Contrary to its predecessor Red Steel 2 is set in the fictive metropolis of Caldera, home of different clans that don't really get along together all too well. You're a mysterious cowboy who, dressed in a trenchcoat, starts fighting the injustice in the city with your gun and katana.

What immediately gets noticed when starting up the game is its style. Graphically you can't compare it with the first part anymore. The entire environment as well as the characters look like they've come straight out of a cartoon, but at the same time they look really mature. A lot of attention has gone into the details, going from the simple enemy to Tamiko, the gorgious Eastern beauty that assists you with plenty of advise and looks amazing ;)

Also apparent is the lack of blood when defeating enemies. Creative Director Jason Vandenberghe, who was present at the event where we got to play the game, explained us that due to the style used and the color palette, the addition of blood would ruin the atmosphere of the game. No matter how you look at it, the game is pretty lighthearted and adding blood would make things a lot more serious which would tamper with the atmosphere.

Another part where a lot of progress was made is the controls. This time the Wii MotionPlus is used and the benefits of this are noticed already in the first seconds. The game perfectly reacts to all your moves and results in adequate slicing of all hostiles. Due to this I quickly felt bored with using my gun and constantly wanted to storm right at them while chopping with my katana.

Eventhough the game perfectly reacts to all your moves, you still have to discover how to combine them all in order to defeat your enemies. Luckily the game comes with a training session where you learn step by step the new parts of the game at the time you need to use them. You won't be flooded with dozens of combinations and control tweaks from the start to see you only get to use them after two or three hours.

Another thing Wii gamers shouldn't expect is to be able to play the game with just minor movements of their wrist. No, you really need to use your entire arm when swinging around your katana, something we can only approve. Nothing will be cooler than after a stressful day loading Red Steel 2 in your Wii to then really get at it and work your agony out on your opponents. Compare it with a boxing ball but much more fun!

Also fun is the addition of hidden objects, going from mountains of gold coins to ammo and even sheriff stars. You really get motivated to destroy the environment in order to find these objects.