Kung-fu Live has been one I was curious about for a long time now. However, before I go into the review, I must say my ultra gaming diet and exercise routine was not made for this game. When you party like a rock star this game is tough to get through. I suppose on a good note if you want aerobic exercises and want to make believe you are Bruce Lee this title might be for you. There are some major problems I’ve had with the title thus far though and these aren’t including my life style choices.
First off, I don’t tend to keep much light where I play so this was a big problem. I had to move another lamp in into another corner of the room. This still didn’t completely solve me getting transferred into the game 100%. You will need to spend time with this setup not just for looks but for the gameplay as well. They recommend a 7 x 9 room and it works. Personally I’d opt for a little more but I’ll explain that in the gameplay. Other oddities are you must be wearing something different than the background of your room or you will not show up. Although it is cool to feel like a weatherman for the day it seems silly I absolutely have to have the right clothes on to fire up the title.
It’s a slick idea that brings you into a comic world by transferring your poses into a comic book that you follow through the story. Loading screens are a bit long for my taste with what you get. I am one who forgave the loading screens for gran turismo 5 but with a title like this it break the momentum. I must say though at about chapter 3 I needed a long loading time. Further on the setup is calibration and you can fine tune it which took me probably 20 minutes to get somewhat right. I’m still not exactly happy with it compared to the trailers but I don’t want to put lights all around my living room either. I just find it odd that my move titles work just fine but this one doesn’t.
Now for the meat of the game. So when you are on screen and after the comic tells it’s story(it is funny at times I give them that) you start to fight. So kick, punch, flail, etc and you get powers throughout the game for special moves. Unfortunately, moves such as the flipping seem to work part time and combos seem to work better flailing your limbs around. The game might be worth it to some just to watch their friends look like morons or better yet drunken Bruce Lee’s. I still can’t forgive that it doesn’t work 100% of the time even though some the ground stomps, lightning shooting and jumping can be fun at times. Unfortunately, while the fighters and bosses change it gets repetitive to me.
When you can get it calibrated it is fun to see yourself in the comics but it’s just novelty. This game is shallow and unfortunately for the price tag not worth it. It was a great experiment and I do feel the designers tried there damnedest but overall it’s fun for a first couple of loads and then gets old quick. Not to mention tiring if you are a couch gamer. There is also options to create your own fights by picking characters, rounds, special powers, gravity but its’ still more of the same. There is a local multiplayer mode that lets one try to be the kung fu master and the others use the dualshock controllers. This option is up to 4 players but I’m not big into party games. Someone will have to let me know if this actually works out or not.
I can possibly see kids with plenty of imagination enjoying this game but otherwise I can’t recommend it. While I think it was a great idea there are just too many issues with the game overall. This seems more like a novelty than a full game that is priced at $14.99. The score below is based on possible kids enjoying it mainly and for novelty. Otherwise it would have probably been rated even lower. As a fan of all things Kung fu this was a huge let down for
me. The fun factor just doesn't last like I wished it would have.
3 out of 10
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