Kung Fu Chaos
Posted April 4, 2003
Kung Fu Chaos, the freshman outing from Just Add Monsters, captures the campy fun and relentless action of vintage Hong Kong cinema, sending long-forgotten memories of flicks like Death Mask of the Ninja and Monkey Kung-Fu flooding back. Director Shao Ting is at the helm of yet another film in his long, illustrious low-budget career, and he's recruited eight actors to star in his latest epic, not surprisingly titled Kung Fu Chaos. Among them are wizened martial arts master Sho-Yu, silent but deadly Ninja Fu Hiya, a monkey appropriately named Monkey, samurai father/son duo Chop & Styx, the vengeance-minded Xui Tan Sour, blaxploitation star Lucy Cannon, rollergirl Candi Roll, and masked Mexican wrestler Captain Won Ton. The game allows players to choose from six of these diverse cast members, with three more unlockable as things progress. Shao Ting's movie shamelessly rides on the coattails of big-budget Hollywood blockbusters, and its budget is so paltry that the director resorts to shooting on borrowed sets. As Shao Ting barks out orders, it's up to the cast to defeat the armies of the Evil Ninja Clan of Darkness without taking too much abuse themselves and before the director's cameras run out of film.
Gameplay:
Most of the game's features are locked at the outset, and success at the single-player driven "Ninja Challenge" is required to get the most out of the game, regardless of how many people are going to be playing. After choosing an actor, players duke it out with the incomprehensibly large Evil Ninja Clan of Darkness on a variety of movie sets. There are twenty-seven levels in total, featuring six full-length borrowed sets spoofing blockbusters like Titanic, Jurassic Park, and Independence Day. Interspersed throughout are training levels which give players the opportunity to hone their chop-socky skills, as well as sparring sessions where the goal is to bruise and batter as many ninjas as possible in the allotted time. The remainder of the Ninja Challenge consists of minigames that break from the battles and brawls, taking inspiration from sources as diverse as bumpercars and Pac-Man. Sometimes the goals of these minigames are to rescue fellow actors, catching them as they're flung out during a bar brawl or throwing life preservers into the briny blue. It's more than just mindless button mashing, though, and players have to watch out for obstacles like cows that careen towards a flimsy trampoline and avoiding lobbing life preservers at seals that forcefully toss them right back. Other minigames are more combative, knocking enemies off of a dizzyingly-high platform by throwing an ugly princess at them or bumping stuntmen from a block of ice into the chilly ocean waters.
The actors' performances in each level are rated on a scale of zero to five stars, with a single star ranking as 'direct to video' and the other end of the scale as an unqualified blockbuster. A minimum of three stars are needed to progress to the next level, and snagging four to five stars unlocks other features and assorted bits of fun and excitement. Earning three stars is usually not exceptionally tough, and for the most part, it generally only takes one or two tries to squeak through. Since each level runs only a few minutes in length, netting a set of three stars across the board can be easily accomplished in a weekend of light play. Doing the same for five stars is considerably tougher given the limited lives and time. Characters begin each level with five lives. Kung Fu Chaos is generous with extra lives on movie sets, tossing them out at almost every opportunity, but players can't be as reckless in the shorter, less forgiving minigames. Since Shao Ting's productions are shot on a shoestring, the budget for film is tight, and each level's goals have to be knocked out before the cameras run dry.
Kung Fu Chaos' star shines even brighter in the highly customizable multiplayer modes. Players can duke it out with up to three others on one of the game's six movie sets in "Battle Game" mode or in the twelve-round "Championship" brawl. These modes feature tracking of stats, setting different goals for each battle, adjusting the game's speed, and pairing players two-on-two instead of chaotic free-for-alls. Gamers who have trouble dragging a couple of friends in front of their XBox can compete against the CPU.
Each character has three unlockable "Miniseries", tough minigames whose difficulty eclipses the bulk of the Ninja Challenge. Other gaming options include "Freestyle" sparring and "Rehearsal" training rounds. There's quite a bit to unlock in Kung Fu Chaos, many of which can be accessed through "Special Features", such as cast bios and island scenes, as well as a trailer and replays.
From my first glimpse of the initial screenshots that made the rounds, I had high expectations for Kung Fu Chaos, and the finished product was every bit as fun and addictive as I'd hoped. Kung Fu Chaos is a seamless blend of the two genres that suck up most of my free time, fighting and platformers, and it's the type of game that lends itself to playing for twenty minute bursts or hours-long gaming marathons. Kung Fu Chaos has a great sense of humor, from its parodies of big-budget movies, jabs at bad dubbing (like the menu text that reads "loading, make ready"), to nods to the dominant genre stereotypes of '70s schlock cinema. Mocking your opponents is an integral part of the game, and Shao Ting frequently tosses out quips of greatly varying quality.
The controls don't offer as extensive an array of combinations as a standard one-on-one fighter, but the basics can be picked up almost instantly, and near-total mastery comes after a few hours of gameplay. Only the left thumbstick is used, obviously to control the character, and the on-rails camera cannot be directly manipulated. The four primary buttons attack, counter, jump, and throw. These can be strung together to perform special attacks (Spin Attack, Running Attack, Heavy Attack, and jump kicks), as well as the expected set of combos. The throws and attacks are where the differences between characters are the most obvious, ranging from Monkey planting a kiss on his victims to Lucy Cannon whipping out a shotgun and blasting everyone in sight. Almost anything the actors can get their hands around can be picked up and used as a weapon, including stunned enemies. The right trigger is used to block weak attacks, and the left trigger lobs taunts. If successfully delivered as an opponent is being knocked down, a taunt keeps them face-first on the ground longer. After three taunts, pressing both triggers simultaneously launches a destructive special attack, which is also unique to each character. These special attacks are a quick way to vanquish a screenful of enemies, and they also net more points per fallen opponent.
The levels are respectably large, more than tiny backdrops for the fighting, and they each have sly winks at the movies that inspired them. These environments aren't just eye candy either, and almost everything can be interacted with in one way or another. Sometimes this can be helpful, such as the watermelons and chickens that can be chucked at the onslaught of ninjas, though vines and other obstacles can send characters plummeting to their deaths. As the action heats up, the flimsily-constructed sets crumble, and players have to keep one step ahead of the destruction while fending off the ninja army.
Kung Fu Chaos' replays are more imaginative than most. Since every punch and kick is being filmed, the playback appropriately features cinematic angles and even effects like split-screens and slow motion, and the low-grade of the film stock ensures that the replays are riddled with grain and assorted specks. Shao Ting even provides optional director's commentary, like many of the movies found on similarly shiny five-inch discs. This footage can be saved to the XBox's hard drive, and though I never really found myself possessed by the urge to revisit past battles repeatedly, it's a nice feature to have.
A few aspects of Kung Fu Chaos are mildly disappointing, most notably the lack of XBox Live support. Given the strength of the multiplayer mode, I would have preferred to be able to choose from tens of thousands of potential competitors instead of the handful of friends I usually duke it out with. XBox Live would've also offered the opportunity for downloadable content. As much as I like the six available movie sets, I get the distinct feeling that their charm could wear pretty thin after a couple of months of play. It's a mixed blessing that the single-player mode is the key to unlocking the features that make multiplayer so much fun. Presumably just one person will be tackling all of the "Ninja Challenge" goals, and that extensive experience gave me a substantial advantage whenever I was paired against friends. Only one game can be saved in Kung Fu Chaos, making it a little less rewarding for other players to sift through the single-player mode.
Despite a handful of easily overlooked quibbles, Kung Fu Chaos is without a doubt one of my favorite games that I've played on the XBox. It's the most infectiously fun multiplayer game since Sega Soccer Slam, and its single-player mode is thankfully solid as well.
Graphics:
Kung Fu Chaos' stylized visuals are a page torn from Saturday morning -- colorful, cartoonish, and just shy of super-deformed. The character models are nicely detailed, though this might not be noticeable at a casual glance. The game's camera is often zoomed out to capture as much action on-screen as possible, but when it pulls in tighter for one-on-one battles, the quality becomes much more apparent. Much of Kung Fu Chaos takes place on sets lifted from flicks like Titanic and Jurassic Park, and it's clear that quite a bit of thought and detail went into these highly interactive levels. Taking a cue from Zucker and Abrahams, much of the game's humor isn't necessarily plastered front and center, but lurking in the backgrounds. The game's palette is tinted a light brown to give it that distinctive '70s look, but the hues are varied enough that they don't devolve into a dull, muddy mess. Despite the amount of action on-screen, the framerate never once stuttered or hiccupped, remaining nice and smooth for the duration. The weakest aspects graphically are the opening and closing bits with Shao Ting, suffering from jerky animation and heavy aliasing that aren't nearly as noticeable elsewhere in the game.
Owners of widescreen televisions may be disappointed that Kung Fu Chaos lacks the 16x9 mode present in an increasingly large number of first-party offerings, and it's among just a handful of XBox games that doesn't include a 480p mode.
Audio:
The game's wah-wah drenched music is as stereotypically seventies as it gets, kicking off with Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting". Kung Fu Chaos supports custom soundtracks, but the selection of music provided is so perfectly suited to the game that I didn't feel the need to start flipping through my CD collection for replacements. The thought of ripping the follow-up "Kung Fu Dancing" off of my Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie soundtrack was tempting, but, of course, I wouldn't want to admit to owning anything like that.
Every level begins and ends with rants by Shao Ting, the game's virtual director, which are mildly amusing at first but become increasingly grating and unbearably repetitive as the game progresses. Thankfully, the sound menu allows the volume of his prattling to be reduced or even turned off entirely, and all other aspects of Kung Fu Chaos' audio can be similarly adjusted. I wouldn't recommend disabling Shao Ting outright, however. Though his one-liners are disposable, the warnings he lobs out in the short films are frequently helpful. One or two runthroughs each level with Shao Ting enabled ought to be enough. The remainder of the voice acting is limited to grunts, dead-on voiceovers in the training rounds, exclamations accompanying certain movies, and brief taunts.
On the home theater front, Kung Fu Chaos sports Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, as is the norm for the XBox. The game doesn't take full advantage of the six channels at its disposal, with the action rooted entirely in the front channels. It's rare to hear more from the surrounds than scattered ambiance, such as the lapping of water and the chirping of off-screen animals, and I didn't spot anything in the way of actual directionality. Echoes of the action and an occassional effect like the mooing of cows in "A Few Good Stuntmen" creep into the rears intermittently, but not with any great frequency. Despite the flurry of fists and incalculable amount of destruction in the game, Kung Fu Chaos is also light in the lower frequencies, giving my subwoofer little to do. I didn't have any major qualms with the audio in Kung Fu Chaos, but it's not the sort of sonic showcase offered by a number of other XBox titles.
Conclusion:
Despite the mixed comments on various message boards and gaming sites, I found Kung Fu Chaos to be a total blast. Both the single and multiplayer modes are hopelessly addictive, and the game's variety and armfuls of unlockables offer substantial replay value. Kung Fu Chaos is quirky enough in its premise and design that some gamers might be hopelessly turned off by its cartoonish appearance, and as much as the gameplay appealed to me, I can definitely see why it isn't for everyone. The second XBox Exhibition disc features a demo of the game that is very representative of the final product, and it'd be worth checking it or a rental out before shelling out fifty bucks.
Highly recommended as a rental, recommended as a purchase.
Gameplay:
Most of the game's features are locked at the outset, and success at the single-player driven "Ninja Challenge" is required to get the most out of the game, regardless of how many people are going to be playing. After choosing an actor, players duke it out with the incomprehensibly large Evil Ninja Clan of Darkness on a variety of movie sets. There are twenty-seven levels in total, featuring six full-length borrowed sets spoofing blockbusters like Titanic, Jurassic Park, and Independence Day. Interspersed throughout are training levels which give players the opportunity to hone their chop-socky skills, as well as sparring sessions where the goal is to bruise and batter as many ninjas as possible in the allotted time. The remainder of the Ninja Challenge consists of minigames that break from the battles and brawls, taking inspiration from sources as diverse as bumpercars and Pac-Man. Sometimes the goals of these minigames are to rescue fellow actors, catching them as they're flung out during a bar brawl or throwing life preservers into the briny blue. It's more than just mindless button mashing, though, and players have to watch out for obstacles like cows that careen towards a flimsy trampoline and avoiding lobbing life preservers at seals that forcefully toss them right back. Other minigames are more combative, knocking enemies off of a dizzyingly-high platform by throwing an ugly princess at them or bumping stuntmen from a block of ice into the chilly ocean waters.
The actors' performances in each level are rated on a scale of zero to five stars, with a single star ranking as 'direct to video' and the other end of the scale as an unqualified blockbuster. A minimum of three stars are needed to progress to the next level, and snagging four to five stars unlocks other features and assorted bits of fun and excitement. Earning three stars is usually not exceptionally tough, and for the most part, it generally only takes one or two tries to squeak through. Since each level runs only a few minutes in length, netting a set of three stars across the board can be easily accomplished in a weekend of light play. Doing the same for five stars is considerably tougher given the limited lives and time. Characters begin each level with five lives. Kung Fu Chaos is generous with extra lives on movie sets, tossing them out at almost every opportunity, but players can't be as reckless in the shorter, less forgiving minigames. Since Shao Ting's productions are shot on a shoestring, the budget for film is tight, and each level's goals have to be knocked out before the cameras run dry.
Kung Fu Chaos' star shines even brighter in the highly customizable multiplayer modes. Players can duke it out with up to three others on one of the game's six movie sets in "Battle Game" mode or in the twelve-round "Championship" brawl. These modes feature tracking of stats, setting different goals for each battle, adjusting the game's speed, and pairing players two-on-two instead of chaotic free-for-alls. Gamers who have trouble dragging a couple of friends in front of their XBox can compete against the CPU.
Each character has three unlockable "Miniseries", tough minigames whose difficulty eclipses the bulk of the Ninja Challenge. Other gaming options include "Freestyle" sparring and "Rehearsal" training rounds. There's quite a bit to unlock in Kung Fu Chaos, many of which can be accessed through "Special Features", such as cast bios and island scenes, as well as a trailer and replays.
From my first glimpse of the initial screenshots that made the rounds, I had high expectations for Kung Fu Chaos, and the finished product was every bit as fun and addictive as I'd hoped. Kung Fu Chaos is a seamless blend of the two genres that suck up most of my free time, fighting and platformers, and it's the type of game that lends itself to playing for twenty minute bursts or hours-long gaming marathons. Kung Fu Chaos has a great sense of humor, from its parodies of big-budget movies, jabs at bad dubbing (like the menu text that reads "loading, make ready"), to nods to the dominant genre stereotypes of '70s schlock cinema. Mocking your opponents is an integral part of the game, and Shao Ting frequently tosses out quips of greatly varying quality.
The controls don't offer as extensive an array of combinations as a standard one-on-one fighter, but the basics can be picked up almost instantly, and near-total mastery comes after a few hours of gameplay. Only the left thumbstick is used, obviously to control the character, and the on-rails camera cannot be directly manipulated. The four primary buttons attack, counter, jump, and throw. These can be strung together to perform special attacks (Spin Attack, Running Attack, Heavy Attack, and jump kicks), as well as the expected set of combos. The throws and attacks are where the differences between characters are the most obvious, ranging from Monkey planting a kiss on his victims to Lucy Cannon whipping out a shotgun and blasting everyone in sight. Almost anything the actors can get their hands around can be picked up and used as a weapon, including stunned enemies. The right trigger is used to block weak attacks, and the left trigger lobs taunts. If successfully delivered as an opponent is being knocked down, a taunt keeps them face-first on the ground longer. After three taunts, pressing both triggers simultaneously launches a destructive special attack, which is also unique to each character. These special attacks are a quick way to vanquish a screenful of enemies, and they also net more points per fallen opponent.
The levels are respectably large, more than tiny backdrops for the fighting, and they each have sly winks at the movies that inspired them. These environments aren't just eye candy either, and almost everything can be interacted with in one way or another. Sometimes this can be helpful, such as the watermelons and chickens that can be chucked at the onslaught of ninjas, though vines and other obstacles can send characters plummeting to their deaths. As the action heats up, the flimsily-constructed sets crumble, and players have to keep one step ahead of the destruction while fending off the ninja army.
Kung Fu Chaos' replays are more imaginative than most. Since every punch and kick is being filmed, the playback appropriately features cinematic angles and even effects like split-screens and slow motion, and the low-grade of the film stock ensures that the replays are riddled with grain and assorted specks. Shao Ting even provides optional director's commentary, like many of the movies found on similarly shiny five-inch discs. This footage can be saved to the XBox's hard drive, and though I never really found myself possessed by the urge to revisit past battles repeatedly, it's a nice feature to have.
A few aspects of Kung Fu Chaos are mildly disappointing, most notably the lack of XBox Live support. Given the strength of the multiplayer mode, I would have preferred to be able to choose from tens of thousands of potential competitors instead of the handful of friends I usually duke it out with. XBox Live would've also offered the opportunity for downloadable content. As much as I like the six available movie sets, I get the distinct feeling that their charm could wear pretty thin after a couple of months of play. It's a mixed blessing that the single-player mode is the key to unlocking the features that make multiplayer so much fun. Presumably just one person will be tackling all of the "Ninja Challenge" goals, and that extensive experience gave me a substantial advantage whenever I was paired against friends. Only one game can be saved in Kung Fu Chaos, making it a little less rewarding for other players to sift through the single-player mode.
Despite a handful of easily overlooked quibbles, Kung Fu Chaos is without a doubt one of my favorite games that I've played on the XBox. It's the most infectiously fun multiplayer game since Sega Soccer Slam, and its single-player mode is thankfully solid as well.
Graphics:
Kung Fu Chaos' stylized visuals are a page torn from Saturday morning -- colorful, cartoonish, and just shy of super-deformed. The character models are nicely detailed, though this might not be noticeable at a casual glance. The game's camera is often zoomed out to capture as much action on-screen as possible, but when it pulls in tighter for one-on-one battles, the quality becomes much more apparent. Much of Kung Fu Chaos takes place on sets lifted from flicks like Titanic and Jurassic Park, and it's clear that quite a bit of thought and detail went into these highly interactive levels. Taking a cue from Zucker and Abrahams, much of the game's humor isn't necessarily plastered front and center, but lurking in the backgrounds. The game's palette is tinted a light brown to give it that distinctive '70s look, but the hues are varied enough that they don't devolve into a dull, muddy mess. Despite the amount of action on-screen, the framerate never once stuttered or hiccupped, remaining nice and smooth for the duration. The weakest aspects graphically are the opening and closing bits with Shao Ting, suffering from jerky animation and heavy aliasing that aren't nearly as noticeable elsewhere in the game.
Owners of widescreen televisions may be disappointed that Kung Fu Chaos lacks the 16x9 mode present in an increasingly large number of first-party offerings, and it's among just a handful of XBox games that doesn't include a 480p mode.
Audio:
The game's wah-wah drenched music is as stereotypically seventies as it gets, kicking off with Carl Douglas' "Kung Fu Fighting". Kung Fu Chaos supports custom soundtracks, but the selection of music provided is so perfectly suited to the game that I didn't feel the need to start flipping through my CD collection for replacements. The thought of ripping the follow-up "Kung Fu Dancing" off of my Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie soundtrack was tempting, but, of course, I wouldn't want to admit to owning anything like that.
Every level begins and ends with rants by Shao Ting, the game's virtual director, which are mildly amusing at first but become increasingly grating and unbearably repetitive as the game progresses. Thankfully, the sound menu allows the volume of his prattling to be reduced or even turned off entirely, and all other aspects of Kung Fu Chaos' audio can be similarly adjusted. I wouldn't recommend disabling Shao Ting outright, however. Though his one-liners are disposable, the warnings he lobs out in the short films are frequently helpful. One or two runthroughs each level with Shao Ting enabled ought to be enough. The remainder of the voice acting is limited to grunts, dead-on voiceovers in the training rounds, exclamations accompanying certain movies, and brief taunts.
On the home theater front, Kung Fu Chaos sports Dolby Digital 5.1 audio, as is the norm for the XBox. The game doesn't take full advantage of the six channels at its disposal, with the action rooted entirely in the front channels. It's rare to hear more from the surrounds than scattered ambiance, such as the lapping of water and the chirping of off-screen animals, and I didn't spot anything in the way of actual directionality. Echoes of the action and an occassional effect like the mooing of cows in "A Few Good Stuntmen" creep into the rears intermittently, but not with any great frequency. Despite the flurry of fists and incalculable amount of destruction in the game, Kung Fu Chaos is also light in the lower frequencies, giving my subwoofer little to do. I didn't have any major qualms with the audio in Kung Fu Chaos, but it's not the sort of sonic showcase offered by a number of other XBox titles.
Conclusion:
Despite the mixed comments on various message boards and gaming sites, I found Kung Fu Chaos to be a total blast. Both the single and multiplayer modes are hopelessly addictive, and the game's variety and armfuls of unlockables offer substantial replay value. Kung Fu Chaos is quirky enough in its premise and design that some gamers might be hopelessly turned off by its cartoonish appearance, and as much as the gameplay appealed to me, I can definitely see why it isn't for everyone. The second XBox Exhibition disc features a demo of the game that is very representative of the final product, and it'd be worth checking it or a rental out before shelling out fifty bucks.
Highly recommended as a rental, recommended as a purchase.