2010 will forever be known as the year Sony and Microsoft finally noticed the importance of Motion Control in their game systems. With the release of Kinect and PlayStation Move, both companies have done a decent job of selling consumers on the product. What Sony specifically have been lacking though is a killer app, a game that demands users to purchase the new tech. Sadly Kung-Fu Live, a downloadable title from the PSN, is not such a game, foregoing the PlayStation Move itself and focusing purely on the accompanying PlayStation Eye camera.

This is not a new idea, the minigame Kung-Fu being one of the best featured on Eye Toy 2 for the PS2. These minigame collections were the height of Eye Toy's appeal, a focus on basic mechanics rather than complicated control schemes being part of the reason even the minigames that were slightly broken still featured heaps of fun. This is where Kung-Fu Live fails to deliver, one attempt at the lengthy tutorial failing to quash fears of an over complicated control scheme. With actions that require moves extremely similar to each other, moving side ways is achieved by punching in that direction for instance, the game just can't register your movements. By making it far too difficult to play through the stages of the game, ducking to block is near impossible to recreate every time, Kung-Fu Live's fist impression is a frustrating one, where it’s much more difficult to play than need be.


Based on the design of the game though, you'd be forgiven for expecting great things from Kung-Fu Live. Set up as an interactive comic book, the cutscenes between each stage are light-hearted and well designed, the touch of your own pictures appearing in each strip being more effective than it sounds. The scenarios are ridiculous enough to make these sections never feel forced, the plot following a mystical painting that unleashes an unknown force on a lowly china town. That said, you won't stick around with Kung-Fu Live's single player for the story, meaning you probably won't stick around at all.



The game works by detecting your position in relation to the static background, the calibration screen showing just how you should look in the game. This was never the case for my playthrough, blotches of nothingness appearing across my image on screen, and sections of my arms being cut off by the game's detection issues. This doesn't help the already poor control issues and becomes even more of a problem with two players. Trying to detect two people makes the game buckle, and surprisingly Kung-Fu Live is even more disappointing in a group than it is alone. This isn't an experience you should share with friends.

So on that note, it's obvious to see that recommending Kung-Fu Live is something I just can't do. These sorts of camera motion games were all we had back in the early 2000's, but in 2010 with PlayStation Move and Kinect showcasing incredible tech, these inaccurate, over complicated titles aren't relevant anymore. Kung-Fu Live isn't worth the 10 quid it costs on the PlayStation Store, especially when most PlayStation move titles charge just under double this price for a superior experience. Don't waste your PlayStation Eye on Kung-Fu Live.

Top Game Moment: Actually managing to make it through a level without dying is an obvious highlight.