Red Steel review

Shoot him in the head, then cut it off with a three-foot-long sword. Sounds like the best of both worlds, right? On paper, the blade-and-bullet aggression of Red Steel seems irresistible, but learning the complicated controls and coping with the overall sludgy gameplay really get in the way of any visceral sensations. 

The most glaring control issue appears when you attempt to navigate Red Steel ’s henchmen-populated levels. Turning your character with the remote feels slow and clunky, especially when you're up against a barrage of bullets. As you attempt to adapt, you’ll experience a few chaotic moments when your character is pointing his gun at the ceiling while you’re desperately swinging the remote, trying to face the action. Fortunately, generous targeting and stupid enemies help make up for this (they'll often walk single file into a stream of buckshot). And, despite the steep learning curve, the shooting is somewhat immersive and satisfying when it all comes together.

Small touches, like tossing grenades and reloading your weapons by motioning the Nunchuk, put you in the middle of the bullet-whizzing action. Especially cool is the time-stopping "focus mode" that lets you take aim at numerous enemies before they can shoot back. If you simply disarm them with shots to the hand, they'll cower away, giving you respect points in the process - more respect lengthens the amount you can stay inside the focus mode. Even the audio cue that emits from the remote every time you reload is a nice, albeit slightly cheap sounding, touch.