Red Steel 2

The demo begins with the nameless, Clint Eastwood-inspired hero waking to find himself being dragged through a Nevada-esque desert while tied to the back of a motorcycle. Interaction is limited to looking around, blurring the distinction between cinematic and gameplay while providing a perfect opportunity to absorb the game’s gorgeous cell shaded visuals for the first time. After entering a series of aqueducts and riding through the remnants of an explosion, the hero frees one of his hands, whips out his revolver, and (with your assistance) fires off a single shot at the rider. The subsequent explosion allows the hero to escape before handing full control over to you, the player.

Movement and shooting in Red Steel 2 should feel very familiar to anyone who has played Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. Maneuvering is handled with the analogue stick, aiming is accomplished by pointing at the screen with the Wii Remote, and turning is achieved by pointing at the sides of the screen. By default, the game automatically locks onto targets and even allows you to turn to face anyone attacking from behind with the press of a single button. This not only removes the need for awkward turning during a fight, but also increases the fluidity of combat. The Z button can be used to manually switch between targets or, if you’re feeling suitably confident, you can disable the auto-lock mechanism entirely.

 

The Red Steel franchise's real raison d'être, however, is undoubtedly its swordplay. For those of you who came away from the original disappointed, you’ll be glad to hear that exclusive use of the Wii MotionPlus has done wonders for Red Steel 2. Sword movement is now truly 1:1 - upon picking up your blade you can literally hold it out in front of you and inspect it from almost all angles with nothing more than a few twists of wrist. A failsafe has been implemented to prevent lopping your own limbs off, but you are otherwise free to position, rotate, and move your sword any which way you please - an extremely liberating experience.

How can anyone who isn’t a professional swordsman expect to succeed in combat with so much freedom? Thankfully, Ubisoft has taken a number of steps to keep RS2 accessible to everyone. Holding down the A button allows you to block enemy blows - either automatically or by orienting your sword horizontally or vertically, depending on your chosen difficulty setting and the enemy you’re fighting. Thanks to the lock-on system, attacking enemies is as simple as swinging the Wii Remote, although the strength with which you do so is also taken into account. As such, you can choose to unleash a wild flurry of fairly weak attacks, or you can muster your strength for a few more powerful blows.

 

It's worth remembering that while you have no restrictions on swinging, your sword is actually having to collide with, and react to, in-game objects. This occasionally results in delays and missed actions while the game handles previous actions before moving onto new ones. Even after just a short time with the game, however, you’ll start to get a feel for how this works and how it can be overcome with a bit of thought. A strong attack is slower than a regular attack, for example, so you’ll need to prepare for a small delay before you can strike again. Lag only becomes particularly noticeable when you’re flailing about wildly without much forethought, in which case 1:1 mapping isn’t going to do you a whole lot of good anyway.

With such solid mechanics in place, combat is a truly invigorating experience. Some foes opt for long range attacks, while others tend to rush into the thick of things wielding a blade of their own. How you choose to dispatch each, however, is entirely up to you. While armored foes are less vulnerable to bullets, a carefully placed headshot or two will often do the trick if you’re up to it. Switching between sword and gun is as intuitive as can be - you’re either swinging the Wiimote or your pointing it at the screen at pulling the B trigger. There’s no inventory management, no weapon-specific sections; just two extremely satisfying weapons and complete freedom to use whichever you prefer at any given moment.

 

Movement during combat is also extremely important. By holding A and tapping the analogue stick you can quickly dash forwards, backwards, and side-to-side in order to gain the upper hand over an opponent. Dashing towards weakened foes also allows you to pull off hugely gratifying finishing moves. Special attacks also play a role - the "lift" move, for example allows you to hoist an opponent into the air, jump after him, and slam him back to the ground. The final game is set to feature a slew of these moves as well as combo system that will allow you to chain together a series of attacks - no more than 2 or 3 button presses for each - into a massive chain of blows. This feature was not on show in the demo, though.

No combat-based game would be complete without epic boss battles, and it looks as though RS2 will deliver on this front, too. As seen at the end of the demo, "the heavy" is not only far larger than regular opponents, but he also wields a deadly hammer and is all but invulnerable when attacked head-on. Serving as a mini-boss at first and a more common foe later on, the heavy can be countered with nifty dodging and sneaky blows to the back. The inclusion of a safe-cracking mini-game - which involves holding the Wiimote speaker to your ear and carefully turning it - is less epic, but quite ingenious all the same. With enough of these types of features spread throughout, RS2 should be kept fresh for its entire lifespan.

Stay tuned to Cubed3 for interviews with Creative Director Jason Vandenberghe and Lead Game Designer Roman Campos-Oriola for even more on Red Steel 2 in the very near future.