Kung Fu Panda: 6.4
Kung Fu Panda, at its heart, symbolizes all movie tie-ins. I hate movie tie-ins. They consist mainly of picking up random objects, much like Sonic’s love for rings or Mario’s for coins. You spend much of your time smashing boxes to find these collectables, then you run around and smack a few enemies around. The enemies tend to all be the same model used over and over again. This is then followed by a pointless cutscene which we are often told is “straight out of the movie” but looks like a three year old had a go with Cinema 4D.
I hate movie tie-ins.
The graphics aren’t particularly good, nor does using the Wii system help. On the other hand, for a movie tie in, Kung Fu Panda did actually have some high points. For comments on the fighting, look at my Spiderman 3 review and take out the webslinging bits. But the boss fights, or at least one, were actually quite good. They used the Wiimote movements to force you into dodging quickly, to avoid being hit. It actually reminded me of a couple of the fights in Prince of Persia (POP = GOOD) and so I was happy to play that. Of course, it was ruined by the subsequent mini quests to run through several rooms attacking enemies. But it was good while it lasted.
The plot is just the same as the film, but I had an annoying encounter with badly adjusted sounds during cutscenes. Where the game had been loud and crashing, it was now fuzzy and too quiet. So I settled for reading the story scrolling past Star Wars style. Interestingly, the voice of Jack Black too, sounded bored, and I can imagine him sitting in a studio somewhere reading out his lines wondering why he signed up to do this crap, before remembering the extortionate amount of money he’s being paid. I wonder if he ever played the game afterwards.
On the whole, Kung Fu Panda is a movie tie-in. A good movie tie-in, but still a movie tie-in. I’d say it was disappointing, but I expected no better than what I got, and I was surprised by some of the good points. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going back to Morrowind.
Nometet.com says: 6.4
+Good use of the Wiimote
+Jack Black is in it
+Prince Of Persia style boss fight(s)
-Poor graphics
-Poor Fighting