Red Steel 2 - hands on

Never played the original, but if this wasn't how Red Steel functioned before, then I'm frightened...because this one feels pretty good.

For all it promotes, the Wii Motion Plus (or WM+) does its job nicely. While I still get the feeling that the actions are set, the orientation is pretty accurate. The controls are quick to grasp, and it wasn't long until I was parrying and side-stepping my way through enemies.

Of course, just like E3 '06, the barrage of lights like to screw up the Wii-mote sensors, and the Red Steel rep was kind enough to remind me to point it at the screen every once in a while when he sensed my frustration. It's good to know they're trained to acknowledge the issue.

My only complaint would have to be the camera issue. I constantly forgot that my aiming and turning are solely dependant on my on-screen cursor.

Red Steel is shaping up to be something good for the Wii, so here's hoping that, with a little more fine-tuning, the game will finally get its moment to shine again.

And, for the record, the guy ahead of me played as if he were driving railroad spikes.