Metareview - Red Steel
Ubisoft's closely watched project has failed. True, Red Steel has likely enjoyed enough press to move units through the holiday, but critical reception is decidedly underwhelmed.
Ubisoft's would-be-grand FPS is still broke, dashing hopes that a third-party developer would 'get' Wii at launch. Instead, Nintendo's lust for innovation has again proved to be a hurdle for developers conditioned in the old ways. Give it time.
Game Informer (75/100) - "Aside from Zelda, Red Steel may be the most-anticipated Wii launch title. Unlike our boy in the green tights, this game's doesn't fully deliver on its promise ... Most of Red Steel's faults lie with the game's presentation. Enemies shout annoying obscenities in your direction during every firefight, the cheesy score is bad enough to incite chuckles, and the jaggy graphics look worse than many Xbox and PlayStation 2 games."
IGN (60/100) - "When we first started playing the title, we were prepared to score it in the low 5s because of the controls. Defenders may claim that the Wii is unable to simulate a faster, quicker aiming mechanic, which is untrue. Activision's Call of Duty 3 looks like a mess compared to Ubisoft's effort, but it is still the better shooter because its controls are much more responsive ... [We] think that there will be a lot of gamers who will completely ignore any control drawbacks and focus on the prettier visuals and varied play. But these people will be kidding themselves, for although Red Steel was born to use Wii's controller, it rarely uses it in a satisfyingly intuitive manner."
1UP (50/100) - "[The] four-player splitscreen multiplayer, while somewhat fun, is sooo two gens ago. After playing games online, it's hard to revert back to the archaic act of herding four friends together in a room ... Don't be fooled into thinking Red Steel reinvents the FPS. It's nothing more than a ho-hum shooter with a creative but flawed gimmick stapled on."
