Author Topic: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.  (Read 5644 times)

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Offline ShyGuy

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Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« on: December 14, 2006, 06:43:29 PM »
That's right I'm going there, you haters. A game by its very definition is an amusement, an entertainment, something that is fun. By these standards Red Steel is a success. No, it's not perfect, but I think you will enjoy it, so let me tell you why. I will break this down NWR style 'cept I'll ramble on way too long, then we can sum it all up at the end. Let's go!

Graphics 7.5 To really understand Red Steel's strengths and weaknesses, let's break it down into two things to measure: The technical achievement and the artistic expression.

From a technical standpoint, Red Steel meets all the criteria. It's 480p, 16:9 and has fantastic effects and lighting. The flames, the rain, the beams of light pouring through various cracks all look fantastic, and are beyond anything I have ever seen the gamecube put out. I wish I could lavish the same praise on the character and environment modeling. The rendering of the various people objects ranges from good to bad. Sometimes the enemy you are fighting looks very realistic and other times the polygons are sticking out of him like an anorexic's skeleton. The objects in the environment are also spotty. Somebody gave jr. his first 3D modeling job when he made the cars and couches in this game. The framerate is pretty smooth, but I did notice slowdown a couple of times. Nothing to write home about, but I know there are a lot of FPS whores out there.

Now the artistic aspect of the graphics, I think this is where the graphics haters of the game really fail to appreciate this title. Red Steel has a very different visual style than most 3D games out there. It's not cel shaded, it's not trying to be CGI, and it's not hyper realistic. It's flat and muted in tone, and I believe this is done on purpose. The colors and the textures really make me look at the game like a colored pencil or pastel drawing, and the outlines around the characters reinforces the "paper doll" feel to them. Personally, I really dig this look. People complained about muddiness in the textures but that's simply the color palette of the game. "Hey it's night and I can barely see that ninja to shoot him!" No duh, you hater! THAT'S WHAT NINJAS DO.  Let me put it this way; I feel the graphical style of this game is closer to a title like Hotel Dusk than it is to Halo.

Sound 7.0 Sound effects, Voice work, and Music. Well, the sound effects are good, a little over the top sometimes sure, but the whole game is in the over the top action genre, so it fits. The voices, on the other hand, are probably the weakest part of the game. I don't think I've heard Asian accents this bad since the first Hitman game. The saving grace is the music though, which is very fun and cheesy (in a good way). When you get ready to square off in a sword duel and you here the "Ahh AH AHHHHH" song start to play it gets your blood pumping.

Control 7.5 This seems to be a love it or hate it sorta deal, and personally I liked it. I think the key here is that you have to be willing to cast aside any expectations of how you think it should control and just learn to play the game. Once you get the hang of it, kakking the perps with a pistol is extremely satisfying. I wonder though, is this due to Red Steel's merits, or due to the intrinsic fun the Nintendo grand-ninja-masters have imbued into this little Wiimote? Would even something like Daikatana be enjoyable played on the Wii? We will never know.

Now the sword fighting is also very fun, but not nearly as rewarding as the shooting parts of the game. Don't struggle against what the game wants you to do and you will make it through okay. Sadly, by doing this Red Steel reminds you that you are playing a game, not swinging a real sword.

Gameplay 8.0 Alright haters, let's concentrate on what Red Steel is, instead of what it is not. It is a straightforward and linear action game. The levels are designed in such a way that they give the illusion of freedom until you venture off the designated path, where you are met with doors that don't open. The approach of the gameplay is very reminiscent of Max Payne. Same linear level design in, same straightforward arsenal, and minimum of puzzles to figure out. Now, the upside for such a "narrow scope" to the gameplay is that is has excellent pacing, and conveys a real sense of urgency to your missions. The strengths and weakness of the various guns are used to full effect and the whole experience is a blast if you let it take you on its ride.

Lastability 6.5 I played the game for around 15 hours, and I usually take longer on games than most people. The levels are repayable and the game is fun enough to tempt you to go back and see if you can improve your ranking on some of the missions. There is also multiplayer, which I tried out, but honestly is more of a sidebar than the main focus. It's fun to run around shooting each other in split-screen, but It's only worth an hour tops when your buddies come over to play.

In Summary, let me just say that Red Steel is worth full price if you are a FPS fan, which I am. I played Catacomb 3D back in the day (google it noobs!) so I gotz me some FPS street cred, yo! Even if you don't thinks it's your bag, give it a rental or pick it up in a bargain bin a year from now. Don't listen to the haters, play Red Steel!
Overall Score 7.5

Now feel free to rip my review to shreds, correct my atrocious grammar, and belittle me as a man.

Offline IceCold

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2006, 12:50:22 PM »
Great review.. I've picked this up, but haven't had a chance to play it yet. I'm not a hardcore FPS player, so I may enjoy this more than most people.. the accuracy within the screen sounds great.

What's bloom lighting?
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Offline segagamer12

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RE:Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2006, 03:14:41 PM »
the game is fun to play and doesnt look terrible what I dont like is the horribel voice acting ( they have like 2 guys doing everybody) and the lame story. nice review though makes it sound better than it is IMO but still informative.
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Offline ShyGuy

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2006, 03:55:36 PM »
Bloom Lighting makes the bright spots seem brighter and picture seem softer. It gives a more natural gradient to the light.

Don't be a hater Rat, it's as good as it sounds.

Couple of addendums: The 3D models look better at 16:19 than at 4:3, I think they have the proportions off just a tiny fraction or something. Also, After I was most of the way through Red Steel, I popped in RE4 to play around with. Holy crap, it felt like I was playing on an Atari 2600 or something! I can't go back to analog stick aiming, I just can't. Ize been spoilt by the Magic of the Wii.

Offline Mario

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #4 on: January 29, 2007, 12:19:53 AM »
My review which is also non-hater except for the bits that deserve hating.

This is an original FPS made from the ground up for Wii. It sounds incredibly promising, and it definitely lives up to the hype. The controls are absolutely amazing, there is simply no better way to play an FPS game. The good controls aren't put to waste in this game because the gameplay is incredible. It feels unlike any other game, the controls take some adjusting to (not too long unless you're retarded, if so then I recommend anything by Square-Enix) and once you're a pro like me you're pulling off 3 headshots per second and laughing like Satoru Iwata.

Graphics are great overall, but there's some significant framerate dips when a lot is going on (basically every shooting part in the entire game). The environments are interactive and they vary a lot. You can flip tables over by using the nunchuck and use them for cover, blow up things, lots of stuff can be destroyed, including some tables and usually whatever you (and the enemy) are using for cover. One time I was hiding behind a forklift truck reloading, thinking I was safe, when they just kept shooting in my direction and it blew up and sent me flying to my death. Enemy AI is impressive, one time I thought I was screwed when I had to reload out in the open when another guy was right there, turns out he had to reload as well and we circled each other nervously until I shot him in the head. When they are hiding somewhere a long distance away and they pop their head out, as soon as you look in their direction they'll go back and think you never saw anything.

Sword fighting. It's OK, sometimes it's fun, and sometimes it just gets in the way. The fights take way too long (up to 2 minutes) and they really rip apart the momentum the game has from the gun parts. I'll be walking into another room ready to blow things up and some guy will backflip into the room through the window and challenge me with his pissweak sword. This happens WAY too many times, what could have been a neat side thing almost ruins the game by forcing itself on you. It's like when a gorgeous girl sitting next to you goes up to get a drink and then a fat bitch comes over and steals her seat, you fight her aggressively with dual swords until she goes away and the hot girl can sit down again. Sometimes a few easy slashes will do the trick, sometimes you need to parry and use combos. The sword mechanics aren't bad at all, you pretty much swing the sword and it'll translate that on screen instantly, the depth comes from knowing when to swing and when to block (swing the nunchuck).

What has significantly reduced my playtime of Red Steel is the annoying presentation. Ubisoft seemed so focused on getting the gameplay and graphics up to scratch, they've thrown the rest of the game together at the last minute. Firstly, cutscenes aren't skipable, not even when you beat the game, and they aren't entertaining and just take up time. You can replay chapters, which is good, BUT you have to witness every boring bit of dialogue every single time, which can take up to ten minutes. There is also only one difficulty level. The structure was made like an adventure game, this is a friggin action game, get this filth out. There is also a noticable amount of loading, making the game even less accessable.

Overall the moments of absolute gameplay brilliance outweigh these obstacles, but really, Ubisoft needs to stop reading internet gaming forums so Red Steel 2 isn't dumbed down with needless crap. Red Steel 2 has the potential to be the greatest videogame ever made.

Something that is absolutely ridiculous is the jumpy pointer glitch, where the pointer will jump around the screen and tard out every 15 seconds. Everyone seems to have different experiences with this, but in all my experiences it has gone away every time I turn the remote speaker off. It sucks having that off all the time but it's worth it.

I have not played Red Steel multiplayer! GASP! This could be an absolutely massive part of the game, but until i can find another nunchuck this will be a mystery. Play this game if you're willing to wade through 5 minutes of crap for 10 minutes of sex every time. It's definitely worth experiencing.

Offline IceCold

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #5 on: January 29, 2007, 07:28:40 AM »
I have just started to put some time into this, and I agree with both of you. Many people were too harsh on the controls - the precision I can get within my vision is just brilliant. The "jumpy" cursor is annoying, though it's only troubled me once or twice. Also, what graphical glitches was everyone talking about?

Maybe for Red Steel 2 they should make it that you have the option to fight the less important sword-fights (and get rewarded for it) or just shoot them and move on. Then you have to fight the important sword fights.
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Offline ShyGuy

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #6 on: February 10, 2007, 08:42:03 PM »
Mario and IceCold are my friends.

If you're retarded I recommend Square Enix. BWAHAHAHAHA!

Offline Smoke39

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2007, 10:31:53 PM »
I beat Red Steel a few days ago.  It was pretty fun when it was actually working.  The jumpy cursor was the worst part, and annoyed me a lot.  It also kinda bugged me how you had to move the remote forward to zoom in while aiming.  It was kinda inconsistent, sort of a hassle, and imo unnecessary, since aiming has no benefit beyond zooming in.  Besides those two things, gunfighting was fun.  Certainly at least par.

Sword fighting was a cool idea, but Red Steel's implementation is pretty bad.  Circle your oponent, dodge when they attack, then wiggle the remote around randomly to perform three quick, consecutive attacks.  Repeat.  That's more or less how just about all of my sword fights went.  Pretty boring.  Also, it wasn't uncommon for checkpoints to be right before a swordfight.  So if you died in a gunfight soon after a swordfight, you'd have to tediously repeat the same, boring sword fight yet again.

The fancy moves were really hard to pull off with the awkward timing from the huge lag between waving the remote and having your sword react.  Good thing they weren't actually ever required.  Also, deploying your tanto in the middle of a gunfight is way, way, WAY too slow.

Sword fighting didn't really detract from the game, but it really didn't add anything, either.

One thing that I rather liked was the use of the remote's speaker.  In fact, I wish they would have made your gunshots also come from the speaker, as well as giving you the option to make all weapon sounds come from the speaker exclusively, both to more thoroughly complete the feeling of the gun being in your hands.  Didn't like how ammo pickup sounds came from the speaker, though; that didn't really make sense to me.

I got a question.  Does honor actually, like, do anything?  Like, is there an actual purpose to showing defeated swordfighters mercy, and disarming yakuza?  I usually didn't kill the guys I beat in swordfights, but I never disarmed anyone.  It was too much fun to shoot 'em in the head with the revolver.
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Offline Mario

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #8 on: February 17, 2007, 03:00:40 AM »
Did you even try turning off the speaker to stop the jumpy cursor? I swear Nintendo needs to send out messages to every Wii owner with a Red Steel save file and inform them of this.

I never even looked into the honor system, but apparently you can unlock some stuff. New sword moves or something?

Offline ShyGuy

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #9 on: February 17, 2007, 06:31:28 AM »
You have to collect certain levels of honor to train for new Sword moves.

Offline Smoke39

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RE: Red Steel, The Non-Hater Review.
« Reply #10 on: February 17, 2007, 10:49:25 AM »
I hadn't heard that turning off the speaker was supposed to help the jittering problem until I read about it here after I had already finished the game.  I like having the speaker on, though, so it's not like turning it off would have rendered the goofy aim a non-issue.
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