I haven’t touched a movie-based game since Spiderman: The Movie: The Game came out. I still remember beating the game and enjoying the ending, only to realize that the final cut scene was ruining the ending of the movie before the flick even came out! Ever since then I’ve sworn off movie games… that is until Kung-Fu Panda appeared in my hands. The game based on the newly released Dreamworks summer blockbuster with a laundry list of celebrities such as Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, Angelina Jolie, Jackie Chan and more (all of which are not actually voiced in the game), is adapted into an adventure for Wii, PS2, PC, Xbox360, Nintendo DS, Wireless cell phones and PS3. Basically every platform people still make games for.

You take control of Po the Panda as well as other members of the furious five to play through 13 action based levels that progress along the same storyline as the movie of the same name. What separates this title from other animated film adaptations is that Kung Fu Panda offers more than an interactive version of the game. Luxoflux Corp and Activision tried to vary up the game play as much as possible and as such, the cute furry critters get a little of that God of War type game play. Little mini games, different types of stages, action button madness and different combos are what I mean by that. On top of this, Po can have his skills, combos and even costumes upgraded by collecting coins throughout the game. Not done yet! Kung Fu Panda also offers multiplayer action in the form of mini-games of up to four players offline, unfortunately however, you can still enter into these multiplayer matches by yourself and be bored with nothing to do for 5 minutes (I was playing alone at one point and even managed to get a negative score!). To round off the additions to this adaptation, Kung Fu Panda has PLENTY of un-lockable goodies if you find enough secret green coins in the single player mode.

With all these things going for Kung Fu Panda, you might think you should stop reading now, go out and buy this game on as many platforms as possible, but read on weary gamers, read on. Even though the Panda game has features out the wazoo, it still has plenty to warrant questioning. Overall, the game is just not too fun. The game play is very repetitive (aside from the interspersed mini-games), you run, do something wacky, jump a bit, fight a group of pigs, repeat that again, then mini game, repeat step 1 again then boss. Level two is exactly the same with different items to collect and a different breed of animal to fight. It almost feels like a balance of overuse of formula to just plain lazy if you ask me. As well, the game suffers from horrible detection problems. This can be extremely frustrating when you’re playing on one of the many pond jumping stages where if you fall into the water you automatically die, luckily there aren’t a set amount of lives to worry about.

A movie with such an emphasis on the celebrity actors that portray their animated equivalent would have to bleed out to the game version, wouldn’t you think? The bad news is that this game doesn’t have any of the big name voice actors. The good news though, is that it does have pretty good imposter voice actors that sound almost exactly like their celebrity counterparts. The bad news again, while there is PLENTY of voice acting going on in this game, it gets much to repetitive quickly and to a point where Po says the same lame catchphrase every 5 minutes. Like the movie, Kung Fu Panda for PS3 utilized Dolby Digital sound for crisper audio entertainment.

Along with the God of War game play feel, the controls are also fairly similar. Light attack, strong attack, combos, dodges and special moves (like turning yourself into a big ball or doing a belly flop on the bad guys) is pretty much the majority of your controls, while rolling around or flying in a mini-game, you have the option to use the Sixaxis motion sensor ability to steer your character. I do enjoy the fact that you are given the option though, as the only thing worse than bad detection issues, are poor control options. On top of this, Kung Fu Panda is Dualshock 3 compatible for those rumbling PS3 enjoyers out there.

Kung Fu Panda is one of the most detailed, smooth, and magnificent computer animated feats I have ever seen… I’m talking about the movie. The game looks as decent as a high quality PS2 game, yet again, God of War graphics and animation fluidity come to mind. There are some great uses of lighting going on within the game and the number of frames per second never as much as hiccups, but in the end, I can’t help be expect more of a visual treat on a PS3 game, especially now since games like Grand Theft Auto 4 and Metal Gear Solid 3 are out. All these negatives aside, the game looks fun and is very colourful, it embodies the point of the movie excellently and the little details make gamers smile (I especially enjoy how Po’s tummy jiggles). There are no cut scenes in this game, no scenes directly out of the movie and no pre-rendered videos; all storytelling is done through the in-game graphics.

Over all, if you’re a fan of the movie, I would definitely recommend picking this game up, even if you get tired of the story after playing through it once, it still has 14 multiplayer modes (some of which are just fights, some of which are more interesting mini-games), upgradeable attributes, optional side quests, and even a demo of the Madagascar 2 video game! If you weren’t such a fan of Jack Black’s vocal antics or the movie as a whole, why would you think about picking up a game you didn’t enjoy what it was based on in the first place? If your considering picking up this game before seeing the movie however, DON’T. It will ruin the story and when you eventually do go to see the film, it will feel like your watching something you’ve already seen.

Graphics: 3.0 / 5.0
Game play 2.5 / 5.0
Sound 2.0 / 5.0
Replay value 4.0 / 5.0






Related Stories: