Red Steel (Wii)
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Red Steel
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| Publisher: | Ubisoft |
| Developer: | Ubisoft Paris |
| Alternative Title: | Katana (Development Codename) |
| Release date: | JP: 2/December/2006 NA: 19/November/2006 EU: 8/December/2006 AU: 7/December/2006 |
| Genre: | First-Person Shooter |
| Number of Players: | 1-4 |
| Rating: | ESRB - T - Teen PEGI/ELSPA - 16+ CERO - C |
| Platform: |  Nintendo Wii
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| Media: | DVD-ROM |
| Online Functions: | No |
Using both modern weapons and a legendary sword, the Katana Giri, Scott Monroe must head to Japan to confront the Oyabun (Yakuza godfather) responsible for a Yakuza attack that left his father-in-law dead and his fiancé kidnapped.
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Story
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Scott Monroe, the protagonist of the game, is engaged to Miyu Sato, daughter of Isao Sato. At a hotel in Los Angeles, Scott is to meet Isao for the first time. A gang manages to disguise themselves as the hotel staff, and open fire on Sato's room. Scott tries to help, but is knocked unconscious. He awakens and grabs a pistol off a dead bodyguard and meets up with Isao on the roof, who is injured.
Scott learns the ways of the Katana from Isao after being attacked by a waiter with a sword. Isao and Scott retreat to Isao's personal suite, where Scott covers Miyu, Isao, and Ryuichi, one of Isao's guards, as they head to their car in the parking lot. Scott eventually meets up with them, but Ryuichi turns on them and kidnaps both Isao and Miyu. Scott pursues the car and saves Isao after shooting the car and besting the driver in sword combat. Ryuichi manages to escape with Miyu.
At the Little Tokyo, the store of Tony Tanaka, Isao's friend in Los Angelas, Sato is revealed to be the Oyabun of one of the largest Yakuza families. To track down Ryuichi, Scott raids the Angel's Heaven, whom Ryuichi's mistress, Angel, owns, and Extreme Wheels, Ryuichi's car workshop. Ryuichi confronts Scott at an airport and bests him in combat, but spares him. He escapes to Japan with Miyu. The enemies will only hand Miyu over if the Katana Giri, a katana once used to execute dishonorable godfathers, was given as ransom. Isao gives Scott the Giri, and dies of his injuries.
At Tokyo, Scott makes contact with Otori, a samurai, and Harry Tanner, nightclub owner, who assist him in tracking down Ryuichi. Harry leads Scott to a waste processing plant off the coast of Tokyo, where Ryuichi delivers Miyu to Tokai, the antagonist of the game. Ryuichi duels Scott again, but is defeated. Scott spares him, but Ryuichi is murdered by a sniper while giving information to Scott.
Tokai is revealed to have taken over the major districts: the financial, gaming, Geisha houses, and docks, bringing down the Sanro Kai, the leaders of these districts. The Kai work together with Scott to convince the new leaders of these districts given control by Tokai to be on their side to bring down Tokai.
Eventually, Scott delivers the Giri to Otori. Back at Harry's bar, Tokai was waiting for Scott in the conference room. Harry suddenly turned on Scott; knocking him unconscious. Scott is brought down into the cellar to be tortured by Dozan, one of Tokai's henchmen. Scott manages to grab a sword and bring down Dozan, and escape the cellar to interrogate Harry. Harry grabs a katana and battles Scott, giving him information after he is defeated. Whether Harry lives or dies, like most duels, is up to the player.
Harry reveals that Tokai has raided Otori's dojo, hiring the Komori, a new wave of ninjas. The attack is thwarted, and Scott travels to one of Tokai's bases, where he is going to execute the members of the Sanro Kai. He duels Tokai, learning he wanted the Giri to kill the Kai; they killed Tokai's father with the sword, and he wanted to kill them with the same sword they used against him. Scott bests him and saves most of the Sanro Kai, but Tokai escapes. Scott pursues, and duels the Komori leader. He overcomes the Komori leader, but it is unknown whether life or death of the leader is canonical.
Otori and Scott travel to Tokai's private residence for the final battle, where Otori is poisoned by a poisonous blade. Scott battles Tokai one last time, and overcomes him, but spares him after learning Tokai has the antidote for Otori's poison. Scott defends Tokai from Otori, breaking the Katana Giri. Otori respected Scott's action and now honors him. Otori is cured with the antidote.
At the end of the game, all the characters are at Isao's funeral. The Sanro Kai explains that they understand Tokai's motivations for his actions, but he must be punished.
An alternate ending takes place if Scott fails to defend Tokai from Otori. Otori kills Tokai and dies, while it is assumed that Scott and Miyu escape and return to America.
Spoilers end here.
Gameplay
The game takes full advantage of Wii's motion-sensitive controller, along with the Nunchuk attachment, to control a katana and a firearm. The game is extremely immersive (e.g. 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 lob grenades in a more realistic fashion, with 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 is completely unique, with an option that 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 grâce 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 will not be as beneficial, wise, or encouraged. The bosses' factions may actually join Tokai (instead of the player) in his quest for Yakuza control, making the final confrontation with the mobster more difficult.
The game places less influence on killing the enemy and a greater influence on defeating them and convincing them to join the player rather than the opposing faction. Recklessness will be strongly discouraged by a unique 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.
Another interesting 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.
Screenshots
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Review Scores
- NGamer - 90% (Issue #4)
- Deeko: 5/10
- Edge Magazine UK: 5/10
- 1UP: 5/10 [6]
- 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 [7] In its Best & Worst 2006 Red Steel was nominated for the Most Disappointing Game category, but 'lost'.[8]
- IGN gave 6/10 [9]
- Xplay gave the game a 3/5 noting the new ideas were enjoyable [10]
- 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% of 100%
- IGN UK: 8.0/10 [11]
- 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)
- Official Nintendo Magazine: 91% of 100%
Trivia
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Credits
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