Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu has given Red Steel for the Wii a very nice review score of 34/40. This would be an 8.5 in English. American reviewers have not responded to the game well, but the odd thing is, besides Nintendo Power’s review, Red Steels two highest scores came from European sources (NGamer UK, Computer and Video Games UK). These Euro-sources are the only two obviously non-American reviews of the game, too.
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So does this mean anything? Do foreigners like Red Steel more than decent, hardworking, red blooded Americans? The Japanese enjoying the title makes some sense. The country has never been impressed with our FPS output and the genre didn’t really catch on there. So a FPS with a different control scheme, more Japaneseness, and possibly added suck appeals to them. Maybe Ubisoft has found a way to sell America’s favorite genre to the Japanese. If they polish their Red Steel for the sequel, maybe they’ll have a hit in Asia.
But I haven’t really figured out why Europe, at least based on the limited number of reviews, seems happier with Red Steel than the US. Is it because Americans are obese and hate the Wii because it makes them move? Is it because as much as they pretend, Europeans they don’t really have our refined taste in FPS? Is it because Europeans are more open minded and don’t dislike games with Asian people in them? Is it because of an unnamed, less stupid, fourth reason?
I was surprised to see the score from Famitsu, as well. You know what’s going to start happening? There are going to be some reviewers that just don’t play the game correctly. You can see this by Wii Sports Boxing. IGN completely destroyed it, saying it is nearly unplayable. I have not found this as a problem at all. Other people have commented in the same way, that boxing is amazingly good fun. This may be the problem with Red Steel. It’s probably just a coincidence that Americans were the only ones not getting it. I have played it enough to say that it’s definitely a lot better than the 5 and 6’s that it’s been getting. I’d probably give the score that Famitsu gave it, maybe a little lower. 80, probably.
Pat and I were just discussing earlier today that the Wii requires more from the player than other consoles. Actions with the wand can all be pared down and you can figure out the minimum movements necessary then sit on your couch and play. Or you can stand up and get into it. I can understand some people wanting the system to require them to get really into the movements, but then of course people would complain about that, too. The Wii, to a large extent, gives you back what you put into it. If you’re willing to move around and enjoy yourself, you’ll have more fun with the games.
Yeah dude, people complain about anything and everything. Wasn’t Zelda put on the Wii because there was such a huge demand for it? I’m not sure. If it was, it seems now that people keep saying Zelda barely uses the Wii-mote, and that it’s just plain bad for the Wii. Fuck people, make up your minds!
I think Zelda uses the Wiimote a ton. A lot more than I was expecting. Granted, you can do almost anything with just the nunchuck and the A button, but it’s a hell of a lot more fun to use the pointer. I’m really enjoying how the game sounds come out of the Wiimote speakers (like the "secret song," sword slashes and Midna’s giggles). It really makes the playing field seem like the whole room instead of a 2-D television screen. One thing I noticed about Wii Sports is that it actually requires finesse with your movements. You can’t just wildly swing the Wiimote all over the place and expect the system to respond to every action. A lot of reviewers are saying this is a fault with the system and that it’s not sensitive enough, but I think it’s an actual game mechanic.
Yeah, I don’t mind the sounds coming from the wii-mote at all. I think it adds a lot. It does sound grainy, but once I turned the volume to the highest setting, it actually sounded better. Wii Sports probably uses it the best. It sounds completely realistic when you have a very basic SFX coming from it.