Red Steel 2 seems to be a case of ambition outpacing ability, at least in its show-floor form. Combo sword and gun slingin' sounds good on paper, but there are some implementation details present here that absolutely need ironing out.
The idea with Red Steel 2 is that you're a western-style dude rocking both a pistol and a Japanese sword, and will alternate between the two as the situation demands it. The gun shoots like any other Wii FPS gun (pointer + B), and the sword kicks in if you make a slashing motion. You can use the A button to parry attacks, dodge around guys, and perform finishing moves, while the Z button is a generic context-sensitive trigger that helps you interact with your surroundings when you're not in combat. Sword slashes come in two varieties: weak and strong, the latter of which breaks through enemy armor and is performed by swinging the Remote in a wider arc.
There are some cool ideas in here, to be sure. The main problem is that there's no explicit toggle between gun and sword modes. As you wind up to swing your sword while aiming with the gun, you're quite likely to actually change the aim of your gun, and thus move the screen away from the action. Any reasonable slash of a sword wouldn't start with someone holding their hand right out in front of them, but that's the action that's necessary here to get things moving along. A more digital transition here would be appreciated.
The nature of the show floor may have been to blame for how poorly the sword controls performed overall. Light sources from all over, and standing very close to the screen, wreaked havoc on my ability to keep the cursor from spazzing out and spinning me in circles. I'll reserve total judgment here, along with judgment for most MotionPlus titles, for when I get a chance to try the game out in a slower and more methodical fashion. At the moment, though, it feels like Red Steel 2 needs a lot of work.
The idea with Red Steel 2 is that you're a western-style dude rocking both a pistol and a Japanese sword, and will alternate between the two as the situation demands it. The gun shoots like any other Wii FPS gun (pointer + B), and the sword kicks in if you make a slashing motion. You can use the A button to parry attacks, dodge around guys, and perform finishing moves, while the Z button is a generic context-sensitive trigger that helps you interact with your surroundings when you're not in combat. Sword slashes come in two varieties: weak and strong, the latter of which breaks through enemy armor and is performed by swinging the Remote in a wider arc.
There are some cool ideas in here, to be sure. The main problem is that there's no explicit toggle between gun and sword modes. As you wind up to swing your sword while aiming with the gun, you're quite likely to actually change the aim of your gun, and thus move the screen away from the action. Any reasonable slash of a sword wouldn't start with someone holding their hand right out in front of them, but that's the action that's necessary here to get things moving along. A more digital transition here would be appreciated.
The nature of the show floor may have been to blame for how poorly the sword controls performed overall. Light sources from all over, and standing very close to the screen, wreaked havoc on my ability to keep the cursor from spazzing out and spinning me in circles. I'll reserve total judgment here, along with judgment for most MotionPlus titles, for when I get a chance to try the game out in a slower and more methodical fashion. At the moment, though, it feels like Red Steel 2 needs a lot of work.