As far as the Frag Doll Casting Call, I was able to make the finalists! Ubisoft flew me out to Los Angeles, California along with the five other awesome finalists. We were responsible for helping demo specific Ubisoft games at E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo). I got to demo Red Steel 2, along with a few other games. Red Steel 2 was undoubtedly the most popular of the games I had, and there was always a long line of people waiting eagerly at the booth to give it a try.
From my experience with the Red Steel 2 demo, as well as conversations with some of the developers who were present at E3, here are my initial thoughts.
The Predecessor
Red Steel 2 is following the original Red Steel, a game that was developed for the Nintendo Wii. When the first Red Steel was announced, many people were under the impression that it would truly utilize the mechanics of 1:1 gameplay, and provide a realistic gun and sword fighting experience. However, the game was a bit of a disappointment. Though the story, concept and character models were all exemplary, the sub-par controls ruined the experience for many gamers. Red Steel’s control system utilized both the Wii-mote and the nunchuck attachment, however, the controls did not feel any more immersive or revolutionary than classic dual-analog control. Turning to face each subsequent enemy was slow, clumsy and unnatural, while the motion-specific controls would occasionally glitch or jump across the screen for no apparent reason. In addition to this, there were many visible glitches and unfinished aspects of the game that were obvious in the final release. Though the good aspects of this game balanced some of the negative aspects for many gamers (such as the immersive story, character development, and destructible environment ability), the general concensus was that Red Steel was a disappointment, and did not live up to expectations.
The Sequel
Red Steel 2, due to be released during the holiday season of 2009, will also be exclusive to the Nintendo Wii. However, Red Steel 2 was specifically designed to be used with the Wii Motion Plus. This exclusivity means that Red Steel 2 will not be playable with a standard Wii-mote. Fortunately, Ubisoft has forseen the possible difficulty in releasing a game that requires exclusive use of an accessory. When released, it has been confirmed that the Red Steel 2 game will be available to purchase bundled with the Wii Motion Plus. This is an extremely smart marketing decision, and will prevent uninformed consumers (such as parents xD) from purchasing the game without knowing it requires additional hardware.
Basic Gameplay
The game begins with only a short cut-scene, leaving a lot of the initial story up to interpretation. The basic explanation of your scenario is that you will be controlling a lone sword/gun fighter, who has returned to the town of Caldera (another word for the concave formation of land in a volcano following eruption… just had to nerd that one out there. :p). For whatever reason, everyone in this town has you on the top of their hitlist. The beginning scene finds you regaining consciousness while being tied to the back of a motorcycle, and subsequently dragged through the desert. As an introductory scene, this is very effective for familiarizing a player with the artistic style and attitude portrayed throughout the game.
One of the goals when developing this game was to emphasize the “Edgy Western” setting. Indeed, in some scenes it did play reminiscent to a Clint Eastwood movie, most promiently when you discover that you can shoot the stylized liquor bottles off of ledges. Many of the objects in the game can be shot, slashed or otherwise destroyed. In many cases, destroying objects yeilds amunition or money.
In a conversation with one of the developers, I was able to confirm that there will be some sort of monetary system utilized in the finished release of Red Steel 2. Money is obtained throughout interaction with the game’s environment. This money could possibly be used to purchase weapon upgrades, new finishing moves, or other game supplies (that was speculation, I’m not entirely certain which items will be available for purchase. :p)
For the most part, progressing through the environment is not directly guided by any sort of permanent on-screen “marker” indicating your destination. I think this is a smart choice, since it allows a player to progress through each environmental setting with enough time to interact with objects (after defeating any enemies, of course). However, it’s not overly difficult to figure out where you need to go to progress the game. This is accomplished highlighted door hinges, red doors, and subtle clues such as “Exit” signs (as displayed in the end of the “tutorial” level). In some maps, you will need to destroy a bamboo wall in order to move forward. Horizontal bamboo can be destroyed by slashing vertically, while vertical bamboo is destroyed by horizontally swinging the Wii-mote.
Controls
Red Steel 2 utilizes the precision technology allowed by the Wii Motion Plus to provide a true 1:1 ratio in regards to gameplay mechanics. Basically, this means that every motion a player makes with the Wii-mote in hand is flawlessly mirrored on the screen. Most Wii games use small gestures to control actions of the character on-screen. With the Wii Motion Plus, however, this could perhaps become passé. Having direct control over the actions of a character on-screen provides a much more immersive experience for the player, especially when engaging in sword-fighting sequences.
The controls are slightly disorienting for some players, but only temporarily. Basically, you point the Wii-mote at the screen to turn your head, and look left, right, up or down. To move in the direction that you’re looking, you use the directional analog on the nunchuck attachment. These are the basic button controls, which feel very natural when used in-game.
- The “A” button is the action button, used for climbing walls, jumping over obstacles and other general actions (such as parrying attacks).
- The “Z” button is the targeting button, used for locking onto a single target or switching between multiple targets.
- The “B” button is used as the trigger, and provides seamless transition between firing your gun and motion-based sword fighting.
Now, I should note at this point, that there is no specific button to be used for switching between gun and sword fighting. The game is able to recognize when you are swinging the Wii-mote for sword fighting, combined with aiming at the screen and pressing the “B” button to fire. The transition is fairly seamless, and feels natural without any annoying lag between attacks.
The sword fighting, as stated before, is carried out entirely by directly controlling the strength, direction and intensity of your swing with the Wii-mote. A key feature of the Wii Motion Plus is that it is able to measure the strength with which a player swings the Wii-mote. Red Steel 2 utilizes this feature by measuring the strength with which a player executes an attack with a subsequent flash of color – Strong attacks are RED, Medium-Strong attacks are YELLOW, and Regular attacks are WHITE. Red and Yellow-strength attacks can be used against stronger opponents, and are required in order to “Knock Off” the armor of some enemies. Only after executing several Armor-Breaking (RED and YELLOW) attacks against an armored enemy, is that enemy vulnerable for damage by any type of attack.
It is possible to parry enemy attacks, which is executed by holding the Wii-mote at a specific angle that is compatible with blocking an enemy’s direction of attack (in addition to pressing the “A” button). For example, if an enemy is about to slash in a direct vertical attack, you would angle the Wii-mote horizontally above your head, and hold A in order to block the vertical attack. This is easier than it sounds, and is able to feel extremely natural. While the game gives you sufficient time in order to anticipate attacks, you don’t feel like you’re being subjected to “n00b” gameplay. The delay of a single second is enough for you to react and take the appropriate blocking position.
In addition to this, there will be several “finishing moves” that can be used once an enemy is encircled with three yellow flashing dots (indicating they are low on health). Though only a few finishing moves were available in the E3 demo, there will be many more that are available in the final release of the game.
Artistic Style
“Futuristic Metropolis” is the official description of the artistic setting for this game. True to the “East meets West” design concept, it’s clear that the developers made very smart artistic decisions when keeping graphical consistency in order to further augment immersive gameplay.
A question I had to answer several times by many people who played Red Steel 2 at E3, is if it utilizes cell-shading. After conferring with one of the Ubisoft developers who worked on the game, he informed me that Red Steel 2 does not use cell-shading. Instead, the art style was designed to have an artistic feel simliar to that of a graphic novel. It’s true, I found the art style very appealing, and I’m a huge fan of graphic novels (Comics, Manga, most genres). Though I didn’t admit it at the time, one of the reasons I liked the stylistic aspects of the game so much, is that it reminded me of a few different anime series (such as Trigun or Hellsing). The color changes in each environment are very striking, and have an “in your face” feel. The graphical aspects are realistic, though still retain the stylized art style of a graphic novel. Despite feeling gritty and realistic, this was balanced by the flowing color changes per environment, as well as stylistic attack sequences.
General Appeal
From my experience with demoing Red Steel 2 at E3, there were a few key things I noticed when introducing people to the game, gameplay mechanics, and controls.
- General opinion was that Red Steel 2 was an incredibly awesome improvement over Red Steel 1.
- Most people were easily able to pick up the controls after the “Tutorial Level”.
- Nearly everyone smiled and said something like “YEAH!” when executing a finishing move.
- Some people got over-excited, and began swinging the Wii-mote wildly around their heads. The game penalizes you for non-tactical fighting by making enemies counter-attack more often.
- Realizing that Red Steel 2 uses a true 1:1 ratio took some people a while to get used to. Some people would try to swing the sword simply by flicking their wrist, which is not effective.
- Unfortunately, a few people got tired after a few levels of swinging their arms around in “true” ratio sword fighting. Based on my experience, sore arms can be prevented by emphasizing the slashing motion or only using moderate strength (and not simply trying to hack at everything).
- Not everyone was receptive to the art style of the game. This is probably because some people are biased towards extremely high-resolution graphics (which isn’t possible on the Wii).
- However, some people really liked the gritty, graphic novel-esque art style, and complimented the developers on this choice.
- The Wii Motion-Plus really does have true 1:1 control, that’s not just marketing hype.
- It is necessary to calibrate the Wii Motion-Plus on a flat surface before starting the game.
