foes. As before, Z locks on, but you can switch target at any time and if there's someone attacking you from behind, an on-screen indicator prompts to press A to spin around and face them. When you combine this move with a swipe, you can imagine the highly satisfying results. Further dodge and dash moves will also be incorporated into your hero's repertoire as you progress.

So it's a very different game from the first Red Steel, that's for sure. Using the Nunchuk to move, you can still point at the screen and press B to shoot, but it is clear that gunplay won't be the main attraction. Many of the in-game enemies wear bullet-proof armour, so you can't just cruise through the game picking off foes from a distance with a blast of a revolver. Everything we saw in Red Steel 2 was designed to invite you into close-quarter combat and let your sword-wielding fantasies run wild.

So by now it is clear that Red Steel 2 is tightly focused on intensely physical first person swordfighting, with gunplay a secondary combat option. But what else is there?

Plotting a victory
Well, there's a story to it all, of course. The setting and main protagonist are certainly intriguing - you're passing through a near-future desert town called Aldera which takes its architectural cues from both East and West.
Our hero is kept mysterious at the beginning, and understandably Ubisoft is keen to keep him that way to discourage spoilers.

But what we are told is that he's a take on the Clint Eastwood character in the classic Dollars movie trilogy - an outsider, skilful in combat, not exactly a barrel of laughs, one of those moody, broody types. He begins the tale nameless, faceless and friendless, and the only thing we managed to get plot-wise from Ubisoft after that was that your adversary owns Aldera and as such runs the place exactly as he pleases. He is the law, so the stage is set for revelations and battles aplenty.

Red Or Dead
Ubisoft wants to make game progression as non-linear as possible, but is also very insistent that Red Steel 2 is not an open world game. Many of the stages are closed-in affairs offering little escape from the action, which keeps the tempo up. There are different paths to take along the way, and you'll move on through the game via several different hub worlds, each more challenging than the last.
Variety is promised in the missions as well - here's hoping progression will be a lot more varied than the 'go here, unlock this door, kill this dude' format we've seen over and over in so many other first person titles.

While the hero is a powerful chap from the very beginning, his skills will improve and extra abilities will open up, giving you the chance to return to previously inaccessible areas. There are side quests to complete, collectibles, combos, Finish Kills and other moves and abilities to learn too. Further physical and item-based interaction was hinted at too - non-combat use of the impressive

MotionPlus technology certainly won't be limited to just opening doors and turning keys in locks. We'd love to see a Metroid-style grapple hook or some different weapons in there for good measure. When asked about these elements, the development team flashed us a knowing smile.

Bosses will be just as visceral as the combat that makes up the bulk of the game, but will need greater thought and skill to overcome. We didn't see one in action, but you can imagine a real battle of wits in a one-on-one duel - blocking and parrying attacks, waiting for the right moment to strike, trying not to leave yourself open to a cheap shot. It could fulfil the potential so evident in the original games' swordfighting interludes.

Steely Determination
There's no doubt that after the first couple of MotionPlus titles over the summer, this is The Big One for core gamers. Proper swordfighting - the kind we all first dreamed of when we were first shown the Wii Remote - is finally coming to Wii.

There could be more MotionPlus-related surprises on the way, but for now, this is the game that's got us most excited about the new technology and its potential. Where the first Red Steel arrived right alongside the Wii, offering a demonstration of how the Remote could transform core gaming, we're confident that this sequel will do the same for MotionPlus. A new era in Wii gaming? You bet.

Neil Long