Post by Gilvan Blight on Feb 19, 2007 8:36:59 GMT -5
Quickly: Now this is what that funky control system is for, too bad there's some bugs.
Summary: this one is a FPS action movie with a very Hong Kong style to it. You are tossed right into action when out for dinner with your fiance about to meet her rich asian father. On the way to the private lounge armed attackers appear and start shooting the place up. You first have to resque the father and then your now kindnapped fiance. Along the way you will use a variety of fire arms and a combination of Katana and Wakisashi to plow through all the mooks and get the girl.
The Good: the controls! Finally a Wii game that uses the Wii's unique control scheme. From the moment you use the Wiimote to look at fish during the training stage you can tell this game is going to involve a new level of interactivity. You use the Wiimote to aim and fire mostly and the nunchuck to do everything else. Everything else includes a lot more then walking with the analog stick and hitting buttons to duck and jump. You move it up and down quickly to open door, you quickly tip it upwards to knock over tables, you jerk it left and right to parry with your wakisash and you tip it downwards to pick up items off the ground. Combine this with using the Wiimote as the hilt of your sword and you get a very natural and very fun control scheme. Even neater are some of the 'secondary' motions. For example if you can hold down the A button to lock on, them move your wiimote closer to the Screen to zoom in and back to zoom out. An odd motion at first but one that become natural pretty quickly. I've only played this for a couple of hours, but the story thus far has been excellent action movie fair. All the characters are voice acted as are the mooks who make amusing comments. The soundtrack is very impressive and is also interactive as the music gets louder and heavier the more inense the action, and drops down to ambiance when not in the thick of things.
The Bad: This one can be difficult. I've found myself having to repeat a few sections of this due to a 'cheap kill' coming around a corner or something like that. Usually the second time around you know what's coming so it's not much of a delay. Along with that is the fact that saving checkpoints are few and far between. What I really don't get is it will say Checkpoint and load for a bit, but when you save or die you don't go back to that Checkpoint but one two checkpoints previous. I'm not sure quite what it's saving and when so never really know when it's safe to put the game down unless I have finished a chapter. No online play! This makes no sense. The Wii has built in WiFi. It's set to be only 24/7 with WiiConnect 24. You have a FPS, pretty much the most popular style of online game. But no online play. Why not?
The Ugly: A few bugs. These seems to be clipping issues with the 3d engine. I have thus far seen a mook floating in mid air shooting at me and one standing in the middle of a table. The controlls. While awsome they way the use the Wiimote you can tell this is a launch title and that they are still 'working on it' The swordplay is fun but it's not natural as there is a milisecond lag and you have to use slow sweeping motions as upposed to quick swings. It takes a bit to get used to and just seems like it could be so much more responsive and better. This aspect of the game really makes me think that a Red Steel 2 has the potential to be an amazing game, where as this is just a good one, if they work out the control issues.
Overall: this game finally uses the Wii Controllers in a way that is in line with their potential. Even though it's not perfect and there is definately some lag when swordfighting, its a ton of fun and most of the motions are so natural you will stop thinking about them after mere seconds. This combined with the rather cool Hong Kong style action plot makes you feel like you are Chow Yun Phat walking around blasting and slashing mooks, and that's a good thing. I suggest a rental, just in case you don't like this style of control or can't take the minor issues. I also don't know how long this one is, FPS's aren't usually known for their length or replay value, without online play.
Summary: this one is a FPS action movie with a very Hong Kong style to it. You are tossed right into action when out for dinner with your fiance about to meet her rich asian father. On the way to the private lounge armed attackers appear and start shooting the place up. You first have to resque the father and then your now kindnapped fiance. Along the way you will use a variety of fire arms and a combination of Katana and Wakisashi to plow through all the mooks and get the girl.
The Good: the controls! Finally a Wii game that uses the Wii's unique control scheme. From the moment you use the Wiimote to look at fish during the training stage you can tell this game is going to involve a new level of interactivity. You use the Wiimote to aim and fire mostly and the nunchuck to do everything else. Everything else includes a lot more then walking with the analog stick and hitting buttons to duck and jump. You move it up and down quickly to open door, you quickly tip it upwards to knock over tables, you jerk it left and right to parry with your wakisash and you tip it downwards to pick up items off the ground. Combine this with using the Wiimote as the hilt of your sword and you get a very natural and very fun control scheme. Even neater are some of the 'secondary' motions. For example if you can hold down the A button to lock on, them move your wiimote closer to the Screen to zoom in and back to zoom out. An odd motion at first but one that become natural pretty quickly. I've only played this for a couple of hours, but the story thus far has been excellent action movie fair. All the characters are voice acted as are the mooks who make amusing comments. The soundtrack is very impressive and is also interactive as the music gets louder and heavier the more inense the action, and drops down to ambiance when not in the thick of things.
The Bad: This one can be difficult. I've found myself having to repeat a few sections of this due to a 'cheap kill' coming around a corner or something like that. Usually the second time around you know what's coming so it's not much of a delay. Along with that is the fact that saving checkpoints are few and far between. What I really don't get is it will say Checkpoint and load for a bit, but when you save or die you don't go back to that Checkpoint but one two checkpoints previous. I'm not sure quite what it's saving and when so never really know when it's safe to put the game down unless I have finished a chapter. No online play! This makes no sense. The Wii has built in WiFi. It's set to be only 24/7 with WiiConnect 24. You have a FPS, pretty much the most popular style of online game. But no online play. Why not?
The Ugly: A few bugs. These seems to be clipping issues with the 3d engine. I have thus far seen a mook floating in mid air shooting at me and one standing in the middle of a table. The controlls. While awsome they way the use the Wiimote you can tell this is a launch title and that they are still 'working on it' The swordplay is fun but it's not natural as there is a milisecond lag and you have to use slow sweeping motions as upposed to quick swings. It takes a bit to get used to and just seems like it could be so much more responsive and better. This aspect of the game really makes me think that a Red Steel 2 has the potential to be an amazing game, where as this is just a good one, if they work out the control issues.
Overall: this game finally uses the Wii Controllers in a way that is in line with their potential. Even though it's not perfect and there is definately some lag when swordfighting, its a ton of fun and most of the motions are so natural you will stop thinking about them after mere seconds. This combined with the rather cool Hong Kong style action plot makes you feel like you are Chow Yun Phat walking around blasting and slashing mooks, and that's a good thing. I suggest a rental, just in case you don't like this style of control or can't take the minor issues. I also don't know how long this one is, FPS's aren't usually known for their length or replay value, without online play.