Red Steel

Red Steel
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Paris
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Engine	Unreal Engine 2.5, PhysX Physics Engine
Platform(s)	Wii
Release	November 19, 2006 December 2, 2006 December 7, 2006 December 8, 2006
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer (4)

Red Steel (レッドスティール, Reddo Sutīru) is a first person shooter video game published by Ubisoft for Nintendo's Wii console. It was developed by the Ubisoft Paris studio and was unveiled in the May 2006 issue of Game Informer. Red Steel was the first game for the Wii platform to release in-game screenshots, thus giving the public an idea of what the console was capable of. It was released on November 19 2006, the date of the first Wii launch.

Plot

An exclusive first-person action / adventure game from Ubisoft for the Nintendo Wii. Red Steel is set in both the US and Japan. Players will master both the ancient art of the katana and the sophisticated technology of modern firearms taking advantage of the emotion and immersive gameplay possible only with the Wii's remarkable controller. The title utilizes the Wii's free-hand style controller for innovation control mechanics, including allowing players are able to hold swords or guns normally or side-armed depending upon how they hold the controller while playing. Meanwhile, it's possible to block incoming attacks using the sword, too. In action, gamers will be able to jump over and take cover behind objects with the flick of the Wii controller.

Gameplay

The game takes advantage of Wii's motion-sensitive controller, along with the Nunchuk attachment, to control a katana and a firearm. Twisting the controller while handling the gun causes the on-screen gun to twist as well. Players can push objects to use them as cover by pushing the controller forward. Shaking the Nunchuk attachment or pressing "right" on the D-Pad reloads the gun. The player can also throw grenades underhand or overhand, employing the controller as the object being thrown.

The AI characters can "care for themselves" according to project leader Roman Campos Oriola; enemies are aggressive, moving around objects and the environment to attack the player (like jumping on a table instead of running around). The developers hold the computer game F.E.A.R. as their standard for the AI.

The AI allows the player to force the enemy mob bosses to surrender, rather than take their lives. The player can shoot the weapon out of the enemy's hands, causing him to surrender. In the swordfighting aspect, a similar option exists. After winning a swordfight, the enemy gets on his/her knees and the player has the choice of whether to deliver a coup de grace or to show mercy. This actually becomes beneficial, as the bosses may then help the player if the player can convince them to join the player's faction, possibly handing over new weapons or paths. A violent approach is also possible, but it may result in the bosses' factions joining Tokai (instead of the player) in his quest for Yakuza control, making the final confrontation with the mobster more difficult.

Recklessness is strongly discouraged by a system that adds 'freeze points' for accuracy/efficiency while using one's weaponry. When a certain number of points is accumulated, the player is able to momentarily freeze time thus allowing for more accurate attacks. And what makes the fights more stunning and enoying are the great soundtracks of Tom Salta[2]

Another aspect of multiplayer is that when playing a Killer match, the remote acts as a telephone using its internal speaker. It rings for the player to place it against their ear. The mission objectives are then given without the other players being able to hear what they are.

Weapons

Usable weapons in Multiplayer and Campaign modes.

• 45 Caliber
• Ae Rifle
• M4 Shotgun
• P99
• M40
• Uzi
• Scar
• Type 89
• Type 12
• M412
• MP7

In addition, you are also able to use the regular grenades and in Multiplayer the sword is usable for melee attacks. Note that in multiplayer, you're limit of ammo is slightly lowered

Characters

• Scott Monroe: (Main Protagonist) a man without a description, except that he was Miyu's bodyguard at one point. When he and Miyu first met, he called her a spoiled brat.
• Miyu Sato: Scott's fiancée and Isao's daughter
• Isao Sato: Miyu's late father and Scott's would be future father in law had he not died.
• Tokai: (Main antagonist) takes control of six Yakuza companies
• Otori: Ancient Katana teacher that aids Scott in Katana techniques.
• Harry Tanner: Club owner who gives the player information about the Yakuza
• Mama San Sasori: Tokai's mistress and a beautiful, seductive sword fighter. She is responsible for the siege at the Geisha House.
• Kajima: Highly skilled marksman who practices at Harry's. Teaches player how to use firearms
• Ryuichi: Isao Sato's former lieutenant who betrays him and kidnaps his daughter Miyu and takes her to Tokyo. He is one of the game's principal antagonists.
• Tony Tanaka: Reformed Yakuza member; teaches player basic katana combat
• Mariko: Teaches advanced katana combat and Otori's daughter

Graphics

The May issue of Game Informer magazine had the first ever screenshots of this game, Polaroid photos of which leaked onto blogs and fan sites all over the Internet. Ubisoft Paris claimed they were rendered in real time. The demonstration of the game during Nintendo's E3 2006 press conference seemed to confirm that the in-game graphics were very similar to the shots seen in the magazine. Since the E3 demo, Red Steel went through a major overhaul, to improve the graphics even further.

The associate producer of Red Steel Jean-Baptiste Duval, said in an interview with Australian video game magazine Hyper that the game runs on a modified Unreal Engine 2.5. He said that much of the Ubisoft staff had worked on the engine and knew its strengths and weaknesses. The graphics of the game have been designed to achieve a defining artistic style rather than photorealism.

In the September edition of the Official Nintendo Magazine of Europe, there was a featured article that looked at the newest build of the game. The magazine staff who had the opportunity to play it said that the graphics were looking far more incredible than before, and that "People should be expecting visuals that are a prettier version of Resident Evil 4".

On the TV show "X-Play", one of the co-hosts said that the graphics were "pretty", but not quite up to snuff with the other "Next-Gen" titles that were coming out around the same time. However, Adam Sessler then said that the explosions looked really good.

Multiplayer

Red Steel's innovative way of playing makes it a unique experience compared to most first person shooters. Up to four players can play together on four different maps: Dojo, Restaurant, Games, and Docks. The multiplayer mode is split-screen multiplayer with traditional deathmatches. According to the project leader, "Perhaps most impressive is the fact that although split-screen reduces the amount of on-screen space you are playing in, you don't have to make smaller movements —you can gesture as wildly as you want, and it won't interfere with the other player's on-screen quadrants."

Red Steel features three multiplayer modes, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Killer:

• In Deathmatch, each player fights for himself and must kill as many people as possible to win.
• In Team Deathmatch, the players are in two teams. The team with the most kills wins.
• In Killer, each player fights for himself or herself. The game consists of rounds. At the beginning of each round, each player receives a secret objective through the Speaker of the Wii Remote. The objectives are private. A timer is set that defines the duration of the round. The first player to complete his objective wins the round. Depending on the difficulty of the round, players will be rewarded by different quantities of points. Killer mode is only playable with four players.

Another feature of Red Steel multiplayer is the notion of "bonuses". Before beginning play, each player chooses one of three bonuses: More Damage, More Life, or Unlimited Ammunition. During play, the bonus meter increases for each enemy killed. Once the gauge begins to fill up, players can press the "1" button on the control to activate their selected bonus for a period of time proportional to how full the meter is. It is not possible to use the sword fighting mode in multiplayer, which is every fan was hoping.

Reception

Red Steel was the first third party game on the Wii to have screenshots released. This caused a massive amount of excitement among Nintendo enthusiasts. However, the game was met with a negative response initially at its showing at E3 2006. Many critics complained that the controls were too loose and that the sword fighting portions did not mimic the player's movement with the Wii Remote. Ubisoft later announced that they received the Wii Remote development kits about a month before E3 2006, so they couldn't make the game function in the style that they had originally intended. Ubisoft took this criticism into account, and had announced that the game was being fine tuned. When released, the sword movement now closely, but not exactly, mimics the player's movements on screen.

Critical reception to Red Steel since its release has been mixed. The average score for the game from various media outlets, according to ratings aggregate Game Rankings is 65%.. There was a noticeable difference between American reviews and European reviews, with European reviewers generally giving higher scores. The breakdown is as follows:

• Deeko: 5/10
• Edge Magazine UK: 5/10
• 1UP: 5/10
• Advanced Media Network: 5.5/10 (Not counted toward average)
• GameSpot gave 5.5/10, saying apart from the unique aiming mechanic, Red Steel was thoroughly unimpressive In its Best & Worst 2006 Red Steel was nominated for the "Most Disappointing Game" and "Worst Game Everyone Played" category, 'losing', but earning the reader's choice.
• IGN US: 6/10
• IGN UK: 8.0/10
• Xplay gave the game a 3/5 noting the new ideas were enjoyable
• GameBrink: 70/100
• Game Informer: 7.5/10
• Cheat Code Central: 3.8/5
• GameTrailers: 7.8/10
• eToychest: 78/100
• Console Game World: 79/100
• Gamesmaster 79%
• Nintendo Power Volume 211: 8.0/10
• Computer & Video Games: 8/10
• Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the game a 34/40 (8/9/9/8) (Not counted toward average)
• NGamer: 90%
• Official Nintendo Magazine: 91%
• Linkingames: 7/10

Further criticism regards a cursor glitch, or "rubber-band effect," in which the cursor frequently reappears in the center of the screen, deterring movement and aiming. This can be resolved by muting all active Wii Remotes.

Red Steel sold over 1,000,000 copies worldwide.

Trivia

• Due to an early, mislabelled box for the game in PAL regions, a rumor arose that Ubisoft was not going to convert the game to 576i, and that only people with 480p compatible TV sets would be able to run the game. Ubisoft later clarified that this was not the case, and that the box should have read "EDTV/HDTV Compatible" instead of "EDTV/HDTV Only." [3]
• While the robotic rabbit puts one through puzzles, there are certain parts where one can hear the famous scream of the Rabbids from Rayman Raving Rabbids. The scream is played and then stopped, then it rewinds itself and plays again over and over again.
• In a video viewable on IGN and Electric Playground, a very early version of Red Steel is shown, in which the aiming was much different. Ironically, the change to a wider aiming box and slower turning was a main point of criticism for the final Red Steel build.

Sequel

A Sequel has been confirmed by Ubisoft, no release date is set, and is not yet in development. [4] [5]

External links

• Official Red Steel site
• Official Red Steel community
• Red Steel at IGN
• Red Steel at 1UP
• Sliced Gaming interview
• [6] Interview with Lead Game