Red Steel - First Look Preview

Facing a lot of attention from gamers when it was first unveiled by Ubisoft, Red Steel looks set to fulfil the dream of anyone who has pretended that the stick or plastic sword they waved around as kids was a real broadsword or katana. Announced early in April, Red Steel was the first third-party title confirmed for Nintendo's Wii, and the console's debut release from the French publisher.

With studios across the Ubisoft group all working on any number of titles at the moment, from Montreal's Assassin's Creed, Montpelier's Rayman Rabid Rabbits, and Shanghai's Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Red Steel is currently being produced by the company's Parisian studio. A first-person action title, Red Steel sees players take control of an American called Tokai who travels to Japan to rescue his girlfriend from the clutches of a Yakuza called Tokai. Discovering that her father Sato is an elderly Yakuza boss, the man receives a katana sword as a weapon against his enemies as he tries to get her back. Cue what's shaping up to be the most important third-person title for Wii announced to date, backed up by the demonstration of the game at Nintendo's E3 conference this year.

Though demonstration lengths of the game have been short, they've been more than enough to get a flavour of what to expect when Red Steel is launched at the end of 2006.

Amidst the very 'Nintendo-ey' titles like Super Mario Galaxy, Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, and Wario Ware: Smooth Moves, there's little doubt that Red Steel does stand out in both visual detail and the actual content of the game. Obviously sword-wielding, gun-toting modern-day warriors aren't the sort of characters you'd usually associate with a Nintendo console, so perhaps it comes as little surprise that the blood and gore won't factor in the game. Furthermore, a key dynamic of Red Steel will revolve around not killing an opponent, instead convincing them to join the player's gang. Somewhat dicing with death, attempts to convince them will see players stop the swing of the sword just next to the enemy...talk about a close shave. Players will also be able to disarm enemies by shooting their guns out of their hands, but if that sounds a tad daunting (after all that requires the gamer to be a good shot), Red Steel allows for players to stop time by using the Focus System and highlight shot points on an enemy before they are made. Comparisons with Rockstar Games' Red Dead Revolver can undoubtedly be seen.

By now pretty much anybody who's heard of Red Steel will know that the player's character won't only carry guns such as shotguns and pistols (the angle of the pistol on screen reflects the angle at which it's held by the player - cue 1990s style side-held guns), but also the Sato's Katana. Swinging the sword with the Wii-mote, players will have total control of the weapon, using it for blocking attacks as well making attacks of their own. Additionally, players will also get the chance to dual-wield swords, which the Wii can manage thanks to the motion sensors in the nunchuk. As you'd expect it does take a bit of time to get used to using both the nunchuk and Wii-mote, all the more so in such a kinetic title as Red Steel. That said, when players get used to it, there's an incredible amount of accuracy to be had, with context sensitive actions (such as opening doors by pushing the controller forward) included in addition to the combat.

An integral part of Red Steel will be the level of enemy AI, with project leader for the game Roman Campos Oriola reportedly commenting that the enemies will take care of themselves. What does this mean in the context of gameplay? Let's just say that players can't expect their opponents to just stand there and take a few bullets in the chest...Enemies will use, and make, cover as they try to stop players from reaching their goal.

Besides the single-player, Ubisoft has also confirmed that Red Steel will feature split-screen multiplayer modes, though specific gametypes and an answer to whether the game will also use online multiplayer via Nintendo WI-Fi Connection, are yet to be made by the publisher. Somehow we'd be surprised if a Deathmatch-type mode didn't feature...they are pretty much obligatory.

Besides the GameCube/Wii transgressing Twilight Princess and Super Mario Galaxy, very few Wii titles have managed to garner as much anticipation and expectation as Red Steel. A counter to anybody who dares suggest that Wii is for kids (something that the GameCube never really managed to shake off completely), the gameplay looks set to give gamers a strong and immersive experience when it's finally released at the end of the year.