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hard at first then great fun. Feels like you're in an action movie!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 26, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Within the first 15 min.s of playing this game I thought to myself...what did I buy? This is horrible and frustrating! Two things, first I wasn't used to the Wii controller yet, second, I certainly wasn't used to how Red Steel plays. I post this as a warning to those who easily give up. Some reviewers of this game have sighted the controls as being "broken". They certainly are not! By hour 3 of gameplay you'll be killing bad guys and sword fighting like a Samurai. As moves and features are added further into the game, it becomes even more fun. The level designs and style of some of the later missions are wonderfully perfect to match the mood. I felt like I was in a Hong Kong action movie. Give it a chance, especially if you're new to the Wii, you can't play this game sitting down!

Great gaming experience

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 9 / 13
Date: November 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I am glad to see some favorable reviews below. I thought I was the only one that thought this game rocked. I was pretty shocked to read the very mediocre reviews form the "experts" like gamespot which gave this game a 5.5

Most of the "experts" seem to base their opinions mostly on the control scheme. I admit at first it was a bit unwieldy, because instead of using a control pad or 'joystick' to aim the gun/reticle, you use the remote to point. As such it did seem a bit too sensitive, but once you play for a while you get very used to it. At least I did, it felt almost second nature to me. The sword fighting is a bit janky but still good, your motions doesn't necessarily translate to what happens on the screen.

I thought the whole storyline and scenarios were very clever (one stage even had you trying to escape from an amusement park while being hunted). The graphics I thought were very good. In some of the harbor scenes, the shimmering waves were amazing, and the little attention to details such as the scratches on the elevator doors, was a nice touch. I do admit to being a bit disappointed that the graphics in this game aren't like the ones you see on the official trailers for Red Steel. But the way some of the reviewers are talking about the graphics you'd think they were reviewing a playstation one game. One can only get excited to know that the graphics can get even better.

The bottom line is that out of the five launch games I got, Red Steel is the one that I keep coming back to the most, because to me it is FUN. I don't care what the reviewers think, that's the way I feel.

Fun but gets boring

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: February 10, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I rented this game cause I thought it's just reasonable to try it before I buy it. And I was right. This game was really interesting at first but I got bored two hours into play. It's repeatitive. I guess I'm not the shooting game type.

Also it was weird how they didn't think of translating the Japanese dialogues into English. I speak Japanese so I understood what was going on but it just confused me cause this was supposed to be for North America release. Oh well I guess it doesn't really affect a gamer much but I thought I should just point that out anyway.

Decent first try.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: March 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Okay, where to start. SO the story is a little overplayed, your girlfriend's been kidnapped and you need to fight an army of thugs to retrieve her. A little overdone, but whatever.

The controls are revolutionary, yes, but they still suck. I'm not saying guiding your character around is difficult, and the movement while shooting becomes fairly easy. What I am referring to is halfway into the game your point of aim starts to hop from one place to another, not wanting to stay in the center. It's almost like there is a deadspot on the screen where the game can't figure out where you are pointing. I thought it was my controler, but my second wouldn't work either. I thought it was my sensor bar, but it stil happened on a friends Wii. I think it's just an error in the game and one of many. Accuracy is a huge thing when a game gives you the option of shooting a gun out someone's hand and this just ruins the idea.

I've had to replay many of the levels countless times because I wasn't standing in the right place when a cut scene started so it wouldn't run and I couldn't proceed. I've also encountered AI that duck for cover, press an attack while I reloaded, and other great tactics but I've also encountered some that would allow you to walk up to them and slice them at point blank.

Which brings me to the sword play. While pretty cool at first, it became infuriatingly difficult later on to the point where I put it down for a month because I couldn't get past a boss. The problem is the response to your actions and how inaccurate they can be. A vertical slice will be seen as a horizontal swing, which really sucks when trying to line up a combo.

The game has a generally rushed feel to it, like the developers were struggling to make the release date. It's unpolished and buggy and iriitates the hell out of me, something I never thought I would say about an Ubisoft product.

Save yourself some aggravation and pick up Farcry or Call Of Duty instead.

Guns and Swords...What more can you want?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: April 11, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Red Steel is one of the best Wii FPS (first person shooter). When you play it for the first time, you will definitly be frustrated, but after you play for about 20 minutes, you'll get the hang of it. The main story is that your fiancee is kidnapped and your future father-in-law is murdered by the Yakuza, which is sort of a Japanese mafia. But the best part of the game is the gun and sword fights. The Wii-mote responds very well to your gun and sword movements. The nunchuck lets you move around, jump, and crouch, while the Wii-mote lets you ajust the camera, throw grenedes, shoot your gun, and attack with your sword. Overall,this is definitly one of the best Wii games out on the market right now.

A unique experience worth trying

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Red Steel usually gets criticized for three things primarily

1) Funny controls
2) Mandatory and Non-Realtime Sword Fights
3) Less than steller graphics
4) Clumsy AI

First off, the controls do take about 30 - 45 minutes to get used to, but after that, they work well. There's just something great about pointing the wii-mote at an enemy, and unleashing tons of bullets. Turns aren't as tight as in other FPS's, but the levels are designed with this in mind.

Second, the mandatory sword fights are one of those underground honor things, and if you buy into that, their presence is acceptable. It's a shame the sword fights aren't real time, but overall, the execution isn't bad; think turn-based sword fighting. The baddys get better as the game moves on, leading to some satisfying duels.

The graphics could be better, and in some polygon filled factory levels, the frame rate does suffer, bring back memories of Golden Eye. This didn't detract too much from the overall fun I had though. The explosions are very well done.

Lastly, the AI is a mixed bag. Sometimes the baddys are pretty smart, work in groups, and out-flank you. Other times, they just stand around the corner, waiting for you to shoot them.

The sound and music in the game is a strong point, and while some of accents in the game are laughable, the storyline is pretty decent.

Overall, this game would be a bargain at $30, a decent buy at $40 dollars, and a reasonable buy at $50, although there might be a couple other titles you buy first. I hope a sequel is in the works, because with some refinement, this game could get five stars.

Sure, its got issues but don't be a hater

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: November 29, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Of the four launch games I purchased for my Nintendo Wii (Zelda, Call of Duty 3, Red Steel & Rayman Raving Rabbids)-it seems puzzling that R.S. is the one I have logged the most hours on. (Due in part-I'm sure, to the fact that Zelda T.P. seems a little intimidating to me at the moment). Red Steel seems like a fairly shallow game at first-average in every way that it is possible to be average. You would think given the fact that it's steeped in Japanese culture and set in the underground world of the Yakuza that it would be bristling with style and flair. Surprisingly this is not the case. As a matter of fact-at first glance Red Steel seems like a generic first person shooter you might find in a bargain bin. Stylistically it's just about as "meh" as they come. However-that being said, the game's graphics are still very pleasing and can be very colorful and bold at times. (By the way-don't judge the character models on amazon's supplied images. These must be from an earlier build of the game because the in-game models look five hundred times better) As I played a little farther into the game though,Red Steel began to dig it's claws into me and what I found was a fun, entertaining fps with good gun play, a nice variety of weapons and a unique targeting system. In short, Red Steel's style short comings have nothing to do with it's ability to entertain on multiple levels. But sadly there is a problem with Red Steel, and that my friends is the busted sword fighting. The ability to fight enemies with a Japanese blade is one of the initial things that was supposed to set Red Steel apart from other first person shooters. Now that I've had the unfortunate pleasure of playing these bits, I honestly wished they hadn't been included. Sadly, these segements unfairly puts a damper on the whole game. In short, the sword fighting bits are terribly unresponsive. Swing your heart out with the Wii-mote ladies and gents, you MIGHT get the on screen action to follow suit. But more than likely, the game won't register your moves-or the on screen follow-up will be so delayed as to throw off your timing completely. Try getting some of the special moves you earn to work on an enemy in the heat of battle. I've had rocket science exams that were easier. In an otherwise fun game, these sword fighting bits feel broken & ill conceived in every way. In fact, you be cruising right along having a blast gunning down enemies with various weapons-then suddenly you reach a sword fighting segment and the game comes to an earth shattering halt. Why, oh why couldn't they have fixed this before the game shipped!? Another gripe I have is the fact that even though you are given new sword techniques and tips for fighting-they mean precious little little in the end. Just to check on a suspicion I had-I fought several enemies in a row by merely dodging their attacks and countering with the most basic slash possible, no technique, nothing fancy what-so-ever. Guess what? I had more luck doing this than if actually trying to use a skill! How pathetic is that? Honestly. I've heard rumors that a Red Steel 2 is already in development and I hope that this is true. I'd love to see another one. But Ubi Soft had better fix the completely broken sword controls before they even think about releasing a sequel. If they can do that, then maybe we'll have a truly worthy game to play. It's disheartening to see an otherwise fun game get overshadowed by its worthless sword fighting segments.

A Very Well-Crafted Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: November 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Red Steel lives up to all of the hype - if you give it the chance to. When I first played the game, the controls were difficult and awkward. This was due to most of the actions being carried out by movements of the controllers, rather than by pressing buttons. After I got the hang of it, the game excelled. It's the best control scheme possible for a console first-person shooter, very much akin to using a keyboard and mouse. If you're a bad shot in the game, it's because you're a bad shot with real-time aiming, not because you can't point a finicky joystick in the right direction. The sword combat is amazing, mapping your actual movements much closer than Zelda. Again, it takes some getting used to, but this is due to the fact that Red Steel is breaking entirely new ground in terms of how to play a game of this type.

The voice acting is superb. The characters who have lived in America have a very realistic American accent. The Japanese security guards have a very thick accent, which is appropriate, due to spending most of their lives in Japan and only traveling to America at the start of the game. Sato, who is a very wealthy Japanese man with business connections in America, appropriately has a much more understandable English, but the Japanese influence is still clear in his speech patterns. The sound effects are amazing, especially considering how interactive the levels are. The sounds effects piped through the Wiimote are very realistic, when compared to the sound effects from Zelda.

The graphics are nothing to write home about, if you compare them to the hi-def Xbox 360 and PS3. However, if you let them stand as they are and play the game, you'll soon be sucked in. There is really very little to complain about, unless you insist on emphasizing that it's not on the bleeding edge of technology.

All in all, the game is very well-made and enjoyable, if you are a fan of first-person shooters.

Pretty Annoying

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This was the first Wii game I got, and its mostly because I couldn't get a hold of Zelda. Red Steel looks promising. Certainly its controls are good, but it feels more like a game that's supposed to get you used to using the remote and nunchuck attachment. A tutorial of sorts. The problem is that it isn't much fun to deal with.

You play as Scott, a man in Japan with his girlfriend. You suddenly find out that her father is a Yakuza Mob boss and that he's got tons of enemies. Your girlfriend gets kidnapped and so its up to you to save her, ultimately getting yourself involved in this family struggle. It's pretty simple stuff. Most of the game is told through voice acted cutscenes or graphic novel like storyboards. The graphic novel storyboards look interesting, but its really painful that you can't skip any of these cinematics or storyboard cutscenes. This is especially annoying when you die and you have to listen to the same objective over and over again.

Red Steel's appeal is its gameplay, which seems to be the focus of the game. The controls are solid, for the most part, but again, the whole game seems like a tutorial to get used to the Wii remote. You use the remote to aim at enemies and the B button to shoot. The nunchuck allows you to pick up weapons, reload said weapon and tip over tables (you'll know what can be accessed because it has a golden outline around it). The nunchuck is also how you'll move around. You can strife from side to side and you can move forward. The nunchuck also allows you to jump and duck. You'll be doing a lot of ducking.

The remote is responsible for most of the gameplay. It allows you to turn from one side of the screen to another. The game itself will help you get adjusted with a tutorial provided at the beginning of the game (with your grifriend directing you what fish to look at). You'll be able to use the remote for several things. You can lock onto enemies with the A button and if you hold the A button you can zoom into enemies by moving the wii remote closer to the screen, or you can zoom out. It's all pretty cool, but the remote is extremely sensitive. Just the slightest flick to the left and you'll look to the left. It's great to actually point and shoot at an enemy, your accuracy is really important, but now it's all up to you whether or not you hit an enemy. Granted, the controls take time to get used to, but they flow particularly well.

Swordfights are another story, though. These are annoying sequences actually. Mostly because the controls are clumbsy. You'll have to swing your sword using the wii remote and you'll parry and dodge attacks using the nunchuck. At first this is fun, but its so limited. When fighting with swords you can't pull out a weapon. This is bad when you're in the middle of a firefight and some guy has a sword. You'll be forced into the sword fight even when all the enemies using guns are still up. And they'll STILL fire at you and you'll lose health. There's no way to back out of sword fights either, and that's also really annoying. The controls just feel clumbsy as well, especially with its extreme sensitivty.

To the gameplay's credit, there are some interesting things you can do. For starters, when you're not shooting someone and you're ducking behind something, your health refills. At first this makes the game seem easy, but you have to understand that if you're taking damage, or shooting at all, your health doesn't refill. So this doesn't make the game incredibly easy. Also, after a sword fight, you'll have the choice of finishing your attacker off or sparing his life. Sparing his life earns you respect, which you can use to learn more techniques.

The game doesn't look fantastic, but it's not bad looking either. It's visual presentation is alright, but the part of the graphics that lacks are the games numerous bugs and glitches. There are moments where you'll be staring an enemy right in the face and he won't move. Won't flinch or even attack you. He just stands there waiting to be killed. Sometimes enemies will run right past you or claim they can't see you when you're in plain sight. There are also moments where I shot an enemy in the back and neither him nor his comrades even acknowledged my existence. There are probably more bugs than this found within the game, but it was hard to take after a while.

There are a couple of other annoying aspects of the gameplay as well. You can only hold two weapons at a time. This isn't as annoying as it sounds, but I wish I could've held on to more. Luckily, ammo is not hard to come by at all. There are also glitches such as your bullets passing right through an enemy while he takes you out. Enemies shooting through walls. This game is just full of them.

I wish I could say it sounds good, but it doesn't. The voice acting is very mediocre and the soundtrack isn't great either. Some levels sound good, but there's nothing memorable here.

Red Steel has a good control scheme going for it but that's really all it has going for it. It's not a fantastic game by any means. The bugs and glitches strewn throughout are also just really annoying. It's hard to recommend this game, even to die hard first person shooter fans.

The Good

+The control scheme works
+Well, there is lots of action

The Bad

-Tons of bugs and glitches found throughout the whole game: enemies who don't attack, or walk right past you. Enemies who can't see you in plain sight. Bullets going through walls or through your enemies... this game is full of them and they detract from the gameplay
-Sword fighting is clumbsy
-You can only wield two weapons at once.
-When you're forced into a sword fight, there's no way you can get out of it until the fight is over
-Horrible voice acting
-There's really no story to it
-The controls, while good, just seem like another ploy to get one used to the Wii Remote

Please stop reading mag reviews and posting them here.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: November 21, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Maybe I'm strange but I liked the game. The only thing I didn't like is the zoom in feature. I felt that could've been handled by a button push like in COD3.
The graphics remind me of Time Crisis 3-4.
No blood? I could careless. Only kids seem to care about that stuff nowadays.
Can't seem to control your view. Put your arm on your knee for support and tweak your controller some.
Bad AI? Seems like it's always bad AI when most get their butts kicked. I believe the AI to be above avg. since it will advance on you, flank you, hide, draw fire and such. Yeah there are some glitches here and there but nothing to really whine about. If you can't see the bad guys you probably need a bigger tv. I was hitting this guys on my friend 13incher with no issues. If you can't hit these guys you'll have issues in COD3 for the Wii as well.

Red Steel 2 is in the works so I'm sure they will fix some these issues. folks keep complaining about.
Give me online play, some more options in multiplayer, bump in graphics, more weapons, and a zoom button and I'll buy RS2 as well.

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