Red Steel 2
Tags: revenge, violence, sci-fi

Plot synopsis:
The game begins as an unnamed Hero, the last member of the Kusagari Clan, is being dragged across the desert, tied to the back of a motorcycle. He manages to break free, but Payne, the leader of the Jackals - a vast gang of thugs, murderers and thieves - steals the Hero's katana. While running from the Jackals, the Hero rescues his old swordsmaster Jian who was to soon be executed by the Jackals. After the rescue, Jian allows the Hero to borrow his sword until the Hero can recover his own from Payne.
The Hero meets up with Tamiko, a member of his clan's research division, as well as Caldera's sheriff and Tamiko's father, Judd. They provide information for the Hero to help him track down Payne, while sabotaging the Jackals' operations in the Upper City, as well as meeting a fight club-operating businessman named Songan. The Hero eventually locates and defeats Payne in the Jackals' hideout, Rojo House, recovering his katana during the battle. He interrogates Payne and, before killing him by throwing him off a ledge, learns that his entire clan had been annihilated by a man named Shinjiro.
The Hero travels to the Lower City, encountering another rival clan called the Katakara. He finds Shinjiro in the Kusagari Temple and the two swordsmen fight. After a fierce battle, the Hero breaks Shinjiro's katana and pushes him to the edge of the Temple's roof. However, before the Hero can strike his foe down, a mysterious ninja saves Shinjiro. Jian then tells the Hero that the katanas of the Kusagari, called Sora Katanas, have great unpredictable power and that the method to make these is known only to them, and Shinjiro, who trained with the Kusagari as a child, plans to make more of them.
Following a tip from Judd, the Hero discovers Shinjiro trying to escape the city on a train and manages to board it before it leaves. After the Hero fights his way through the train, which is full of ninjas and Katakara, he finds Shinjiro atop the front car; however, the "escape attempt" is revealed to be a trap, as Shinjiro detaches the rest of the train (with the Hero on it) from his own car. Surrounded by explosives, Shinjiro then throws a grenade to destroy it. The Hero survives, but is forced to walk through the desert for three days before finding a deserted town. While exploring the town, however, the Hero discovers Songan, who explains that the ghost town is a Jackal ammo dump. The Hero drives off the Jackals and survives an attack by a Katakara force, led by the lieutenant Calhoun.
After reestablishing communications with Tamiko, Judd, and Jian, the Hero learns that the trio have tracked Shinjiro to the isolated mining community of Rattlesnake Canyon. The Hero then takes Songan's advice and uses an old locomotive in the town's deserted train depot to travel there. While exploring the Canyon, the Hero is attacked by the leader of the Katakara, Okaji, but manages to defeat him, only for him to return from the dead, ready for the Hero to fight at a later time. Following Tamiko's plan, the Hero then uses explosives stolen from the mining quarry to destroy the gate protecting Shinjiro's hideout, the Tiger's Nest. However, Songan then betrays the hero and his allies, Tamiko, Judd, and Jian, are captured. Shinjiro demands the Hero's katana in exchange for his friends. As the Hero is about to give it to him, the two engage in a gun duel, where Tamiko is shot. The Hero pursues and confronts Shinjiro who now has created a new katana. After a fierce battle, Shinjiro is defeated. As he is weakened, Shinjiro tells the hero that other clans will fight him for that katana. The Hero then thrusts his katana through Shinjiro's chest and breaks it in half, killing Shinjiro in the process. The game ends as the hero throws the other half of the katana off a cliff and looks out into the distance with Shinjiro's dead body behind him.

Review: Wild West Samuari Ninja Cyberpunk. Red Steel 2, a game which is a sequel only in name to one of the first Wii shooters which got 'meh' reviews. I only briefly played the multiplayer of the first one, so it doesn't really count. Red Steel 2 is a game that feels like it benefited from a longer development cycle. The game has style. No doubts about that. It takes some wild west, mixes it with ninjas, samurai and Japanese lore and throws some steam and cyberpunk in. Story is pretty basic, but there's no complaints about it. You're the last of your kind, learn the secrets of your clanand go for revenge!The story severs as a backbone to take you to different locations, which sadly don't quite leave the Wild West/Japanese style. There's no radical winter level or evergreen forest level. Game play wise Red Steel 2 is the best sword fighter game on the market. The game also has a wonderful shooting aspect to it and the sword and gun play flow seamlessly together. The game feels like it was heavily inspired by Metroid Prime, especially the last chapter 3: Corruption with it's shooting and some puzzles. While Prime 3 had a lot more variety of puzzles Red Steel 2 does a good job of taking hints on how to make FPS or FPA work on the Nintendo Wii. Red Steel 2 also takes the loading doors from the Prime series as well, but whatever, it works. The game does have a few weak points, some of the missions feel very similar in style. It's usually Get To Point A, but you have to go to Point B and unlock/cut/something to there first. While on the way be on the look out for safes to crack, wanted posters to destroy and random encounters. The game also has several hidden tokens to find and shoot, but doesn't tell you how many there are. There's also no New Game + option where you could start again with all your upgrades, thus making money hunting in the last level completely useless because there's no shops at all. The game also gives you a list of all the moves you've learnt.. but doesn't tell you how to pull them off or gives you a place to practice them. The dojo would have been perfect for this. Overall with an additional 3 weeks (or less!) of development to put those last couple of complaints could have made this game a solid A, but as it is, it's still a solid B, lots of fun, great use of the motion controls and style.. The best of these so far. A man(the clichéd quiet bad-ass) goes on a quest... that of dying from friggin' heat exhaustion. Oh, and he's apparently avenging someone, as well, but from his outfit, he's clearly putting the emphasis on the former(dude, you're in the Nevada desert!). With no name(seriously, when others refer to you, they call you Hero), the only surviving member(who had been banished) of the Kusagari clan must... you get the idea. It's pure cookie-cutter, and nothing is done to change that. The characters are what you'd expect(and you get no background, so we don't connect with anyone). A damsel to rescue, two old guys to tell you how things have been and train you(on the plus side, he does a standout job of that, you use the stuff comfortably soon after), and a playboy. Your nemesis is average. This has a fine length. The ending leaves you cold, as does most of this. It's pretty uninspired. And let's talk about the mix of cultures here. There's a joke in Murder by Death about how an Orthodox Jew and a Roman Catholic married, and then separated two hours later. Some things just don't go together, and the old West(that this hardly ever evoke the atmosphere of, by the way, in spite of the efforts of the moody electric guitar riffs or the distant wind), the old East and futuristic technology may be among those things. Maybe you're now wondering why my vote and my Summary are so complimentary. Simple: The game-play. You use the Wii-Mote(that this makes plenty of use of, also letting you safe-crack) as a sword(all the time! And it feels like you really are "doing" it), and it pretty properly mimics your movements this time(unlike the first(that this is a sequel to in name and core concept only, other than those, no connection), and every other of these I've tried), and you strike(horizontally, vertically or... well, a stab, and you can also do stronger ones... it's all quite intuitive), dodge, defend and counter your way through fights. You can use powers, like launching your enemies into the air or knocking them down from afar. This feels like you are engaged in combat, and it's intense, awesome and just plain *fun*. It is where this excels and beats the crap out of all of its competition in that field. The Motion Plus works well, allowing an incredible sensitivity and greater range of movements; granted, sometimes you don't manage to do the one you're trying to, and the calibration can get wonky at times. However, it at no point cost me a victory, and it auto-saves fairly often. Yes, it does change the balance, and can feel a little clunky. You get used to it. This is physically demanding, yes. You can also shoot any time(as it should be) you want(note that anyone with a blade can block bullets in this), using the revolver(... an eight-shooter? Er... OK), the Tommygun, the Double-Barrel or the Rifle(you have to purchase the last three). No, it's limited to those four, and each of them have their uses. The ability to "tag" others and pull the trigger swiftly is there again, if awkward and not as "free". You can upgrade them(at the Dojo, Saloon and Workshop that you're constantly returning to inbetween missions... you know, I think this guy might have abandonment issues), as well as your Katana, and you can also buy armor(that, along with your health bar that you can extend, by the by, regenerate after every battle(when you enter that, you are limited to the immediate area until it's over)), extra lives, additional attacks and "trophies". That last one makes it easier to do the so-called Finishers. These instantly kill the foe, so you can't do them unless you've stunned(by busting a cap in their knee, knocking them down, etc.) or nearly terminated them. There's a trick to the majority of situations. You can switch targets using Z, though it won't always work. Early on, this has an utterly wicked "do what you're prompted to" sequence that I'm not sure why they felt they should only do one of. The intro is nifty, as well. This is highly immersive and cinematic. Cut-scenes tend to be either pre-rendered(and in 1st person, like when you play) or effective, full-blown, beautiful CGI with style and cool use of slow-mo. Some of the bouts can be pretty epic and exciting. The bosses vary. While I appreciate that they wanted this to feel like a real world(even if this is essentially entirely linear), it is annoying how you, at times, are pressing door buttons every two seconds(it conceals the loading of the next area). That may also be why this needs cold reboots way more often than anything else I've tried on the Wii... or any other machine, for that matter. The graphics are nice, the cel-shading makes it distinguished and the lighting is good(except for when it isn't), for the console. Oh, fire looks *bad*. There are a handful of locations in this, not that they are necessarily memorable(it's all the desert and the towns there), and somehow, your allies always have a base of operations wherever you go. The game itself jokes about how repetitive it is, and that is really the only humor to be found in it. You find your way on account of little green arrows in the mini-radar pointing to your objectives(go there, flip a switch, clean out a place or face someone), and that's fortunate, as otherwise, you'd have no idea and be wandering around in circles. The map is decent. You don't control the jumps, climbing or the like, merely press A and it does it, and this means that you can't miss a leap, taking away the potential tension. It's a tad too streamlined. It was one thing when Ubisoft(don't worry, you remain my favorite developer) did this with Avatar(a rushed license). I recommend this to anyone who wants an FPS with fencing... this is the one to get. 8/10