Red Steel

Red Steel 2's release is imminent, so I figured it was about time to catch up. Hearing about Red Steel's faults, though, and actually playing them, are two different matters.

Red Steel's problems aren't limited to the terrible controls that everyone already knows about. And boy are they terrible! The aiming dead zone is way too big, and the target/zoom function is just abysmal. But like I was saying - there are plenty of other problems, too, like laughable AI and unfair health/damage balancing (the Yakuza has snipers, and they're not afraid to use them!). The sword-fighting - which is to say, the "steel" part of the Red Steel title - is a joke, nothing more than an insipid mini-game that periodically interrupts the shooting action.

The menu system is easily the worst I've ever seen in anything, game or otherwise; it requires you to drag-and-drop options to select them. Loading times are shockingly long, and the game visibly hangs between almost every encounter, for seconds at a time, to auto-save the checkpoint. To top it off, the storytelling is dumb, the cutscenes are awful (like someone put them together from stock photos and clip-art over a weekend), the graphics are shoddy, and the music is an absolutely nonsensical blend of grunge rock and J-pop.

The one thing this game does right is the weapon variety. Even early on, the guns are satisfyingly differentiated and all fun to use (when the aiming isn't getting in the way).

At least, in this regard, Red Steel beats Kane & Lynch. So far.

Progress: Just got to Tokyo