Most people I actually know who tried Red Steel II thought it was a fine game. Still a bit rough and could use a couple of tweaks to some of its concepts, but on the whole, really good. Only one I know didn't care for it, but he is someone who hates all motion controls on concept alone and only plays FPS-like games on PC.
The bigger point though has little to do with the quality of the game, I think. (Though putting RSII on the same level as Deadly Creatures and Madworld is a seriously disingenous argument. Its relative quality in all areas is much higher than those two games, even if it's still not a AAA game itself.)
Rather, Red Steel II was doomed because the hardcore ship has already sailed on the Wii. Most people have a 360 or PS3 at this point, and for the average gamer there's no attraction, I suspect, in playing what is basically a hardcore game with worse graphics and lack of online functions on the Wii. Even well done and innovative motion controls aren't enough; they've already been burned and turned off permanently by the avalanche of crappy shovelware and failed attempts at core games. Wii has a bad taste.
People will still buy Nintendo games because those are unique enough they can't get a similar experience anywhere else. And Nintendo tends to make games that look and run suberbly well on the Wii due to art direction and technology. A Mario Galaxy game may as well be a 360 game at a lower resolution (the fantasy art style doesn't need more polygons and better textures to look great.)
But, I don't know if Wii games aimed at the core gamer can hack it (pun not intended) anymore. On the other hand, one must ask if million sales are entirely neccessary. Capcom recently said that Tatsunoko Vs Capcom didn't sell millions, but it did make a profit and thus, was justified on the Wii. Did Ubisoft really spend that much on Red Steel II, especially with no parallel development of a multiplayer side?
