Kung Fu Panda 2

A THQ Release


Here we have the second Kung Fu Panda game which has been released to coincide with the second Kung Fu Panda movie.

The first game and movie I thought were excellent. They had wit, they had charm and they had fantastic graphics. So when the sequels were released and Kent asked me to play and review the game I jumped at the chance.

I have made a schoolboy error!

For KFP2 the developers have decided to switch from the normal 360 controller to using Kinect. I enjoy Kinect and so for me this was supposed to be a bonus. Every Kinect release I have played so far has been fun, if in most cases a little bit limited and samey. However having now dragged myself through KFP2, those other releases look like 5 star mega games.

KFP2 has 2 distinct sections. I am not sure whether the developer thought the 2 meant 2 sections or not but anyway there are 2 none the less.

The first is the traditional Story Mode.

Here you learn about how to control Po the giant Panda of Kung Fu fame. For the first 30 minutes you get taken through a series of exercises in blocking and punching and jumping. All pretty normal for a tutorial except its spanned out over several levels which means you basically are standing there for half an hour doing very little apart from the odd arm movement.

Throught the story mode you go from one location to another and fight Dragons and Gorillas and in between you have a couple of side games of throwing things.



The fights are all the same. You punch and kick when on the attack and you block and swerve when you are told to defend. Its the exact same proceedure from start to finish. It does not even get any tougher really except for the fact that you know it is soul destroying and so the difficulty in keeping going does get harder!

So the fighting is dull and has 2 extra pointless features. Not sure if the developers thought with it being called KFP2 that they had to add 2 features but there you go. When you get to a certain point in the fight you can sometimes call in one of the friends of Po to do a finishing move. You do this by calling out the name on screen. There is no mention of this in the tutorial and I wont read a manual so unless you are aware you might not get that done! Later in the game you are praying for this option each time as it speeds up the fight and therefore relieves the boredom for a moment. The other feature is that Po has a finishing move that you activate when an enemy is on its last legs. You dont get anymore points/fun/ach by doing it and once you have seen all of them its yet another repetitive aspect to contend with.

Talking about repetitive aspects the narrative and speech in a game to me are important. I always know a game is going to be dross if I hear the same soundbyte over and over. In KFP2 I was hearing repeats within the first 10 minutes.



The 2 side games, I am not sure whether the developers thought the 2 in KFP2 meant they had to do 2 side games but hey ho, consist of thowing bowls noodles at tables to feed animals and throwing rocks at crocs on a roof. The noodle part is tough because the actions they have devised for the controls just dont work and its rather frustrating. The rock throwing is better but still brings little joy.

I guess the developers must have played a couple of early Kinect titles too as the obligatory driving and steering by leaning section is present. Its utter garbage too so nice to see it in keeping with the rest of the game.



Once you have forced your way through the short story mode you will have unlocked all the sections of freeplay very much like the ToyStory3 game.

These free play sections are just replays of the levels of the story but with the added exitement of trying to get medals by doing the activity well.


So what we have is a game devoid of any personality when its based on a movie where the central character Po's personality is the whole point of the film. The graphics are dreadful and have lost all the beauty of the first game. The soundbytes are lame and unfunny and repetitive. But even with all that you just might have been able to extract some pleasure from this game except for one almighty failing in the fact that the controls are so bad.

Kinect is wonderful but if you are unable to programme for it then please dont bother. The game cannot pick up some movements vital to it and you find yourself blocking an attack perfectly in your living room but the giant panda on screen is not doing what you are doing. Its a combination of dreadful lag and poor tracking of hand movement. Couple that with the noodle game that ends up being nothing short of random as it fails to pick up 50% of your actions and we have a Kinect title that does not work. Now I know Kinect does work so the blame is solely on the developers.

Ach come regularly through the story mode, but the majority will be gained through free play if you can stand it. I will play on until I get a decent amount, but I am not looking forward to doing so. In free play the controls are so bad its actually difficult to select the level you want to play ffs.

So is the 2 because its a sequel?
Is it because it has 2 modes?
Is it because it has 2 features?
It is because it has 2 side games?

no

The reason is clear.....

2/5