Kung Fu Panda Review

Anannya Sen’s Review

The mobile version of the soon to be released animated martial arts comedy.

An animated martial arts comedy you say? Sounds like something Jackie Chan would do, and you would be right for he is one of the voices in the movie. But he's not the main one, that honour falls to the usually hilarious Jack Black and combined with the other all star cast we seem to have a hit movie about a panda who does kung fu. For all the studio execs who thought this was a hilarious new concept, I wonder if Namco and the creators of Tekken are thinking about some form of litigation as we've had a kung fu panda for years. Hell, in Tekken we even have a kung fu bear, kangaroo and dinosaur!

Anyway, onto the game and EA have done a pretty decent job in coming up with a straightforward actioner. The game does follow the events of the film as Po, the comedy panda in question, vies to learn martial arts from his Shifu while the villainous Tai Lung escapes from prison. Ok, so the other 5 cast members aren't in it as much, but hey, the game is fun to play.

It's essentially a side scrolling action game where you have to collect icons and punch, kick and dodge your way across the screen. You can attack with the main button and pressing while jumping will result in a flying kick, pressing while crouching a crouch attack and pressing 3 times will do a combo. For such a large panda, Po is surprisingly nimble and the animation is fluid across the screen.

In a neat twist the action switches between each level as you also get to take control of the villainous Tai Lung as he fights his way out of prison. These levels seem a bit tougher but Tai Lung is one hard guy even if he is voiced by Ian McShane. Like Po, Tai Lung can do a variety of attacks and you are usually moving left instead of right.

Collecting paws of power in the game will unlock a special feature so if you don't get them all on a level you can replay it to find them. Also, there are power ups for each character, the noodle soup (!) and the burning brazier which means you take less damage and do double damage for a short time. Oh, did I mention that each character has a special attack by pressing down and left / right then attack?

In addition to the platform type levels, things are mixed up a little with a few slightly different levels thrown in where Po just has to get as many buns as he can or where Tai Lung has to hop from falling rock to falling rock. The break in the level types certainly makes the game more interesting and enjoyable. Sound is not bad with a few tunes and also some sound effects and vibration. If we could get the actual actor's voices involved it would have been really cool.

Overall EA have made a very fun game to play which has a bit of longevity. It's not always that easy to get the paws of power so you'll want to go back and get them to make sure you can unlock the special surprise.

Surprisingly decent for a movie adaptation. Nothing earth shatteringly innovative but well put together and an enjoyable experience.