Red Steel 2
The only thing better than a sword fighting game or a shooter is a sword-fighting-shooter and I remember how much I anticipated playing the original "Red Steel" when the Wii was first launched. The innovative new method of being able to swing the Wii Remote to control the actual swordplay in the game and the built-in IR-shooting capabilities of this new Nintendo game system made the concept of the Yakuza-centric game more exciting than your standard gameplay. I'm pretty sure I was not the only one disappointed in the end result. As it turned out, the Wii Remote only really recognizes broad-swings and and not fine-motor control, so the effect was my manipulation of a Japanese katana blade was more on par with how I would handle a two-handed broad sword with one hand in reality. On top of that, the reticle on the Wii Remote tended to shift to a different offset after every sword swing --- normally one can get used to the "sight" being off on a gun, but only if it is off in the same direction and close to the same degree, not just random locations off center. Yes, perhaps, I'm being too harsh or unrealistic given that this is "new and innovative" but, hey, I'm here to play the game, not babysit it.
Fast forward three years later and its successor (not necessarily a sequel, given the change in storyline) places us in the Wild West as a Kusagari, a katana-wielding gunslinger. After I had given up on the idea of accuracy in Wii arcade shooters, and almost a year after the release of the Wii Motion Plus prompted the release of a few sports games, "Red Steel 2" hits the stores with a bang. Now, if you are a nitpicker like me, who used to slowly spin the Wii Remote in my fingertips on the Wii Menu just to see the IR bar pick up my every movement and make the hand icon spin slowly in every possible direction, the first thing you would do would be to make sure the accuracy of the gun was improved. And that is, of course, what I did. Since the title screen had a reticle, I was constantly shaking my Wii Remote and then staring down the length of it seeing if my target was centered and, I am pleasantly surprised to say that, it was always spot-on! Now that I didn't have to worry that I would have to compensate for the game treating me like a physically challenged player, I can get lost in the gameplay.
"Red Steel 2" created a lot of hype in that the commercials, more than any other advertisement I'd seen, overemphasizes the total immersion provided by the Wii Motion Plus. And I was not disappointed. As soon as the game starts, I'm already sucked in (or dragged in) as one of the antagonists, from a gang of antagonists in an evil gang of "Jackals", takes me on a bare-foot-water-skiing trip through the desert and into a town which, oddly enough, resembles the downtown/reservoir/backalley scenes in most modern action movies. In the beginning, I've got nothing so my first task is to retrieve my gun, a cool looking revolver-slash-shotgun hybrid that my character, a rogue Kusagari, and shoot my way out of the tunnels I've found myself in after escaping from the lunatic Jackal that was dragging me around on his motorcycle. The improved "sighting" mechanism introduce by the Wii Motion Plus means that I can mimick the protagonist motion of whipping out the gun and shooting away the door hinges without compensating for the reticle skew I had been forced to have accepted these past three years. My only complaint is that I cannot twirl the gun back into my holster: (1) because the twirling motion would seriously kink the wire between the Wii Remote and the Nunchuck and (2) because none of the gun attachments for my Wii are capable of mounting a Remote with the Motion Plus attached (which leads to a 3rd complaint that, even if they did make one, I'd be forced to purchase yet another accessory in addition to my two "Zappers" and two "Sureshots" which make the staple of my current collection).
In terms of the swordplay, the fine-tuning offered by the Wii Motion Plus is indispensable. As those of you who have already spent hours playing the "Wii Sport Resorts" version of bubble-sword-fighting (like from the Adam Gopnik novel, "The King in The Window") already know, the slashing and parrying aspect have greatly improved. Unlike battling bubble warriors, however, you have kabuki-faced gansters (who look like they just jumped out of "Borderlands") leaping at you, trying to hack you down. Parry, slash, parry, slash, downward killing blow --- everything Mother Nature (or was that Mother Ninja) intended when she crafted the first katana blade.
The storyline starts off by giving you small bits of information about the where and the what of you situation as you reconnect with an old master, having been a rogue for the past five years. Even the training is not all done in the beginning, but rather, in bits and pieces as the story progresses, giving the player a more immersive feel into the plot --- instead of being a newbie, you are simply somebody who has been "away" for a while and need a bit of a reminder every once in a while.
After trying out the game for a few missions and training sessions, I had to put it down to play with my kids. But I can guarantee I will be revisiting the town of Caldera again very soon.
Red Steel 2 is rated "T" for Teen and is a first-person action game.