...and overall it's a pretty good game.  I'd say that an 8.5 out of 10 would be a good score for it.  It has it's minor issues, but overall it's extremely enjoyable.  Let me say that this is the game that people were expecting when the Wii launched.  It's oozing with personality and the visceral feel of wielding a sword is most satisfying, but more on that later.

First off, you can choose whether you use your gun or katana at any time during the game (I chose my sword about 98% of the time).  It isn't silly in the same way that the first game was where it was a FPS most of the time and that when a guy jumped out with a sword, you had to do the same.  I wanted to be like Indiana Jones and just shoot the tougher sword masters.  You can do this in Red Steel 2, but most of the time it doesn't work since bullets can be blocked with a sword.  Don' worry, you can do the same by holding A and holding the Wii Remote upward.

About the overall feel to the game, it is undoubtedly cool to anyone into cowboys and samurais since it mixes both.  You are a member of a clan known as the Kusagari which is equally adept at using a blade or a firearm.  You return to your town to realize that all have been wiped out and vengeance must be taken.  Admittedly the story isn't original, but I don't play these kinds of games expecting brilliant literature.  I just want to kick butt and from start to finish, and that's exactly what you get to do.  The music is fantastic and makes you feel like a protagonist in an old spaghetti western.  Also, the cut scenes are excellent and thankfully short.  They can also be bypassed if you want to play the game again.   

The controls, for the most part, are awesome.  You can fully customize the dead zone, pointer sensitivivity, turning speed, etc. to your liking just like the Conduit (I love this and it needs to be a standard in all first person Wii games).  About the sword play, this is undoubtedly the best part of the game.  Any way that you swing your sword or hold it to block is perfectly replicated on the screen and not limited to horizontal, vertical, and 45 degree angled slashes like the original game.  Transition from sword to gun is perfect.  You just press the B button and you shoot at that instant.  Also, the transition from gun to sword is perfect.  Swing the remote and your sword immediately swings or press A and hold the Remote upright, and it is ready to block.  The one minor problem with the controls, and the game IMO is this - after swinging the sword and wanting to immediately wanting to look around, it takes a second.  This takes a little while to get used to, but this is more a limitation of the tech and not the fault of the developers.  This minor flaw is mostly taken care of because you immediately lock on enemies by tapping Z.  Fortunately, there is no problems with you swinging your sword when you want to look around and vice versa like I had feared.  The Wii Motion Plus can easily detect when you want to look around and when you want to swing.  It also, judges the strength of your swings for harder and softer attacks.  Also, you turn switches (and in this game open safes) like Metroid Prime 3, except it actually works better.     

You learn some bad ass combos that are a combination of movements and button presses and this is what makes the game borderline great.  Yes, the game shows you how great the Wii Motion Plus works, but it is not a sword fighting simulator.  As great of an idea as that sounds, it would become boring quickly.  Basically what I'm saying is that the game knows that it's a game and this was a wise descision on the developers' part.  We play games in order to escape reality.  They do not have to be exactly like reality. 

In conclusion, Red Steel 2 is a fun adventure game that is exactly what people were hoping for in the original game.  Kudos to Ubisoft for noticing the faults in the original game and improving upon it in every way possible.  It is just as ambitious as the first was because it is trying something for the first time with new technology, and this time it succeeds where the other failed.  Hopefully this game doesn't bomb because of the bad taste the original left in many's mouths.  Also, let's hope that it doesn't get bad sales because it doesn't have online multiplayer.  Not every game needs it and in my opinion this game stands up extremely well without it. 

Your review is flawless, in a way that it has been constructed well. You should become one of VGChartz video games reviewers.

I greatly appreciate that.

Do you have any questions about the game?

Nice write-up.

How long did it take you to finish the game, and are there any incentives to go back to it after beating it?

How long did it take you to complete the game?

Who are the protagonists and antagonists (their names)?

What Cheebee and JGarret said.

Cheebee said: Nice write-up. How long did it take you to finish the game, and are there any incentives to go back to it after beating it?

I didn't time it, but I played it way too much for three days straight.  My eyes are buggy.  I'd guess that it's about a dozen hours.

As far as incentives to play again, you can go back and play any of the levels after you beat them.  It's listed as Challenges in the menu.  Depending on how well you do; you can get a bronze, silver, or gold medal.  I replayed the first level and got a silver, so there definitely is i replayablity.  Also, you get to roll over all of your abilities, weapons, upgrades, etc.  

amp316 said: Cheebee said: Nice write-up. How long did it take you to finish the game, and are there any incentives to go back to it after beating it? I didn't time it, but I played it way too much for three days straight.  My eyes are buggy.  I'd guess that it's about a dozen hours. As far as incentives to play again, you can go back and play any of the levels after you beat them.  It's listed as Challenges in the menu.  Depending on how well you do; you can get a bronze, silver, or gold medal.  I replayed the first level and got a silver, so there definitely is i replayablity.  Also, you get to roll over all of your abilities, weapons, upgrades, etc.

I see. Nice. Sounds great, I'll be picking the game up sometime soon, I guess.

Bytheway, what do you think of the graphics, now that you've witnessed them first-hand? The IGN review seemed to describe them as about the best on Wii, saying that some people might even mistake it for a PS360 game at first glance. Not sure if I believe that, although the vids I've seen looked very good. Also, are the cutscenes in-game or CGI?

You are never called by name, an obvious nod to the Man with No Name movies starring Clint Eastwood. 

There is a swordmaster that teach you moves named Jian and other allies include a sheriif named Steve Judd, Tamiko (a computer hacker), and a shady guy named Songan.

The main villians are Shinjiro, Okaji, and Payne.