Somehow, I had managed to miss the fact that this game had been out for a week already in Europe (and the European version has a reversible cover with a version of the illustration used for the Japanese cover on the back - nice touch). Anyway, after playing just a couple of stages, the game has been incredible so far, the best I've played in a while. Was afraid you'd have to waggle the Wiimote to swing the sword of something stupid like that, but the controls are actually perfect, for once I didn't wanna switch to the classic controller, easier to play than the original game really. I know every Wii owner is going crazy over Mario Galaxy 2, but that doesn't mean you should miss out on this!
I just wish the second player would have more stuff to do, though having someone to focus entirely on machinegunning is still useful. The best part is how customizable the options are for the controls, being able to set the crosshair and character movement to various combinations of Wii/GCN control sticks and such. It's also long enough to be too long for just a quick playthrough with a friend in one night, which means you get at least a couple nights of fun.
The graphics are geometrically competent but the texture work is muddy - as muddy as an average GameCube game. Mario Galaxy 1/2 have nailed texturing on the Wii, S&P2 shows its age. Of course S&P2 has more action going on at a faster pace. The characters are kinda kiddy as well, Sake was badass on the N64.
I feel bad for still not having played the original... just haven't been able to justify the price yet. Saying Galaxy looks good is like saying you brought the right gun to the battle. S&P2 is far from a new game. I definitely agree that it seems to keep your attention on the action enough that you won't notice any shortcomings, except maybe during the cutscenes if I remember correctly. It does have a very Treasure-ey look to it, which is always nice. They have a certain way with color. -- Here's a good clip of the first bit in "720p" resolution. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsTFyou_OXI
Yeah, the graphics...aren't that good, which you can see best in the cutscenes. Of course, the gameplay is so fast you can't really pay attention to detail, but it does look kinda washed out in several places, like if you look at the giant eels in stage 2. I think this is the first Treasure sequel that's actually better than the original. Maybe it's because the N64 controller just kinda sucks, who knows.
I don't claim to know much about Treasure games, most of them are too hard for me, but I liked Ikaruga (project RS2) more than the original Radiant Silvergun..
I never really considered Ikaruga a sequel to RSG...even though there are some similar aspects, but there are many similarities between other Treasure games too. At most it's a "spiritual" sequel. Anyway, can't comment on that more since I never played RSG much (the Saturn version is just so damn expensive)
Bleh. I have tried the arcade version on MAME a few times, but supposedly there are some major differences, especially in presentation, between the two versions.
Really enjoyed the first game on the N64 and I really liked the art style they went with. On the Wii it looks pretty different? Either way chances of me checking this out are slim since I don't have a Wii
