Kung Fu Chaos

"Ready. Make Fighting."

One of the most critically underrated games released so far this year explodes onto the Xbox with action very well represented by it's title. Kung Fu Chaos seems to be Microsoft's answer to Super Smash Brothers: Melee on the Nintendo Gamecube, though it is in some ways quite different from the Big N's party game.

Anyone who's ever seen one of the ''classic'' 70's Martial Arts movies that air on late night cable will understand the game's inspiration. It both spoofs and pays homage to those old films that were full of (and created) the stereotypes of the martial arts action genre, complete with badly dubbed English and poorly translated menu captions. Even the theme to Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon is included on the soundtrack (as well as the song ''Kung Fu Fighting,'' another classic). You can even watch your matches in the game in replay through a filter that gives it the look of an old low budget Kung Fu flick and uses silly 70's action movie camera effects.

The premise of Kung Fu Chaos is that (in)famous action director Shao Ting is trying to make a comeback with his opus, a movie entitled Kung Fu Chaos. Someone apparently didn't inform Ting or any of his cast that punches are pulled, because the fights in KFC are real. You'll battle across ''sets'' which range from standard Chop-Socky movie fair to spoofs of Jurassic Park, Titanic and Independence Day. These sets are full of background mayhem and detail. They're also huge, and as you progress during a level you'll be ushered to different locales. For example, the first fight takes you from a bar onto a barge as it winds through a city, up awnings to a platform and eventually onto a pier where you encounter the first boss. And that's actually one of the tamer stages.

You choose a would-be Kung Fu action star from a roster of nine characters (six initially unlocked) that includes a Ninja, old Kung-Fu master, Samurai and even a lady in a fur coat with shotgun, clearly inspired by the likes of Cleopatra Jones herself (kids, look it up).

KFC offers a multitude of different game modes for Single and Multi-play. The main single player mode is Ninja Challenge, where you fight through different movie sets and minigames, trying to achieve a five star rating to unlock more of the game's content. The battle mode allows up to four people to take on each other either on the set or in one of the minigames, and the game can support a small number of AI controlled bots depending on the amount of human players involved (there's a maximum of four players, no matter who controls them). In battle your goal is to bring your opponent down to zero lives (by beating them up and throwing them off the stage), though there are other winning methods which you can unlock. Miniseries modes feature special singe players scenarios for each character. The Minigames offered in KFC are largely creative and enjoyable, giving you and/or your friends something to do with the game other than crack skulls.

Graphics: 8
The characters in Kung Fu Chaos have a ''super deformed'' look to them. Their heads are about as large as their bodies and they all have cartoonish appearances. The stages are very well done and absolutely stocked with action. Extras will run by as you fight in levels, platforms will drop or give way, etc. No matter how much goes on, however, the game suffers no slowdown and keeps a good frame rate.

Sound: 8
The effort put forth by the game's creators to make it feel like the Chop-Socky films of old paid off well. The music is perfect, and if you don't care for it you can rip your own soundtracks for the game. Shao Ting constantly offers his own...strange insights into the scene you're playing on and can be anything from stupid to downright hilarious depending on what lines he uses. The character's voices and lines are equally as amusing, and well done.

Control: 8
Even with the constantly changing environments and 3D levels the controls in KFC serve well. There are three attack buttons and each character has several combos they can execute. The layout of the attacks favors both button mashers and people who actually care to learn the game, though in single player its essential that players learn the right combos to deal with the right enemies. You can also taunt opponents. Do this enough times and you can access a super uber-attack for your character which pretty much always clears the screen.

Replay: 7
There's a great deal of things to unlock in Kung Fu Chaos. Each character has an alternate costume, a biography and three Miniseries levels which you can unlock in Ninja Challenge/Miniseries Mode. New games and winning methods, stages, characters and other extras can also be unlocked in the Ninja Challenge. The amount of unlockables, modes and even the special replays are enough to keep gamers coming back for more.

The Verdict: 8 (not an average)
Kung Fu Chaos is very much a ''party game,'' but not one that you can't have a perfectly good time with alone. Unlike many titles coming out these days it's a game all about having fun, and not about beating players to death with over-complication or tedious gameplay. It's a great game to buy/rent for an evening with friends, and just as enjoyable when you're hankering for some Chaos on your own.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 03/01/03, Updated 03/01/03