Mon, Mar 29, 2010 | 14:00 BST
Ubisoft: Red Steel 2 review scores “mixed”
Ubisoft’s Jason Vandenberghe has said scores for Red Steel 2 so far are “acceptable” but “mixed”.
Speaking on his personal blog, creative director Vandenberghe said he expected more from the game’s scores, despite a Meta score of 81 percent.
“If you clicked that Metacritic link back there, you know that (as of this writing) our average rating is hanging out at a solid 81%,” he said.
“Anyone in the industry will tell you: that doesn’t suck, but it ain’t the bestest ever.
“It’s the kind of number you need to be in the running for serious sales, and given the nature of the market we are releasing into, etc, blah blah blah, it’s pretty darn acceptable, but of course you always hope for more. It’s what Metacritic calls “generally favorable reviews”, but it’s closer to “mixed” than we’d prefer.”
While it has been critically received well enough, it hasn’t been the most fantastic start in terms of sales: it came in at 34th in this morning’s UK charts.
We recently spoke to Vandenberghe recently about the game. You can get Nathan’s interview with him here.
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9 
Posted in: Action, Hot, Shooter, Ubisoft, Wii
Tags: Jason Vandenberghe, red steel 2
9 comments
#1
Robo_1
29/03/10, 2:08 pm
My copy arrived this morning, and i’m enjoying it for what it is. The motion plus effect is more subtle than I was anticipating. Everything is smooth and you can tell there’s more depth there, but anyone looking for the fabled 1:1 movement will find themselves out of luck.
Theres an annoying amount of back tracking in early levels and the hub thing seems totally unnecessary. That said, I’ve just had my first proper boss fight and there’s no mistaking how good the sword play is. When you get a handful of enemies coming at you it’s a really visceral experience.
Technically it looks far nicer than any Wii game has any business doing, and the soundtrack is spot on. The story is a complete non-event however, although to be fair I’ve put just over an hour into it, so there’s still time for it to turn around.
I’m certainly looking forward to returning to the game, so it must be doing something right anyhow.
#2
Wakkum
29/03/10, 2:21 pm
These days an 8/10 apparently is bad? Teh fuck?!
#3
Bulk Slash
29/03/10, 3:38 pm
@2 If you’ve only got the cash to buy one game this month, do you buy the one that got 80% or 90%?
Back in the 8-bit and 16-bit days when my parents would buy me a game every 6 months or so, if it was a choice between Bubsy the Bobcat that got 80% or Yoshi’s Island that got 90%, I went for the 90% game.
The sad reality is that people put too much emphasis on review scores compared to actual demos and word of mouth, which is why 80% isn’t the best score bracket to be in.
The lesson is, the more hookers and advertising money you can put IGN’s way, the better your chances of getting a 90%.
#4
endgame
29/03/10, 4:01 pm
most of the wii users r pussies. before u started making this game u should have asked yourselves: will pussies like to play rs2? f**k s**e u ppl! is it that hard?
#5
Dralen
29/03/10, 5:38 pm
If I owned a Wii, I would probably buy this, since it looks like the only decent game that’s actually been released this year on the Wii.
#6
the_darklorde
29/03/10, 6:07 pm
Eeeeenteresting.
So, it looks to me like I expressed something I didn’t at all intend – there has been a series of responses to this post assuring me that the 81% isn’t a bad thing.
Let me assure you guys – I’m *very* happy with the review scores. I looked at the offending paragraph in the post, and decided that it was actually extraneous – so I pulled it out, and added an edit note for historical purposes. The point was, really, to put some extra emphasis on how exciting it is to see such a strong positive response, but it looks like that message didn’t really come across.
For the record: I love the score, I love it that so many people seem to be having a great time with the game, and I love it that the reviewer’s responses seem to be so generally enthusiastic.
That’s really all I was trying to say.
-Jason VandenBerghe
#7
Sini
29/03/10, 7:38 pm
I agree, I feel insulted when I enter a wii owning household. I don’t let it show, but if you’re hoping for a favor, it’s going to be an uphill battle.
#8
Patrick Garratt
29/03/10, 7:48 pm
Um. It’s Jason VandenBerghe.
/posts
#9
Artheval_Pe
30/03/10, 10:45 am
One of the problems currently going on with game reviews is that they don’t get along well with limited scope. Most reviewers expect every game to be an epic adventure with an excellent multiplayer component, and compare unfairly small-budget titles with 100-million dollars projects.
Take games like Zeno Clash or Shattered Horizon : They get bad reviews just because their scope (in design, in terms of content) is limited, because although they are extremely fun and have a limited pricetag, reviewers are complaining about what is essentially a lack of budget.
Maybe developers should unveil more often how their game was developped, because reviewers are often complaining more about a lack of effort from the developpers than from a lack of fun within the game. If they knew more the constraints of game developpement, maybe some games like Red Steel 2 could have bette reviews.