My Panda Style Beats Your Snow Leopard Style!

Some things in life each one of us can be certain of: Death, Taxes, and the complementary release of a video game for major animated children’s movies. This year’s Kung Fu Panda is no different, folks. If there is any difference from the mass of animated movie inspired crap video games (lets call it what it is) that we see all the time, it’s that Kung Fu Panda the game is not half bad (you win, universe).

The game loosely follows the plot of the movie. For those of you who are completely disconnected from animated movies, I’ll briefly fill you in. Po, the protagonist of the movie and video game, is an overweight panda and kung fu enthustiast. He stumbles upon the chance to defend his land by taking up the burden of fighting the dark warrior snow leopard Tai Lung. Through much training with his Master Shifu, and despite the berating from the Furious Five (a Tiger, Monkey, Viper, Crane, and Mantis), Po eventually earns the respect and friendship of both his Master and the Furious Five, culminating in his defeat of Tai Lung and rise as a Kung Fu Master.

The game switches things up slightly. Because the game can’t survive on the one enemy, Tai Lung, alone, the developers had to integrate more into the storyline. So, Po will often have to save the Furious Five from their imprisonment by enemies ranging from crocodiles, to gorillas, to kung fu fighting hogs. Of course, the game’s climax involves a show down between Tai Lung and Po. Along the way Po picks up food which restores his health, Dragon scrolls, and coins that, as far as I could tell, didn’t equate to any prizes. In addition to Po, Master Shifu and the Furious Five are also playable characters. There is a multiplayer mode which may break up the more linear nature of the single player game, but it’s not likely that children playing this game will be into playing against other children. If you’ve ever seen a child play video games then you know they are in their own world. Interacting with other human players even indirectly may be too big a step, especially if that other human is a middle aged man who gets sick joy out of playing Kung Fu Panda online and stomping on little children’s fun (you know who you are), ruining the game and the movie for them. Players with the Nintendo DS version mainly use the D-Pad but also use the touch screen for attack moves. Likewise, the Wii Remote is used to perform various specialized attack moves. On the PS3, the SIXAXIS controller is useful for playing as Crane and maneuvering in flight. I thought this was very cool, how each system brought something unique to the table in terms of how their peripherals interact with the game.

What I played of the PC version of this game I surprisingly enjoyed (and I haven’t enjoyed an animated movie game since Genesis’ Aladdin!). The fighting moves were entertaining, Po’s catchphrases (though often repeated and voiced by what sounded like someone other than the movie’s Jack Black) gave me a chuckle, and the graphics were very sharp. The only downsides I could come up with were that 1) the voice acting should have been all the original cast members, 2) developers should have figured out another way around not having enough enemies rather than cluster bombing the game with generic ones, and 3) the coins should have equated to something or have been replaced by some sort of customizable prizes. My enjoyment of this title doesn’t stand alone either, it received moderately good review scores from most game sites. Child and adult alike, this game appeals to the sense of humor and the greater kung fu sense, to pound fools into the ground.

Kung Fu Panda was released this past June for the PC, PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, and Nintendo DS. It was developed by Vicarious Visions and published by Activision. 

Posted by on 08/05 at 07:05 PM