Now I’m going to hold my hands up here and admit it, I haven’t seen Kung Fu Panda at the cinema yet, so when popping the game into the Xbox 360 I had no idea what to expect, well that’s not strictly true, I did expect one thing, another poor movie to game tie-in, however I am happy to report that I was wrong about that.
Jack Black has always been one of my favourite actors, his movies are usually really funny and his band, Tenacious D are pretty good too, so I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that he was the one providing the voice work for this game, it always adds to the authenticity when the devs manage to hire the real voice of the character.
We should probably put the record straight from the start, this game, like many of the other Dreamworks movie tie-in’s, is for children, so don’t go expecting an all out hardcore challenge, or indeed any gore, like I say this game is strictly aimed at the little ones, although if your anything like me you will probably end up nicking the control off them and enjoying it anyway. So to the game, the story follows a Panda named Po, who along with his furry friends are out to stop the evil Tai Lung from destroying all that is good, of course Po also has another motive, which is to become the Dragon master and be the king of all things Kung-Fu (though he is so confident he thinks he already is).
The game takes place over 13 levels, which task you with missions such as finding hatchlings, rescuing captured villagers and destroying evil crocodiles. Each of the environments that you will work your way through are varied and look pretty impressive. One such level sees you skipping on lily pads across the river to rescue the villagers, however if you stay on them too long they will sink and you will end up as crocodile food. Other levels see you skipping across roof tops or running around putting out fires.
Interestingly, although Po is the main character, you will also have the opportunity to take control of other characters in the game, such as the speedy Master Shifu, this certainly helps to bring a bit of variety to the proceedings.
Combat is a fairly simple affair as you would expect, Po has quite a few moves in his arsenal, though they are easy to pull off. Strong attack is executed with a simple press of the Y button, the X button is used for quick attack and the B button allows you to go all bowling ball on your enemies. You can also combine attacks, pressing A allows you to jump and combined with B will see you power slam the floor with your stomach, causing enemies within range to fall on the floor. In between levels you can also spend points on upgrading Po’s abilities and if you wish, his costume.
Kung Fu Panda also includes some mini games should you have more that one person desperate to play, these are good fun and see you either playing against each other or teaming up against other enemies. While these multiplayer games are a good inclusion, it would have been so much better if some form of co-op was included in the main game, ala Shrek.
Presentation wise, Kung Fu Panda is really hard to fault, it has all of the gloss and effects you would expect from the real movie and the sound (particularly the voice work) is excellent. The cutscenes also bring some humour to proceedings, which is always a nice inclusion.
Kung Fu Panda represents the first time I have played a game and then wanted to see the movie, that on it’s own has got to be a good thing, but even if the movie didn’t exist this would be one game I would play again without hesitation.
