FPS Friday! How much has Red Steel 2 been played? Official U.S. Nintendo Channel data report.

Coffee Beans
Last May, we looked at how many hours had been reported playing Red Steel 2 by U.S. Wii owners, with more than 2 years' worth of data reported.

Red Steel 2 was released as a Wii exclusive on March 23, 2010 in the U.S., and can still be found to buy, new or used, on many different sites. If you own a Wii, or even Wii U, and are interested in Red Steel 2, you should know the game requires a Wii MotionPlus accessory to play though. As for content to be aware of, Red Steel 2 received an ESRB rating of "TEEN" for "Animated Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence".

A description for the game on the Nintendo Channel says, "Embody a lonesome fighter, a man of few words with a shaded past full of mystery. Face various, and increasingly strong, enemies and defeat challenging bosses in epic and intense fights. Visit a remote mixed metropolis in the middle of the American desert, where Eastern and Western culture have been smashed together: Caldera."

About how many U.S. Wii owners have game-play data reported for Red Steel 2 through the Nintendo Channel, and how many hours have they reported playing the game since it released over 3 years ago? Brew yourself some coffee, and let's take a look!

How many hours did you play?

The Brew
Red Steel 2 now has approximately 75,407 U.S. Wii owners with game-play data reported through the Nintendo Channel, which is just over 8,800 more players with data reported than last year, now with 1,112 days possibly reported.

The game currently has 759,283 Total Hours of reported game-play, which is an increase of 97,308 Total Hours since the report last year. Its average reported "Per person" has increased slightly by 7 minutes, and is now sitting at 10 Hours 4 Minutes "Per person". The average time spent playing the game each time/session reported, is about 1 Hour 45 Minutes.

The game's "professional" critic review score average is now slightly lower than it was last May, currently sitting at 80.50% based on 48 reviews from GameRankings.com. While the critic review score average is slightly lower since last year, the customer review score average has increased slightly. The game's customer review score average is now 88.08%, now based on 89 customer reviews between both SKUs of the game.

Caffeinated Thoughts
When I wrote the piece last May, I said, "Have I played Red Steel 2 yet? No, but I may be making a trip to my local Game Stop store today, where I originally reserved Red Steel 2."

I did end up buying Red Steel 2 the day of the post last May, and I completed the game last June. My game-play data record for Red Steel 2 on the Nintendo Channel shows my play-time as 13 Hours 46 Minutes, over 6 times. From my rough math, this means I spent about 2 Hours 17 Minutes each time I played the game, until I beat it. While I enjoyed my time with Red Steel 2, I'm actually still a bigger fan of the original Red Steel, as I enjoyed the levels and game-play mechanics (even though not perfect) more in the original.

If you have not seen any footage of game-play from Red Steel 2, the video below is of a partial mission in the game from the Nintendo Channel:

I'm glad Nintendo made the jump to HD with the Wii U, and enjoy having an awesome feature like Off-TV play with the Wii U GamePad now, but I think it's a shame the video game market won't likely see another game like Red Steel or Red Steel 2, because of traditional controllers being more standard now.

If Ubisoft was to update the original Red Steel for the Wii U though, perhaps with HD graphics, online multiplayer, and optional GamePad and Wii Remote controls (like what Black Ops II offers), it would probably be a day one buy for me.

Questions
Have any of you played and perhaps beaten Red Steel 2 in the last year? If so, what did you think about the game?

If you played the original Red Steel and Red Steel 2, are you perhaps like me, being that you enjoyed the original more? Also, would any of you be interested in a Red Steel HD remake, or maybe just a new Red Steel 3 for the Wii U if Ubisoft were to do it?

You can see links for Red Steel and Red Steel 2 on Amazon.com below: