Red Steel 2 has more locales than just the desert, says director
Creative director Jason Vandenberghe has said that there will be other places besides the desert to visit in Red Steel 2, as well as weather effects, a day and night cycle, and some interesting inhabitants in the city of Caldera.
"Caldera is a city in what is generally known as the Nevada Territories", he said during a Q&A (via GoNintendo). "It’s kinda northwest of Las Vegas, off the beaten path a bit, in what’s affectionately known as the High Desert - an elevated, hot, flat, chunk of the Rocky Mountains.
"The land surrounding Caldera is named Caldera County as well, and one big crater was the most interesting landmark. So, Caldera isn’t the whole land. The world of Red Steel 2 is the Red West. In fact, the Red West is a phrase used to describe the whole western part of North America.
"The whole story takes place in and around the city of Caldera, and there’s a lot of different kinds of environments in that place. Ancient temples, ramshackle slums, desert, huge modern freight-moving systems… it’s a real city. Then you’ll roll on out into surrounding canyons, where you’ll find a pueblo-style mining town, a huge semi-automated strip mine, old, abandoned underground tunnels, an ancient ancestral monastery/temple clinging to the side of a cliff.
"When we were conceiving the ‘mood’ for each level, we tried to give the weather, time of day, and general atmosphere for each space a unique feeling, one that would fit the gameplay for that location. Honestly, there were a few times where our ambiance people (lighting, VFX, audio, etc) showed us some stuff that we were convinced wasn’t possible on the Wii… but they did it.
"The gameplay takes place over several days, and the Sun in the Red West rises and sets just like it does in the real world. What I mean to say is that there will be a few night levels.
"What I can tell you is there are four inhabitants of great importance to the player that you will encounter repeatedly, get missions from, buy cool powers from, and who, in general, will help convey to you the Story. That is, assuming you don’t skip the cutscenes."
An European release date of March 26 for Red Steel 2 was announced via a new trailer for the game earlier today.
It hits the US on March 23.