Red Steel 2 cutting up Wii MotionPlus

When the Wii went on sale in November 2006, one of its most anticipated launch titles was Red Steel. Developed by Ubisoft's Paris studio, the game was touted in Wii commercials as the main hardcore action game among the motion-sensing console's initial lineup. The first television spot for the game showed a young man hacking, slashing, and shooting his way through waves of yakuza.

However, when the largely bloodless, Teen-rated Red Steel was finally unsheathed, it was far from the M-for-Mature bloodbath that many expected. Critics blasted it as a major disappointment, with GameSpot's review (viewable below) calling it a "buggy, thoroughly unimpressive game" with a flat story and underwhelming swordplay.

Now, after years of rumors, Ubisoft is finally taking another whack at Red Steel. Nintendo Power magazine has teased its June issue by releasing an image of the cover--which features Red Steel 2 front and center. "Finally, wielding a sword in a Wii game feels as real as you'd always dreamed," crows the tagline.

Just as intriguing is the image on the magazine's cover, which shows what looks like an Old West cowboy toting both a massive revolver and a katana. A tease of the contents page shows the figure sporting an ornate duster trenchcoat with futuristic armor inlays, perhaps indicating some sort of sci-fi Western mix or perhaps a supernatural frontier locale a la Darkwatch.

More importantly, the Nintendo Power teaser reveals that the new game will take advantage of the Wii MotionPlus, the Wii Remote motion-sensor-enhancing add-on set for release on June 8. How exactly the peripheral, which will also come bundled with Wii Sports Resort on July 26, will improve swordplay is not revealed, nor is a release date mentioned.