The entertainment industry continuously surprises me by managing to spark our interest in unexpected things. Who knew we'd get into things like watching D-list celebrities ballroom dancing, taking endless Facebook surveys or going on Snuggie pub crawls? Sometimes I even surprise myself. Take my current interest in all things Western for instance. I used to hate Westerns but after reading Stephen King's Dark Tower series, I found myself totally into watching old episodes of Gunsmoke and playing games like Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Gun and Red Dead Revolver. This new-found enthusiasm makes me yearn for more Western-themed entertainment and so I was very keen to try the new Red Steel 2 demo at this year's E3.
The demo started in a first person view with my character—the classic “man with no name”—slowly awakening to see a pack of sadistic creeps tying his wrists together and attaching them via rope to the back of a motorcycle. Before the hero's fuzzy vision can clear the bike takes off, dragging him across the desert, through stands of cactus and down a concrete reservoir. Eventually he's dragged through some flaming debris which burns the rope off his right hand, enabling him to shoot the bastard on the bike and ending the sequence with a fiery crash. When he comes to again, he rises up in all his cowboy booted, hat-and-trenchcoat-wearing glory, ready to exact revenge on whoever did this to him.
My first positive impression came from the game's stylish blend of cel-shading and realism. There's a hard-edged, graphic design quality to it that creates interesting shapes and silhouettes. It's subjective, but for me, games that take a forceful artistic point of view are generally more successful and interesting than those that merely ape reality. The art in Red Steel with its gritty desolation, Asian influences, and extremes of dark and light lets you know immediately the kind of world you've stepped into.
The demo appeared to be the first level of the game and so functioned as a tutorial. After the crash, I found myself in a darkened industrial interior dramatically lit by the flames from the burning motorcycle. Hearing some unfriendly voices outside the walls, I spent a minute practicing my aim by shooting bottles off a wall, then set out to look for an exit. Locked doors were no problem; I opened them by shooting their hinges off. Targeting small objects with the Wii remote and firing with the B button wasn't as tough as I thought it might be and actually felt fairly natural. Here and there I'd find caches of gold hidden in vents which I was told I could use later to purchase upgrades. (Upgrades, by the way, were not shown in the demo.) The environment was somewhat maze-like but easy to navigate thanks to a clear and simple mini-map which could also be zoomed in on. After climbing up to a higher level and jumping a broad gap, I ended up outside in a sunlit rooftop courtyard where I was immediately attacked by sword-wielding guys who looked like Mexican wrestler/hockey player/samurai hybrids.
Each of these guys took a few shots before going down but were easy to handle using Z to target lock. Once the first wave was gone, I had a few minutes to explore the area and found a katana waiting for me. On-screen messages coached me on the finer points of sword play and it wasn't long before I was cutting through stands of bamboo (bamboo? In the desert?) and whacking the stuffing out of nearby practice dummies. Using the Wii remote as a sword proxy worked just as well as using it as a gun. As you might expect, you can slash up and down or side to side and the wider and harder you swing, the greater the in-game impact. It's a lot of fun but also quite dangerous in a crowded booth. Sorry I nearly knocked your teeth out, Red Steel 2 demo man!
Aside from strong and well-placed sword strikes, the most important thing to learn about the katana is how to parry. By holding the Wii remote at strategic angles and holding the A button, you can effectively counter the hits of various sword-carrying thugs. That element of defense adds something to the melee combat and makes it feel more skill-based. Enemies tended to attack in twos and threes and as I moved toward the saloon, I found myself surrounded. When this happened, an onscreen icon appeared, reminding me to use the Z button to quickly change targets. While this did help prevent me from getting bashed in the back of the head, it didn't make melee feel as fluid as I would have liked. Sometimes the controls felt awkward as I tried to alternately move, slash and shoot but there were still some cool mechanics, like being able to slash a guy high into the air, then shoot him on the way down.
When the last wave of enemies were gone, I had a moment to look for gold and found some inside a safe conveniently placed outside the saloon. To open it, I had to hold the Wii remote close to my ear and listen for an audio cue (not easy in an E3 environment) indicating that I should press the C and then the Z button. 'Found me a nice hunk o' gold in there but didn't get to enjoy it long before a huge, mallet-swinging guy burst through a wooden gate, Kool-Aid man style, and tried to take my head off. This guy was tough and I'm told he was just a sub-boss. I hate to imagine what a full-on boss looks like.
My feeling after seeing the Red Steel 2's E3 demo is that there are things to be enjoyed about the game and things that are still iffy. For me, first person melee is always a problem because it's tough to orient yourself in relation to your enemies. Also, to me the Wii controls still feel a little squirrelly but that may just be a question of making adjustments in the customization set up. These “ifs” are minor compared to the style and potential of this game though and I'm looking forward to polishing my cowboy/samurai skills when the special Red Steel2/Wii Motion Plus bundle comes out this Fall.
