COD Black Ops Wii - FK's continuing adventures with Nintendo's finest!

Apart from the ginger gene, the only thing my three sons share explicitly, is the opinion that Call Of Duty (online) rocks. It's the only thing they can agree on as far as videogames go -their gaming preferences outside of the franchise go like this - Joe (20): Fifa, Martin (17): Dead Space, Ted (14): World Of Warcraft -see what I mean?

On the subject of Call Of Duty, however they are in full agreement. Every new edition of the game must be bought faithfully for full price on the day of release - pre-ordered and at a midnight launch preferably- and (most importantly) that from the point of getting the game into the house, right up until the next COD launch, the game will ONLY be played as a multiplayer, online experience.

I could not be more different. I have no compulsion to play these games as and when they are released. I cannot (despite the desire to play) cope with the game online! To me it is a panick stricken, jarring, frenetic, disorienting experience. On top of that, a humiliating one as I simply get picked off by other players repeatedly until the game session ends.

I DO love the franchise though. I've played a variety of the series offerings across a variety of consoles - PS2, PS3, Xbox 360 - I've even played two COD games (COD 4 and COD: World At War) on the DS! But until this month, I'd never played one on the Wii.

Nice graphics for the Wii doncha think?

It was with a look of wearied disbelief, followed by stifled giggles that my sons enquired why I was choosing to depart from the world of the 'serious' gamer, to play the shoddy and inferior offering presented to Wii gamers. Well, I'll answer that question right away!

Ultimately it was the price... Black Ops for the Wii was available for £15 (inc. postage), whereas it's 360/Ps3 cousins were costing above £25, even for pre-owned. It also served as a sweetener, when I took the risky decision of having a Wii only summer... I had read enough reviews online to know that the Treyarch boys had done a rather grand job of furnishing Wii gamers with a faithful edition of the game... not some embarrassing child-like "Wii edition" - the option chosen by some high profile releases - Ghostbusters for example, or even a "down graded" version of the game - the accusation levelled at Dead Rising, the game mentioned a couple of posts ago.

As far as I can tell, apart from a few control issues with the nunchuck and wiimote at times, the Wii version offers a full and comparable alternative to the games I've seen on the Ps3 and Xbox 360. I'd be a liar if I said the graphics were as good as it's high def relations, but they look pretty good for the Wii. Essentially the game offers the same high octane, constantly moving, thoroughly enjoyable experience, for a fraction of the price. (And I've not even played the zombies mode yet!)

Most of the Wii games I've bought this summer: Chop Till You Drop, Cursed Mountain, House Of The Dead 2&3 Return, Red Steel 2, Scarface The World Is Yours, and Dead Space Extraction - cost about £7-8 pre-owned. Ghost Squad and, Gunblade NY cost £5 pre-owned. Geometry Wars and No More Heroes? £2.99! This could be a reflection of sales, but is not a reflection of game quality. The Wii is a mine of untapped potential for serious gamers... You've just got to sift through a LOT of crap, to find the games worth playing. As you can see from the list of titles accquired this summer, I've still got a lot of play left in my Wii before I dust off the old Xbox again!

Maworld Purchased

I picked up Madworld for the Wii second hand for £13. I guess I'm now guilty of not supporting this mature, original Wii content first hand, and therefore fuelling the accusation that the Wii is only for family friendly fun games. (But I NEVER buy them however) I remember J and Junlee being up for this one when it was in development. Then we all lost interest in our Wiis and I guess the game was forgotten to an extent.

That means I've now got Madworld and House Of The Dead Overkill to play. I just never play the Wii! Still, Resident Evil the Darkside Chronicles are out soon, so, I'm gonna have to dust it off and get used to sitting in the front room to play!

Mad World Really Suited To The Wii (Apparently...)

Because I've been out of the blogging loop completely for the last month, Junlee and J have monopoloised the news on the next game that could make me think that the Wii was a valid purchase. Why it's 'Mad World' that black and white blood bath that seems the most interesting game to hit Nintendo's overly franchised market place since 'No More Heroes'.

I'll buy it and play it, hopefully I'll love it too. The Wii has held such a low place in my console world that I've actually let my son take it out of the living room and have it in his bedroom as an outlet for his Smash Bros obsession.

For me the 360 rules. i'm locked into GTA IV, the Wii means nothing.

Maybe this litle taster from the CVG newsletter that I regularly receive might explain why the Wii is still a valid console for real gamers. It's already lost the race as far as I'm concerned...

"Platinum Games chose Wii as the platform for its ultra-violent, black and white blood bath, MadWorld, because "it feels like a game that is at home" on Nintendo's console. Hmmm...

Speaking to CVG Platinum Games' Atsushi Inaba said the pick up and play nature of the controversial action game made it a good fit for Wii."We're really interested in the Wii platform so we wanted to create a really cool and stylish game for that," said Inaba.

"As you can see [from our Leipzig presentation] it's really easy to pick up and play so when we came up with the concept of Mad World the Wii felt like a good console for that. It feels like a game that is at home on Wii."MadWorld recently riled up a ton of controversy in the newspaper press for bringing extreme violence to Nintendo's otherwise "family friendly" console.

Mediawatch-UK even called for it to be banned from British shores."Yes, it's violent. We don't try to hide that, but as publishers, we see it as a fantasy game - it's fantasy violence. It's over the top. It's cartoony," Sega marketing man David Corless told us added.Refreshing? Yes. Needed? Yes. But is Mad World completely "at home" on Wii? Look out for the full interview later today."

RE5 Coming to the Wii?

I've just nicked the following statement from the excellent CVG News letter that I have somehow managed to have posted to me on a regular basis. Lord knows it's difficult enough to bring you any exclusive gaming news without my beautiful contemporaries, Junlee, Funnyman or J bringing it to you first, but I think I may have been quick enough to bring you this... As usual, as it is not my words, I'll quote them in the customary maroon...

"Resident Evil 5 is coming to Wii, apparently. But it's not Nintendo or Capcom that let it slip. It was the president of Sega of America, Simon Jeffrey.

Discussing Nintendo's focus on the core gaming market, Jeffrey said: "The Wii's selling incredible amounts of hardware, but Nintendo knows it needs to expand the demographic. It needs to connect with the core gaming demographic."

He then added: "Resident Evil 5 - when that happens on the Wii that's going to help."

We scrambled for the phone to speak with Capcom who's 'funny' spokesperson gave us this comment: "We have nothing further to announce regarding Resident Evil 5 at this time," adding, sarcastically: "Did you hear about the Sonic MMO, though, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS and Megadrive? And they're bringing back the Dreamcast! Because it was brilliant."

Jeffrey insists the shocking statement during the Kotaku interview was a "simple slip of the tongue", and Reggie says Resi 5 isn't happening "yet".
Still, makes you wonder what Sega may know that we don't..."

Pretty cool huh? As someone who has experienced every Resi game on a variety of consoles from the Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, DS and Wii, I have to say that my best ever RE experience was RE4 on the Wii...

So if this is true, I'm torn between enjoying the graphical splendour of the 360 and the intuitive control system of the Wii. Capcom aren't daft... They want to make as much money as possible from their next Resi installment. 360 owners and PS3 owners will buy this title on the day of release. They know Wii owners will be gagging for more after RE4, RE 0 (Japan only) and Umbrella Chronicles... If they release it on Nintendos finest, it'll be more money in the bank.

No More Heroes

You can't seem to go anywhere in the blogosphere at the moment without people getting all hot under the collar about GTA IV. Personally, I just can't get excited by it. On Saturday I bought 'No More Heroes', the universally acclaimed cell shaded oddyssey of anti-hero, wannabe assassin and cyber punk, Travis Touchdown. This highly original game (described in N-Gamer, -where it acheived a stellar rating of 94%- as "a love letter to gamers") has all the killing, sassy chicks and riding around the city that I need. I can honestly say that this game holds TONS more appeal for me than GTA IV and I will not be in any rush to go out and buy Rockstar's trump card for 2008... (Cue derisory comments from Funnyman... and yes, as far as I know you cannot have sex in this game...)

Having said that, I'm also totally sucked into the world of the Gamecube Resident Evil remake, so I'm having to divide my time between the two. But for the first time in a long time, the Wii is satisfying all my gaming needs and the 360 has been somewhat left behind.

Resident Evil 0 (Wii edition)

As you might have guessed, I'm having my usual Resident Evil enthusiasm period. This happens about once every two months and I get all giddy for anything Resident Evil. Right now I'm praying that the Wii edition of RE Zero (originally brought out to mixed reviews on the Gamecube) becomes a European release as well as a Japanese one.

The Wii edition of RE4 made a great game even better. If this title gets a PAL release, I'd snap it up in a heartbeat. If not, I'm already determined to secure it's Gamecube edition. Anyone out there played it? My only experience of it is the RE Zero section of Umbrella Chronicles and I liked it pretty well!

Billy Cohen? Your Wii destiny awaits!

Resident Evil Remake (GameCube)

Having just about run out of steam on Half Life (I'm about 4/7 of the way through), I needed a break. I do intend to come back to it at some point and will keep a Dreamcast VMU dedicated to it, but sheesh! it's become a grind!

Looking through my "bought but not played" pile of games (not an unsubstantial horde, you understand...) I found the RE remake for the Gamecube. On popping it into the Wii, I was stunned by it's gorgeous graphical representation of environments I'd only ever experienced on the DS - a direct port of the Saturn/PSX version.

Now this could have been partly due to the fact, that for all it's innovation and originality, Half Life on the Dreamcast is no looker! Resident Evil GC on the other and is sumptuous. Now I've played through the DS version this year (my best ever handheld experience) so I know the plot inside out. But there are a lot of twists, variations and expansions to keep those who played the original, more than satisfied. The main variation is that zombies you have dispatched will come back later in the game, twice as fast and fucking scary, unless you blow their heads off or set them on fire! (nice!)

Now, I'm not garanteeing I'll finish this, Resident Evil games have a habit of making me cry, and I'm still stuck on the last boss in UmbrellaChronicles. But for now I'm loving it!

BTW it's really interesting to see how much of RE:GC has been recycled (very sucessfully) in Umbrella Chronicles - character models, environments etc.

I'll let you know how I get on!

Me and the Wii are friends again...

Well this is supposed to be the Wii-kly Sermons isn't it? I've shared my thoughts on the 360 (Bioshock and Gears Of War), the PS2 (God Of War) music and films this year, but have I mentioned the Wii? No...

You see me and the Wii fell out, around the time I got the Wii Zapper whilst it was great for playing Link's Crossbow Training (which even got Mrs. K hooked...) it was diabolical for playing Umbrella Chronicles... Using the Zapper made shooting and QTEs very unrewarding, and thus progress was difficult. I stalled on the game, started playing the PS2 and then forgot about the Wii when the 360 entered the house...

Then I got down right cranky about Umbrella Chronicles, gave it a couple of re-tries and then decided I might even trade it in, and I hadn't even finished the second level.

Then I tried it co-op with my best friend, but then made the mistake of BOTH using the Zapper!

it was fun until we had to shake them about for a QTE and then that was it! They didn't respond, I 'spat my dummy' (an old English phrase meaning I spat out my pacifier in a tantrum) and that was it! Both the Wii and Umbrella Chronicles were finished for me! Harumph!

However, flushed with the success of beating Gears, I decided to give UC another try using the Wiimote and Nunchuck. TADA!!!! Revelation!!!! I've completed two levels and two sub-levels in two nights! As well as playing through the original Resident Evil level, I've unlocked two secret wesker levels that I kicked ass on as well.

Those of you who are aware of my gaming tendencies will know a few facts... I love Resident Evil. It makes me cry tears of rage at really difficult points. I'm a fickle bastard.

So now you'll be unsurprised to know I've come full circle and Umbrella Chronicles is now my new favourite game! the controls are just right, the unlockables and cut scenes fill in a lot of the blanks in the Umbrella Chronicles. The graphics are fabulous and one in the eye for anyone who says the Wii's capabilities are sub-par. I see them as good as Gears or Bioshock... (but then again aren't God Of War's???)

I won't offer any proper sort of review... many people have already done a better job (including J's excellent review.)

I'll just offer the usual screenshots and video, plus the following lovely links! I love you Nintendo Wii! I love you Umbrella Chronicles! I love you world!!!

Umbrella Chronicles Official Site

Umbrella Chronicles Wikipedia

Umbrella Chronicles IGN

Full Of Eastern Promise... Okami

Having finished the amazing God Of war II, I was left with a gaping whole in my gaming life...


What would fill it? Umbrella Chronicles? Erm... nope! Gears Of War? Well... If I'm honest, I found the tutorial on casual mode a tad overpowering... (*FK blushes at his own gaming ineptitude...*)





Still, I had managed to secure Okami for a mere £10 ($20) the other day, and my good friend Nebacha had assured me of it's merits so I thought "what the heck?" and decided to give it a go...



An epic Japanese tale of a land laid destitute by evil monsters, your mission is to restore ancient Nippon to it's verdant spleandour by heroic and beatific acts, using your ...erm magic paint brush... You play as a mystic white wolf, guided by a little bug type creature... In a land populated by drunken warriors, evil spirits, myopic washer women and stumbling postmen...





Now if all this sounds a litle bizarre, that's because it is... Surreal if you will. What I knew of Okami was that it was a visually stunning game, with cell shaded graphics, drawn in the style of traditional Japanese paintings. Paintings that have come to life...


What I wasn't expecting was the cheesey humour, the cartoon like characters or the Zelda style tasks of treasure hunting, weapon collecting, potion gathering, container breaking or spell casting... And it's none the worse for any of that!

The babbling none-language of the protagonists (sounding like a Japanese "Morph") was a little off putting at first, as was the seemingly never ending opening sequence, but the more I play it, the more charmed I am, and increasingly drawn in to boot!

Now I'll throw in a couple of pics, a handful of links and a bit of video so you can make sense of this rambling nonsense, but it's clear to see why this game has earned a place in the prestigious Games TM magazine's prestigious top ten PS2 games of all time...

Now, like many great games of the past, despite being critically acclaimed, was a commercial failure. Perhaps too off beat and unusual for Western gamers, the franchise is being resurrected for another chance to wow the gaming public, this time on the Wii.



It's clear to see how the Wiimote could make an excellent controller for the magic paint brush and by waving it around, one could either hack and slash enemies or with a majestic sweep of the wrist, bring life back to a scorched an arrid, demonic wasteland...


Who knows? If done well (like RE4 Wii Edition) this could be within the top ten Wii games by next year... I hope so, as the game needs to be shared with a wider audience! Here's the links, check 'em out and enjoy!!



Okami Official Website


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ÅŒkami


Okami IGN

House Of The Dead Wii Compilation!

As if it wasn't exciting enough to be only six days away from a new and exclusive, Resident Evil (Umbrella Chronicles) title to be hitting our shores within six days, I've just become "all of a flutter", about the chance of more zombie ass kicking, with the Wii Zapper, from a Wii exclusive re-issue of HOTD2 and HOTD3 on the Wii!

This is a franchise which I've loved on both the Saturn and the Dreamcast (HOTD1 & HOTD2 respectively) and also in the arcades. Indeed, this was my first experience of video game zombie ass kicking, and I've since become somewhat obsessed with the pastime...

Whilst Sega's odyssey comes nowhere close to the massive epic delivered to us by Capcom, the storyline is a good one. Basically it's a plague of zombies thrust onto an unsuspecting population by an evil corporation. And it's the job of a crack team of agents to try and clear it up! Sounds familiar?


But HOTD differed from the Resident Evil franchise, due to it's FPS light gun credentials, which until recent times made it far more appealing and accessible to me. The RE 'Gun Survivor' series attempted to bridge the gap, but somewhat unsuccessfully. Umbrella Chronicles will hopefully silence critics of Capcom's 'Gun Survivor' outings.

But Sega aren't missing out on the potential of the Wii for Light Gun games. For those of you happy with your last (and last-but-one) gen light gun games comes the problem, that HDTV doesn't gel well with last gen light guns. Want to play HOTD1 (Saturn), HOTD2 (Dreamcast) or HOTD3 (Xbox) on your HDTV? Well you can't!


Technology has moved on! However, the Wii zapper is completely compatable with your lovely new telly, so if you want any HOTD action, this game is the one for you...

I really don't have a problem with classic 'last gen' games being given a rebirth on the Wii. Putting last gen titles up for another outing on newer consoles (or vice versa) is nothing new.
I've been around long enough to see both new titles re-released on their older brothers (Simpsons, RE4, Michael Jackson's Moonwalker or Altered Beast anyone?)

The only gripe I've heard about the HOTD Wii edition, is that it doesn't include a graphically polished re-issue of the heavily pixellated Saturn original. Not one to moan, I'd also like to add that if we wanted a complete a 'dream package' we'd have to include the much under-rated Zombie Revenge. It's a Dreamcast exclusive that places the whole HOTD world in a third person perspective. And what a fun outing it is! ( And maybe we could sneak in Typing Of The Dead too?) Click on the link to see more...

Anyway it looks like the Wii is beginning to deliver some quality games that might not share the limelight of it's bigger profile releases, but has certainly got this correspondent more excited about his latest console, than he has been for some time.

Jesus! The next thing they'll be telling me is that there's a new edition of NiGHTS coming out...

Oh and IGN have confirmed the whole outing thus...

"US, November 16, 2007 - Following leaks from Europe yesterday, SEGA of America has officially announced that is planning to bring updated versions of House of the Dead 2 and 3 to Wii in 2008's spring season. The two arcade games will come packaged together on one Wii disc in a set SEGA is calling The House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return.

Gamers who pick up the compilation will be able to play both classic arcade titles, "battling the relentless attack of bloodthirsty zombies with steady aim and a quick trigger finger." As with all Wii on-rails shooter, House of the Dead 2 & 3 Return fully utilize the Wii remote, which can alternatively be housed in the Zapper shell to simulate a light-gun.

The two titles will feature more than six gameplay modes, including Arcade Mode and Time Attack, according to SEGA. In addition, up to two players can target zombies simultaneously in the title's cooperative mode.
"The House of the Dead franchise has been revitalized for today's gamer looking for non-stop shooting action on the Wii," said Rick Naylor, director of marketing, SEGA of America. "This will take gamers back to experience the celebrated first-person arcade shooter that was so popular in the late '90s."
When asked, SEGA said the titles are being developed by AM1/HIC and further noted that it's too early to comment on whether or not the Wii efforts would feature significant content changes or graphic improvements."

This is Father Krishna, in Raccoon City, signing out for Sky News At Ten... LOL! :)

Super Mario Galaxy Screenshots

Having been something of a Sega fanboy for most of my gaming life, I never really got into those crazy I-talian plumbers. In fact, apart from Donkey Kong at the arcade, the odd flirtation with the original Super Mario Land on the Gameboy and enjoying the film adaptation with Bob Hoskins, that everyone else thought was a crock of utter shit, I've really had no interest in Mario at all.

But since the day I got hold of my DS, I've become something of a Nintendo convert and of course, now proud Wii owner. These days I've softened towards our little moustachioed friend, although he doesn't evoke the sense of nostalgia and familiarity that Sonic does.

But all that is about to change with two new titles that are exciting me lately. One is Mario and Sonic At The Olympics (about which, more later!) and the other is the upcoming Super Mario Galaxy. Looking like a cross between Mario 64 and NiGHTS, this is one of the titles that featured heavily in the Wii promo videos, but gamers have had to wait an age for it's arrival.

Getting some great write ups recently, I will probably rent before I buy. Who knows? Maybe it'll be the turning point and finally Mario will mean as much to me as he does some of my blogging contemporaries... God! One day I might even care about Link! And talking about links

(he! he!) enjoy the links below... If you're unfamiliar with J's Corner, it's a fabulous Nintendo resource and also provides a lot of funny stuff and great music!

Super Mario Galaxy Video

J's Corner Of Randomness

Super Mario Galaxy IGN

Nintendo UK

Wii

Latest Download Action On The Wii...

Well the Wii's online features have entranced me. Not the weather or news channel, not the friend code facility, or even the online potential of Mario Charged Strikers Football . It's the easily accessible Retro Treasures on the Virtual Console.

The latest game that has ensnared my credit card is Shinobi 3. The Megadrive original Shinobi was one of my all time favourite games... simplistic, Ninjatastic, 2D-elicious, it's a game that delivers on all levels...

But hey! Let's remember that downloading games comes at a price... the lovely games that I've downloaded have cost me about £21 in total. Now here's the deal... I could have bought about 9 Dreamcast games for that... I could have bought a Megadrive and the two Megadrive games I've downloaded... In fact I could have bought a Dreamcast or a Saturn or even a Gamecube for that...

Am I getting value for money? NO! Whilst it's dead convenient to have them in the main living room on a console that sits under the telly... I'd rather have the original console hooked up to a telly in another room...

Still I had a blast on Shinobi today... I played the game far worse than I played the original 15 years ago, I was crap! I used to be quite adept when the Megadrive was my main console, maybe I need to hone my Retro skills.

Would I reccomend it? Hell yeah! It's a fecking awesome game... But for someone like me who is both overly nostalgic and an impulsive spend-a-holic, the Virtual Console is not necessarily a great thing!

Now back to the Wii...

Its been some time since I had the opportunity to tell you anything that's been going on in my Wii world, 'cos frankly, well nothing has... For about a month it was shoved away in a draw, with no action whatsoever happening on it... The Saturn got played, the Dreamcast got played, the DS got the occasional airing and the PS2 began to grow on me as a console... But the Wii? Well frankly, nothing... Then I gave one of my only Gamecube games, Metroid Prime 2 an outing, but it didn't grab me much... But at least the Wii was hooked up again...

My youngest Ginger, Ted, borrowed Zelda: Twilight Princess off a mate of mine, but again, I didn't bother with it. I need to play some of the older games before I give that an outing...

Having been flushed with love for Red Steel, I got stuck on a particularly tricky sword fight, so I've faltered on my progress with that, (however it's a game I really want to finish at some point...)

But the old Wii got a new lease of life recently, when I hooked up a wireless broadband connection over here at Krishna Towers, and the world of the Wii Online finally came to life in the Early family home...

The Weather and News Channels failed to excite me much, although I guess they're rather cool.

But what did float my boat, was the chance to rinse out my credit card one more time, downloading Retro classics on the Virtual Console, and finally understood what the 'Classic Controller' I'd bought for myself was all about...

First of all I downloaded the most excellent Megadrive/Genesis title, "Comix Zone". I'd never even played this title (or knew about it 'back in the day',) but had read a glowing review of it in the wonderful Retro section of the most excellent Games TM Magazine.

Such a fabulously original concept, the game revolves around the concept of a comic artist getting sucked into his own comic book, then having to battle his gruesome artistic creations in a lovely sidescrolling platformer/beat 'em up... The game is a glorious visual feast, looking for all the world like a living comic, with our hero moving from frame to frame, both left to right and up and down, ripping the 'page' where necessary to progress... The colours are lurid and the musical score and soundbites of dialogue compliment the game nicely. Its clear that this game must have pushed the capabilities of the Megadrive to its limits. The game is clearly a labour of love, and stands out as unique in it's genre... Check out it's Wikipedia entry here...




The nextgame I've downloaded is Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Originally out on the N64, this is one of the most 'modern' games available on the VC. I can't tell you too much about it, as I've only played what amounts to the game's tutorial. But my first impression is that it is a good looking game, with a rather complex control system! If the VC can support 64 bit titles, then hopefully it will soon be supporting 32 bit Saturn titles too... But for now, at least the Wii is a working console in my home again, and as a bonus, my Retro repertoire is expanding. For more Zelda goodness look here...




But hey, if you want a definitive guide to the Retro potential of the Wii, may I point you in the direction of my brother, Gnome and this rather stunning post...

For a damning review of Streets Of Rage 3 on the VC, head over to J's place here...

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!

Red Steel - Ubi Soft
Uploaded by Luciole_Keikoku