Not being a swordfighting samurai myself, I’m just assuming that part of learning that particular craft involves not only precise movement and timing, but also an extreme level of patience. Well, the same is true for the virtual end of things as far as Ubisoft’s Red Steel is concerned. And truth be told, after a frustrating hour with the game on the day I popped it into Nintendo’s new console, the Wii, I was ready to toss it out the window.

I’m a hearty sort though, and the next day I sat down, determined to figure out the riddle of the Steel and assure myself that being 38 didn’t mean my reflexes had totally abandoned me. And lo and behold, there it was in the Wii console menu – an option to reduce the sensitivity level of the remote. To say this made a huge difference is an understatement, and actually made the game playable.

That’s the good news.

The bad news? Well, I’ll start off by saying this game isn’t nearly as bad as some on the ‘net would have you believe. Is it a groundbreaking shooter? Not even close. But in the ten hours or so of the single player game, you will go through portions where you’re not only challenged, but where you’ll actually enjoy yourself, whether using the game’s bullet time feature during shootouts or having swordfights with any number of ninjas, bar owners, and bat-wielding thugs.

Unfortunately though, if you take away the unique control scheme - where you use the remote to target, look around, and shoot or slash, and the nunchuck to move as well as block and dodge during swordfights – you have an average shooter at best, both gameplay and storywise.

In Red Steel, you play Scott, an American whose fiancée is the daughter of a Yakuza boss. Yeah, you know what’s coming next – just when you meet daddy for the first time, your future bride gets kidnapped, he gets shot, and you’re off on a wild goose chase that takes you from Los Angeles to Japan. And I hope she’s worth it Scott, for all the trials and tribulations you have to go through to get her back.

Over the course of the story - which loses its way when you have to play errand boy for various Yakuza chiefs but finds its way back by the end of the game – you have to do the usual shooter stuff: kill, kill, and kill some more, using an assortment of firearms and grenades against dismal AI opposition, as well as a sword. Here’s where you have to suspend your disbelief because after mowing through a mob of enemies with your shotgun, you come upon some guy with a sword and take your own out for a duel, instead of just shooting him, as you would logically do. Sword vs Uzi? Take the Uzi.