NWR chatted with Red Steel 2's creative director about how sword-fighting is bad-ass and the challenges of representing it in first-person, and much more.
Phil writes, "Too often we see video game sequels that don't quite live up to their predecessors... but we already have an article series dedicated to those games. Instead, let's take a look at those video game sequels that not only live up to their predecessors but greatly surpass them in quality. It's time to bring back The Most Improved Video Game Sequels (you can read part one here) to check out these sensational sequels that delivered and did so in a deliciously delightful manner."
Resident Evil 4
Ratchet & Clank 2
Silent Hill 2
Street fighter 2
Castlevania: Symphony of the night
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Assassins Creed 2
Metal Gear Solid (not first game in the series)
Tekken 3
God of War (2018)
Mortal Kombat 9
Devil May Cry 3
Virtua Fighter 4
Luigis Mansion 3 doesn’t really belong in that list because the first game was great and it’s sequels didn’t really redefine the series.
There’s more to Ubisoft’s back catalogue than its Templar-bothering flagship franchise and we’re here to prove it. By grovelling for remasters, of course.
With the Switch bringing interest back into the realm of motion controls, it seems as good a time as any to dip back into the backlog and retrieve some lucrative nuggets from the one that launched the phenomenon in the first place: the Nintendo Wii.
NWR: How do the sword controls compare to what we've already experienced in Wii Sports Resort, in terms of how you implemented them and how they are used in gameplay? Is it straightforward to interpret MotionPlus data into sword motions, or did you find a lot of room to interpret actions and design the interactions?
JV: Good question! Many folks miss this. Because, of course, it's the interpretation of the MotionPlus data that is the hard thing. And yes, it's very tricky – not because of the hardware, but because of the infinite variability of human beings. Everyone swings a little different, and since we're not standing there to correct you on your exact style (and, really, would you want to play that game?), we have to do quite a lot of work under the hood to figure out if what you did was a "swing," and in what direction.
Fortunately, we have amazing programmers.
I think you'll find that the experience is pretty much completely unlike Wii Sports Resort. Our goals were totally different – we wanted to convey to the player a sense of power, and I think the Wii Sports Resort game is more about timing and "fencing." For us, strength is as important as direction (in many cases), and we expect the player to act and react pretty quickly, but we find almost everyone is up to the task, in practice.
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I can't wait to play this. Big ups to Ubi for not only trying to make a great swordfighting game, but not just copying what Nintendo did in WSR.
Good interview.