Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Red Steel U-Turn!


What can I say? I'm grateful for any readers I can get on any of my blogs, but DAMN! How many U-Turns can I make? The latest is Red Steel... Having wavered and sat on the fence about Red Steel, now I'm doing a complete U-Turn! I love this game!!!

Story? Well the story is pretty standard, you're an L.A. Cop about to marry the daughter of a Japanese Yakuza boss, only on the eve of your wedding, they get kidnapped!!! You then have to battle your way through the game to get them back! Of course you're gonna have to travel from L.A. to Japan, slash and shoot your way through a variety of unfamiliar environments, battle Yakuza and gangsters, and win back your loved one! As a gaijin, you're not going to be well received, but the boss has entrusted you with his sacred katana, so you'll be alright! (See what I'm doing here? I'm dropping in Japanese words like I know shit... And I don't know SHIT!)

Graphics? Well here's the deal... I recently bitched on the Dreamcast Junkyard about how these graphics weren't a patch on Shenmue, which was a last-gen title produced on an older system, over six years ago!... and thats true! The graphics on the Dreamcast's Shenmue far excede this game's, but the money that went into Shenmue, far excede the money that went into Red Steel, and besides, Red Steel is more about the gameplay, more of which later... Ubisoft focused on the control system and it's swordman's-ship... So we'll concentrate on that for now... In a recent video review from IGN that I watched, they accused the graphics of being abit "carboardy"... Now I know that's not a real word but I understand what they were talking about... The cut scenes are 2D animations (and the loading times are criminal), but as a contrary mofo, I'll postulate that within the context of the game they work!!

Musical score? OK! One of the best musical score of any game I've ever played! The only score that can fit the bill as well, in any media I've ever experienced would be the musical score for the Matrix! (And that was damn fine!!!) There's plenty of J Pop (which I've come to love through J and Elderly) sprinkled into the mix, as well as excellent anonymous 'action music' that springs into life whenever you've got a Yakuza battle on your hands... Did I mention my love of all things Japanese? Since playing Shenmue, I've been a Japanophile... I love the language, the culture, the rendered Cityscapes, the neon signs in Japanese... BASICALLY EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!


Gameplay? Stunning! This is a FPS peeps, and usually that would have me turning off any console at the start... But somehow I've managed to get past my aversion on this game... I love only being able to see my forearms! Wether carrying a sword or wielding an Uzi, it just feels so RIGHT! You've got a forgiving "checkpoint" game save system, so you never have to replay too much if you fuck up...


Control System? Let's move on! The Wii-mote is your point and click gun, and also your sword... Your nunchuck helpfully reloads your gun, and acts as a parrying, defensive smaller sword... If your arsenal is running low, step over any weapon that you've already got and your bullet count is increased... Better weapon presents itself, and you can swap! Basically, as you progess through the game, you can increase your weapon stash! Which is good! You've got a lot of enemies to fight! And sword fighting is just great! Use your Wii-mote to hack and slash, your nunchuck to defend and parry... Once you've played a bit this becomes intuitive and you can defeat the most hardcore bosses...

Oh! and I forgot to mention that I'm playing this game using the official strategy guide? For those of you that don't know what that is, it's a walkthrough that is published by the game developer, but you have to pay for! But I didn't! I got mine for free! When I bought Red Steel, I grabbed a strategy guide off the shelf to help me through my quest. Due to a till/register fuck up, the price came up as 1p! And the dude behind the counter gave it me for free!! Happy days!

Links? OK, to create some kind of context and perspective, I'll need to post a few! For better reviews look here, here and here...


And BTW! Can I just say that this is a vastly inferior review than the one that Blogger fucked up! Despite the new auto-save feature Blogger is still a cunt! DON'T TRUST BLOGGER! I'm going on vacation for two weeks to my Lighthouse in Wales, I'm taking my PS2 and DS, so I'll post some reviews of games on those consoles when I get back! Happy days!



14 comments:

Unknown said...

Now you have me convinced the game is worth checking out, but when i fall asleep my subconcious is going to remember all the negative stuff you said earlier.....

....but if i don't fall asleep!

Night 1 in the elderly gamers house, all is quite... elderly is making a cup of tea, a dog barks, earlier elderly had spoken to FK how much he likes dogs.... and tea....

fatherkrishna said...

Elderly! This is a great game! Not that my opinions count for much, cause I'm a contrary bastard! But still, as opinions go and all that... I think its a winner!

NebachadnezzaR said...

OMG, that poster with the girl and the sword is great! I wonder where you find this things, Father...

fatherkrishna said...

Its my duty Nebacha, my purpose in life! All of a sudden, Red Steel is THE game!

Its a doozy! It really is, a fabulous game thats currently got me hooked right in!!!

Now I'm glad I got a Wii again! I could be the worst games reviewer on the planet, 'cos I make snap decisions on five minute's gameplay, then sneak back to them, put in a few hours and just love them!!!!

Red Steel is fast becoming a firm favourite!!

Unknown said...

night 2 in elderly gamers house, elderly has been awake now for over 41 hours,

How come i didn't see those wallpapers last night, they're f*&%% excellent.... love the one where she's sitting down.. .quite the eye FK... you contrary fecker....

I like it here Fk, the ambience is just right...

(elderly makes his 27th cup of black coffee....)

fatherkrishna said...

And I very much enjoy having you here Elderly!

Why are you bouncing around shaking with wild bloodshot eyes?

Here have some cocoa instead of that coffee,dear chap...

*FK sneakily drops a couple of tranquilizers in the cup...*

Now you just lie down over there, while I get you a blanket...

Unknown said...

..(elderly yawns...) thanks FK, love cocoa... wow it tastes great, you made it with milk!!! wow FK your soemthing else...

THUD!!!

zzzzzz!
zzz!

zzzzz!

gnome said...

OK, could I sleep somewhere too? The Lair is trashed, I've been kind to you guys and am really sleepy...

Oh, and lovely review, even though I didn't particularly like Red Steel...

Unknown said...

It's not a bad game at all... I wish the sword play controlled like the guns or I wish they mimicked your every move. I bet they improve on the next one!

Unknown said...

wheres FK? bloody Wales i bet.....

... still it's an opportune time to organise a party.... I'll see what alcohol he's got...

...(heads into back room.....)


holy mother of .........

gnome said...

Hey this bottle seems like one of mine. Bah, anyway...

Let's begin, shall we?

Unknown said...

...you know Gnome.... glug! glug!... i miss the fecker..... his shiny little head... the way he held those desert eagles.... sniff! sniff!..

glug! glug!

how long more to go before he gets back anyhow... Wales... of all places....

fatherkrishna said...

Hi guys! I'm back! *FK looks at the devastated wasteground that was once his home...* Aww! Shit! Did Deitrix have a spare key??? OK tequila... NOOOOO!!! Where's it gone???

*FK whips out emergency cider stash...*

OK things are back to normal...

Unknown said...

Gnome advertised a house party on his myspace site... i swear i just got here... (looks around at devastation.....)... still nothing a lick of paint and a new roof won't can't cure... i'll make the tea... thats if i can find the kettle...

(sorts through the rumble...finds kettle...)

right .. plug sockets... any idea?