Review
Kung Fu Panda 2 Review (Xbox360)
Publishers or PR people are often scouring the net and/or the magazines for choice quotes to slap on the box or the advertising for a game, so why not make their job easy while at the same time making yours, the reader's, simple as well?
Here then is a readily quotable summation of Kung Fu Panda 2 for Kinect: “Even though it's still kind of rubbish, it's still the best Kinect game ever.” So, to sum up the summing up, it's rubbish but still manages to sit on top of the whole Kinect dung heap of games, like an excrement-covered ruler of a land of sewage.
What KFP2 does better than most Kinect games is recognise what you're doing. Remember how Sonic Free Riders didn't, virtually ever? No such issues here with KFP2. If you jump, it jumps. If you move to the right, you move to the right (with the inevitable slight delay that might send you smashing into an obstacle, but still, better than the norm).
And it isn't just a dancing or fitness title, so it has that going for it as well. Even though it's a movie licence and is aimed at kids, and is essentially just a collection of mini-games like most other Kinect titles, it's still surprisingly un-boring to play. You actually do, kind of, get to think you are punching various animals.
The bulk of it is a combat “simulator” where your punches, kicks and dodges are, generally, converted into strikes performed on-screen by <><><> the titular furry fighter. You can do left hooks, right jabs, left and right kicks, a jumping double kick and a double 'power' punch.
On occasion, you can shout the prompted name of one of your allies, who'll leap in and deliver a surprise finisher, or you can charge up a finisher of your own. Some enemies are tougher and require you to dodge to the side or to duck, but generally it's a case of just striking out, choosing the right counter if they dodge your attacks, and then putting your arms up to block.
You can make it all more fun by making Bruce Lee-type sounds to punctuate your strikes, but as you can imagine, being too, er, enthusiastic with your strikes will probably make them unreadable by the Kinect sensor.
Before you begin each fight, you have to select your fighting 'form', split into Flowing (balanced) Lightning (useful against quicker, smaller enemies) and Power (useful against slow, strong enemies). However, it's difficult to tell if your selection actually makes any real difference, as all the punches and kicks look the same, regardless of which one you choose – at least they do to this potentially untrained eye.
There's (a little bit) more to the game than just performing punches and kicks though. Aside from the combat, there are a few other mini-games to get involved with, such as preparing noodles for customers and a racing section where you dodge objects chucked by enemies.
That's all there is really, though. There's no multiplayer at all and while the Kinect combat is fun for a little while, there's precious little actual depth here that'll keep you coming back more than once or twice.
Visually it's quite bright and colourful, and the panda himself is cute, well voiced (by the actor from the film too, Jack Black) and for kids this would probably keep them excited and, by the end, tired out from all the punching, kicking and leaping.
But for us adults, there's little value here beyond the obvious joke value of seeing gaming slobs trying to do high kicks and accidentally booting the TV in. A couple of mini-games and a rudimentary combat game aren't really enough to warrant shelling out more than 30 quid.
And it's still the best Kinect game your correspondent has played, even after all that. Further debate on the worthiness of Microsoft's motion controller will have to wait until the second wave of games start to appear later this year and early next, but for now, this is one of the better ones you'll find out there. Make of that what you will.
 |
| Well, it sure does look pretty. Why can't all games be like this? |
What KFP2 does better than most Kinect games is recognise what you're doing. Remember how Sonic Free Riders didn't, virtually ever? No such issues here with KFP2. If you jump, it jumps. If you move to the right, you move to the right (with the inevitable slight delay that might send you smashing into an obstacle, but still, better than the norm).
And it isn't just a dancing or fitness title, so it has that going for it as well. Even though it's a movie licence and is aimed at kids, and is essentially just a collection of mini-games like most other Kinect titles, it's still surprisingly un-boring to play. You actually do, kind of, get to think you are punching various animals.
The bulk of it is a combat “simulator” where your punches, kicks and dodges are, generally, converted into strikes performed on-screen by <><><> the titular furry fighter. You can do left hooks, right jabs, left and right kicks, a jumping double kick and a double 'power' punch.
On occasion, you can shout the prompted name of one of your allies, who'll leap in and deliver a surprise finisher, or you can charge up a finisher of your own. Some enemies are tougher and require you to dodge to the side or to duck, but generally it's a case of just striking out, choosing the right counter if they dodge your attacks, and then putting your arms up to block.
 |
| And just to mix things up a bit... |
Before you begin each fight, you have to select your fighting 'form', split into Flowing (balanced) Lightning (useful against quicker, smaller enemies) and Power (useful against slow, strong enemies). However, it's difficult to tell if your selection actually makes any real difference, as all the punches and kicks look the same, regardless of which one you choose – at least they do to this potentially untrained eye.
There's (a little bit) more to the game than just performing punches and kicks though. Aside from the combat, there are a few other mini-games to get involved with, such as preparing noodles for customers and a racing section where you dodge objects chucked by enemies.
That's all there is really, though. There's no multiplayer at all and while the Kinect combat is fun for a little while, there's precious little actual depth here that'll keep you coming back more than once or twice.
Visually it's quite bright and colourful, and the panda himself is cute, well voiced (by the actor from the film too, Jack Black) and for kids this would probably keep them excited and, by the end, tired out from all the punching, kicking and leaping.
But for us adults, there's little value here beyond the obvious joke value of seeing gaming slobs trying to do high kicks and accidentally booting the TV in. A couple of mini-games and a rudimentary combat game aren't really enough to warrant shelling out more than 30 quid.
 |
| Notice how that guy's not even flinching. Balls of steel right there |
And it's still the best Kinect game your correspondent has played, even after all that. Further debate on the worthiness of Microsoft's motion controller will have to wait until the second wave of games start to appear later this year and early next, but for now, this is one of the better ones you'll find out there. Make of that what you will.
