I was able to play through the Red Steel 2 demo today at Ubi’s booth while talking to a developer of the game. The demo lasted about twenty minutes, playing on Medium, and with me dying about four times. Some of the first details you should know about Red Steel 2 if you don’t already are that it requires the Wii MotionPlus, which it will ship with later this year, and that it has absolutely nothing to do with the first Red Steel. In fact, when I asked the developer that was talking to me while I played the demo, he said the dev team thinks of the term Red Steel as just a name to represent the ideas behind the two Red Steel games – using guns with blades and the idea of a West meets East culture shock.
Also, before I dive into these impressions, let me point out that I recorded the entire event and have placed the audio clip here for your enjoyment.
That said, this was actually my personal first time with the Wii MotionPlus. After placing the controller upside down on a flat surface for a couple of seconds as the demo instructed (to calibrate the controller), the action began. An opening cinematic and the developer talking to me helped set the stage. Basically, in this quasi-Western setting, somewhere in a fictional town of the American west, a motorcycle gang known as the Jackals has killed the lead characters’ entire family. In fact, one of the gang members has our hero chained up and he is being dragged across the scorching desert. He manages to steal your katana, leaving you only with a six shooter. Once you’re back on your feet you’re first goal is to retrieve your katana and then find Payne, a high ranking member of the Jackals. Before you can get to him, and even before you find your katana, you have to encounter several armed enemies.
A new side step mechanic helps you swiftly evade melee attacks from enemies, and this mechanic is actually crucial in fighting certain enemies (one of which is at first a boss before becoming a common enemy, although in the demo he is just a boss). Moreover, the Wii MotionPlus provides several new abilities with your sword. Interestingly enough, there was no ability to thrust your sword directly into the screen (ie, drawing your hand back towards your body, than shooting it forward)…anytime I did that, the game didn’t respond to the motion so that was curious. Anyway, blocking is also no longer done (at least in this demo) with the nunchuk — now, you simply press A and move your sword (ie, Wiimote) vertically or horizontally to block in that direction. Some enemies are best dealt with by blocking their attacks; certain armored enemies are meant to be blocked and then damaged with strong slashes.
Strong slashes are done with long movements of the Wiimote, which you perform, obviously, by swinging the Wiimote a longer distance, and quickly. When you do one of these strong slashes, which can be done in any direction, the sword animation on screen is followed by a red trail. Those armored enemies I was talking about earlier are best dispatched by strong strikes with your katana.
Also something that was new in Red Steel 2 was the fact that your reticle won’t disappear off screen on you while you’re playing. That was one of several issues the original had, it was possible, and fairly common, to move your reticle off screen. With that fixed, accuracy is a lot better off for shooting, which is done simply by pressing the trigger.
Another huge change to the core game is that you can draw and use your sword at anytime. In the original Red Steel, you could only use your sword during predetermined sequences. That said, there are parts in the campaign where you can only use your sword, or only use your gun, but the majority of the time you have both at your disposal at all times.
Visually, Red Steel 2 looks much better than the original as well, too. A new in house engine fuels the cel-shaded look of the game. Framerates stay at a smooth 60fps and glitches weren’t a problem in this demo.
Red Steel 2 is looking good and I’m looking forward to picking up my copy later this year.
