Red Steel

Written by David Taylor  on September 21, 2006

First Impressions: Disembowelment Finds a New Home in Red Steel

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History shows us that ,during their respective life spans, the Nintendo 64 and the Gamecube both lacked strong third-party developer support. There were a myriad of reasons for this including poor sales, lack of the consoles' popularity and memory limitations. With the Wii on the horizon, third parties again have the opportunity to test the waters of marketability with a new Nintendo console. It seems that Ubisoft will be the first to take the plunge. With multiple titles in development, the French-based company is the crown jewel of Wii third party development. Of these, perhaps the most revolutionary and ambitious is the first-person shooter (FPS) and Wii-launch title, Red Steel.

Japan's organized crime element, the Yakuza, plays heavily into Red Steel's storyline as you will control a nameless American hero who comes into conflict with this organization. The game begins with the hero meeting his Japanese fiancщe Miyu and her father Isao Sato, a Yakuza Oyabun (godfather), at a Japanese restaurant in Los Angeles. Everything is going peachy until Yakuza thugs controlled by Tokai, a rival Oyabun, attack the trio. Their goal: to retrieve Isao Sato's sword, the Katana Girl. The thugs fail to nab the sword, but instead kidnap Miyu who they plan to ransom for the weapon. Sato, fatally wounded, gives the hero the sword and asks him to save his daughter. With sword in hand, you will embark on his quest that will span both Los Angeles and the dark criminal underworld of Japan.

Red Steel's game play is being divided into two segments: firearm action and sword fighting. While using firearms, Red Steel will control similarly to its FPS cousin, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption. The nunchuck attachment will handle general movement including jumping and ducking while the Wii remote tackles aiming, firing, and turning. The D-pad allows for quick switching between weapons such as the shotgun, Uzi and assault rifle that the player in turn fires with a tap of the remote's B button. You will zoom in for precision aiming by holding the A button and gesturing forward with the remote. The sacrifice for this being lack of peripheral visibility.

Through the course of the game you will acquire the ability to temporarily freeze time. A special meter controls this. As you hold the A button, the meter will trickle down. Once it runs out, normal time will kick back in. In this frozen mode the player can select specific areas on enemies' bodies to attack. For instance, the player may select to shoot the guns out of the hands of multiple attackers. Once selected, the player releases the A button and the action occurs immediately in real-time.

The second mode of game play involves the use of the katana. The sword will not mimic the exact movements of the player's arm, instead fighting will take place through a lock-on mode akin to the Legend of Zelda series. A pre-set number of attacks will be activated through specific motions with the Wii remote. The player dodges with a flick of the nunchuck while pressing the B button to block with the tanto, a small sword. Ubisoft has also confirmed that in some situations the player can use both swords simultaneously.

Players' interactivity with the environment will factor heavily into Red Steel's game play. In the midst of a firefight, one is able to duck behind crates to avoid hot lead and peak around the corner with the Wii remote. Additionally, Ubisoft plans to make virtually everything in the game destructible. Fish tanks, windows and cars can all be vandalized with willful abandon.

Other small touches go a long way toward player immersion. For instance you will be able to shoot gangster-style by turning the remote sideways and picking up weapons off of the ground will require you to shake the nunchuck. The nunchuck will also be used to turn doorknobs and to shake or push objects.

Red Steel's action is much more strategic than most first-person shooters. In Red Steel wanton killing is not always the best strategy, and in actuality increases the difficulty. The hero's objective is to gain as much support as possible from the individual Yakuza clans and restraint is often more prudent in accomplishing this goal. Sparing your enemies often wins them over to your side. At the same time, if you go all Total Recall on the bad guys, then they may join the side of Miyu's kidnappers.

Red Steel's graphics are still in the works so any negative statement would be premature. Judging from some of the released screen shots and videos, the game features excellent environmental detail and lighting effects. Strangely enough Red Steel will not feature blood. This is perplexing since the developers seem to have so gallantly pursued realism in all other areas. The game is called Red Steel after all. One can hope this will be changed as the release date nears.

Ubisoft announced that the game will include a split-screen multiplayer mode ala GoldenEye though no LAN or broadband support has been confirmed as of yet. It seems like with most of the Wii launch games, Ubisoft is focusing on the best single player experience they can design, while putting multiplayer on the backburner.