Chris Rasco

Kung Fu Panda

October 29, 2008

Kung Fu Panda is the newest movie from Dreamworks Animation Studios and follows the adventure of Po the Panda as he transforms from one of the laziest animals in the Valley of Peace into the Dragon Warrior. The game released with the same name is published by Activision and is based on the movie, but doesn’t exactly follow the storyline of the movie.

You play the role of Po beginning with the celebration where Po is selected as the Dragon Warrior. The game takes you through the proper Kung Fu training to begin your journey. As you play through the 13 levels, you will collect coins that allow you to upgrade Po’s abilities. These upgrades span basic techniques as well as special moves that Po learns through his journey.

The game itself is a pretty standard 3rd-person action adventure game. It was entertaining enough that I kept coming back to play more and it was easy enough that my 4-year-old was able to play through a few levels on his own.

Combat is handled with face buttons as you would expect in a game of this type, but boss battles are very different. Boss fights mix one part real-time combat with one part rhythm game. A combination of buttons appear on the screen and you must press them in order. Failure to do so has you restarting that particular section of your battle with the boss beginning with the end of the last successfully completed section of the battle. I found these parts especially frustrating because each section of the boss battle was made up of 4 or more sequences of button pushes. This makes boss battles very cumbersome and annoying.

Graphically the game was very solid. Very beautiful and colorful environments were accompanied by Jack Black doing a great job of the voice work in the game. No artifacting or collision issues were present in my play through.

The game save system in Kung Fu Panda is a little clunky. When starting up a game it automatically finds your existing game if there is one and asks you to load it. The problem is that the prompt tells you it will overwrite your file if you don’t load it, leading to confusion. The auto-save feature keeps you from having to manually save. One upside is that you are able to change your auto-save slot while playing a level so you can easily duplicate your game save while playing.

One annoying issue I noticed is that when replaying a level, your original progress on that level is reset back to 0% and upon completion of the level, your game is auto-saved with the current level of completion on that level. In my case, I had 100% on all levels and my son played through and effectively wiped that progress out. I would have preferred to see your progress saved to allow you to eventually work your way up to 100% on some of the more difficult levels.

In the end, Kung Fu Panda is a decent game and worth the play through if you are looking to extend the theatrical experience. Unless you or your children are die hard fans of the movie, then this is probably a budget title or a week long rental.

Plays like: Most other 3rd person action/adventure titles

Pros: Fun, easy gameplay makes it suitable for the younger audience

Cons: Clunky save system, annoying boss battles

ESRB: E10+ for Fantasy Violence and some Mild Language

LEGO Batman

October 29, 2008

When it was announced that Batman would be the third franchise to get the LEGO treatment, I had concerns about how the title would come out. With the game now complete, I can safely say that those fears were unjust. recreate the adventures of those movies in the world of LEGO. 

The most noticeable difference between this title and the previous LEGO titles is that the game is played half from the perspective of the Heroes and half as the Villains. Instead of having missions divided up by movie, the game has 15 Hero story missions and 15 Villain story missions. Like previous LEGO iterations, once you’ve completed a mission in Story Mode, you can replay it in Free Mode with an expanded choice of characters at your disposal. Your choice of characters to select from for Free Mode missions expands as you beat missions in Story Mode. You will also be able to purchase additional characters from the store.

Some characters in LEGO Batman also have special abilities such as super-strength, hand-to-hand grapple, and mind control. These will be integral to completing certain parts of many levels in the game.

As you play through each mission you’ll be on the lookout for 10 Mini-Kit pieces per level and a red brick that unlocks an “extra” that may be purchased from the Batcave or Arkham Asylum, theVillain hideout. These extras range from stud multipliers to help you gather money faster to suit upgrades for your Heroes. Suit upgrades apply to all of your hero characters and don’t need to be turned on for use like other extras. Suit upgrades include Fast Grapple, More Batarang Targets, and much more.

The engine that powers LEGO Batman is the same one from previous titles in this series and it’s become very refined. I still have issues with the way the camera pans and zooms when playing with 2 players, but I’ve learned to work around its quirks.

Warner Bros. and Traveller’s Tales did a great job of building in a decent story for the missions and keeping the levels interesting enough to replay time and again to collect the remaining items necessary to get the game to 100%.

LEGO Batman also has a host of vehicle missions littered in with the regular missions. Vehicle missions include flying levels as well as water levels and are a nice change of pace. Additional vehicles can be purchased for use in Free Mode just like with characters.

LEGO Batman is an amazing game that has definitely lived up to previous titles in this “franchise.” The expansive number of collectible items coupled with the solid gameplay create a high replay value in this title. The puzzles may be a little complex for some younger gamers, but it will be a hit with those that are familiar with the style of puzzles that appear.

Plays Like: LEGO Star Wars, LEGO Indiana Jones

Pros: Fun, high replay value

Cons: None

ESRB: This title is rated E10+ for Cartoon Violence

This week’s additions to the Wii Shop Channel are packing all sorts of awesomeness with the addition of the 3rd episode of the Strong Bad episodic title, Baddest of the Bands, as well as the Genesis version of Earthworm Jim. Another original title dropping this week for WiiWare is in the form of Art Style: ROTOHEX.

Baddest of the Bands features everyone’s favorite star on a journey to win the Battle Royale of the Bands. Art Style: ROTOHEX is a new puzzle game that sounds 1 part Tetris and 1 part Hexic HD. Earthworm Jim is well… it’s just pure awesome. Hit the jump for the full descriptions of this week’s releases. READ MORE

MTV and Harmonix have announced that owners of Rock Band 2 will be getting a special surprise on November 4th in the form of 20 free DLC tracks. The tracks will be from up and coming bands with rapidly growing fan bases.

To receive your tracks, use the DLC redemption code inside your game case. Keep reading for the full track listing and more information about the bands in the lineup. READ MORE

2K Games has announced that the Playstation 3 version of Bioshock has shipped to retail and will be available for purchase on October 21st. The title is rated M and will retail for $59.99. READ MORE