Kung Fu Panda is
the latest computer generated movie from Dreamworks that revolves
around an overweight Panda who is destined to become the Dragon
warrior. The game is based loosely on the motion picture of the same name
with key elements of the story to assist in the storytelling of
“Po”, the Panda who dreams of a better life.
In its essence,
Kung Fu Panda is an arcade game that has the player controlling Po
as he fights his way to victory, generally in many humourous ways.
Match that with a simplistic combat system that allows our Kung Fu
Panda to perform a variety of attacks and this game is definitely
one for the younger gamer who enjoyed the movie.
The control system
of Kung Fu Panda on the Wii suits the control system perfectly with
all buttons neatly mapped on both controllers. One controller is
used to navigate Po and control the camera angles, whereas the other
controller is used to interact with the gaming environment and
engage your foes.
Although Po can use
his fists and feet to perform some lethal martial art maneuvers, he
also has access to weapons and other items that can be thrown at
your opponents which makes for some interesting gameplay. This large
panda can also climb trees and sometimes with a fluid like grace
which is quite entertaining and is reminiscent of the movie itself.
Ironically, Po can
even perform some Sonic the Hedgehog style of maneuvers as he rolls
around the gaming environment collecting gold coins and other
assortments which is strangely odd, considering his size. Although
the game is an arcade action game, the main story mode is sometimes
confusing as the mission objectives are not clearly displayed to the
gamer, however persistence does pay off.
The only issue I
had with the control system is that the camera angles sometimes
becomes blocked by objects and you need to manually change the view
which does become a little frustrating when you are engaged in
fighting. The boss battles in Kung Fu Panda are varied and
entertaining with the character having access to a slow motion
“mode” that assists in battling your enemies and is once again
reminiscent of the movie as there were quite a few slow motion
scenes in the movie.
Although Po is
primary your main character, you can control some of the other
characters in the game such as Tigress which does assist in sprucing
up the gameplay. The multiplayer aspect of Kung Fu Panda is rather
entertaining as you can fight other players and also contains some
interesting memory games that will hold the attention and
imagination of younger gamers.
Graphically, the
title uses a variety of scenes and characters from the movie with
some of the environments almost duplicated in the game. The title
has this Saturday morning cartoon feel to it with colourful
characters and rather detailed and engaging background environments.
Match that with
some colourful special effects and some great cutscenes and Kung Fu
Panda is a rather competent game. The voice acting of the game is
quite professional and does sound like their movie counterparts as
does the ambient soundtrack.
In conclusion, Kung
Fu Panda is a great game for the younger gamer with a great
storyline, good graphics and a very good control system. The only
downside to the game is the sometimes unclear mission objectives but
it will give the player value for money.
