There’s nothing wrong with making a game hard, but when you set the difficulty down to “easy” mode and still struggle to pass, you know there’s a problem. I would only recommend this game to hardcore players only as the difficulty is too great for any casual gamers. The only redeeming factor is that the game is slightly easier playing in 2 player co-op but even then it was an uphill battle to complete the game…
Camera Issues
Kung Fu Strike gets a bit hectic during the latter stages when waves upon waves of enemies will attack you all at once and at all sides. With all the characters on-screen at one time, the camera sometimes fails to keep up with all the action – especially during co-op mode. It’s pretty annoying when each player is fighting an opponent on either side of the screen but the camera doesn’t zoom out to accommodate this. Players will need to literally stop fighting and walk to the middle of the screen again to get back into the camera’s focus. Sometimes, the game’s camera zooms out too far and you are not even sure where you are on the screen because there are too many enemies on the screen at once!
VS Mode Only Unlocked Only After Completing The Game
Kung Fu Strike offers a 2 player VS mode so you can play the game against one another. The unfortunate thing about the VS mode in Kung Fu Strike is that it’s unavailable to play from the very start. The only way to unlock the game is if you can pass the game’s very hard campaign mode. It is quite disappointing that the developer pretty much locked half of the game’s content unless you are skilled enough to finish the game.
Lackluster VS Mode
Even after completing this hard game, I found out that the VS mode wasn’t even worth it in the end anyway. You only get to play as the same two characters you played through via the game’s campaign mode. You don’t get the chance to play as any other of the bosses you encounter in the campaign mode. Although the VS mode was fun for a few fights, it gets pretty old very quickly. It’s like a having playing Street Fighter where you could only be Ryu and Ken all the time. It may be fun for a while, but you need to play as other fighters or else it gets very repetitive.
Verdict
Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise could have been so much more but the end result is a repetitive hard game that feels like a chore to play. The VS mode could have added more features and playable characters too. Old-school beat-em-up fans are likely to enjoy the hard challenges ahead of them in this game but for everyone else, this is a title that is best to avoid.
[Editor’s Note: Kung Fu Strike: The Warrior’s Rise was reviewed on the Xbox 360. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]