There will always be a welcome place in the game-o-sphere for arcadey, over-the-top brawlers: they feed our primal urge to mash buttons and smack silly legions of cartoonish attackers. In that spirit, Kung Fu Strike may just be the stripped-down Dynasty Warriors–type fighting game that your inner child with ADD craves. It won’t win awards for graphics or sound, but its simplicity is part of its charm.
Inspired by every cheesy chop-socky flick ever made, Kung Fu Strike casts you as General Loh, out to avenge your father’s death in ancient China. A series of short stages test your mettle against a gauntlet of fighters, including henchmen, armed monks, living statues, and mystical bosses. At first, the action is relatively simple: X is punch, A is a jump kick, B blocks, and X+A unleashes a special Chi attack. But as you collect money, you can purchase new combos, equip inventory items for bonuses, and unlock support characters that you can summon during a match, expanding the complexity of the game as you progress in the campaign.
If a particular stage in the story campaign is too challenging (and the difficulty level does ramp up considerably), you can have a second player fight alongside you in co-op mode. Strangely, the game’s versus mode, which lets you battle against your buddy, is unlocked only once you’ve completed the entire story campaign. Note to developers: Don’t use multiplayer features as a reward for finishing the single-player game. It just makes us kung fu furious.
PUBLISHER: 7sixty • DEVELOPER: Qooc Soft • ESRB: Teen • MULTIPLAYER: 2 in local co-op and versus modes • ACHIEVEMENTS: Stingy • COST: 800 Microsoft Points ($10) • RELEASE DATE: September 5, 2012
+ Simple-to-play, difficult-to-master brawler.
+ Story campaign can be played cooperatively.
– Versus mode is unlocked only after you finish the story campaign.
? Are the bomb-throwing guys meant to sound like The Three Stooges?
