Kung Fu Chaos

"This game really lives up to it's name. . .because it really is chaos!"

INTRODUCTION
Well, I was at my local Wal-Mart (Wally World I call it), and I was looking around at the games. I had a $35 limit, and this game caught my eye. Why? Because first off, it was $29.99. I was thinking, hey, hey, hey! Secondly, I was actually looking for a multiplayer game because I'm kind of weak in that in my X-Box game collection. So I bought it and took it home. I really liked this game at first, but once you start playing it for a while, you REALLY see the negativity in this game. So, let's begin the review.

SOUND (5/10)
The sound is pretty decent. The breaking of things, the character noises, the swinging of the weapons, really isn't what it SHOULD be. The director guy in the game, well, he sometimes has some pretty funny lines, and I'd like to hear those lines. But sometimes you can't make out what he's saying. So, the sound is decent, but it's bad at the same time. I'll just go half way and give the sound a 5 out of 10.

MUSIC (3/10)
Well, this game supports the soundtrack feature. Which is where you can put your own music in the game. At first, when I was in the store and I saw that you could do this on the game box, I was like, ''YEAH!'' But once you hear your songs on the game for the 87th time, you begin to go crazy. I mean hey, it is your own music. But wouldn't you like to hear those songs every once in a while? I have over 150 songs on my X-Box. And the way this game makes it out, it sounds like I only have about two. The music repeats it self in the levels, which I guess I can say, okay. Although I'd like to hear more variety in EACH level. But then when a different level starts, you have a 99.9% chance of hearing that same song from the level before. As for the real game music itself, I'm not exactly sure of what the music sounds like. I've heard it gets pretty irritating. Which doesn't surprise me none. Well, I'm going to give the music a 3 out of 10.

GRAPHICS (10/10)
If anyone says that the graphics in this game is bad, then they're just trying to pull your leg. The graphics in this game are great. Even though they do have a cartoony look to them. Which I can pass because if this game had real looking characters, well, then this game would probably be banned from the blood. Anyway, the level designs in this game are really, really good. I haven't seen a level look similar from the one before. The character designs for the people you play as, are good. So the graphics pick up a well deserved perfect score.

CONTROLS (4/10)
Well. . .the controls seem promising. Attack is X, Counter/Fast Attack is Y, Throw is B, and Jump is A. Those are the buttons you'll be using the most. Although, you'll find yourself either jumping or hitting the same buttons over and over again to get out of a mess. The controls get extremely frustrating because the levels move insanely fast, most of the time. And when you're trying to get out of a mess, the enemies are blocking your path, hitting you with moves that you half the time can't block, then you got to mash the same button over and over again to get out of the mess! It really is chaos folks. Well, for the control layout being pretty simple to get use to, I give the controls a 4 out of 10.

STORY (3/10)
The game doesn't really have a story. The story mode is actually entitled ''Ninja Challenge''. But I'm just going to simply refer to it as STORY MODE. Do you honestly expect a game like this to have an actual STORY? Here's what the back of the box says, ''Everybody is Kung Fu Fighting! Choose from 8 groovy kung fu action stars. Play against 3 other people or go solo against the Evil Ninja Clan of Darkness. Rise to movie stardom by kicking butt and talking trash.'' Well, in my words of summing it up, a director wants you to film a movie. You go into these either simple stages or EXTREMELY frustrating stages, to pass these stages you have to get three or more stars. To unlock things, you have to usually get four or five stars. The game makes you think there is a story, but there really isn't. Some of these stages are well thought out, but the stages move way too fast for you to actually enjoy them. Well, I'm going to give the story a 3 out of 10.

GAMEPLAY (6/10)
This game offers A LOT! But the difficulty of the game most of the time wears the gameplay down. You got plenty to do in this game. First off, for you to actually get anywhere with the multiplayer, you'll HAVE to do go through the story mode. If you can't do anything in the story mode, then just take this game back. Because mostly everything has to be unlocked there for you to have any fun in this game. The other modes offered are: Battle Game, Championship (have to unlock), Miniseries (have to unlock), Freesytle, and Rehearsal. ''Battle Game'' is the place where you fight against the CPU or your friends. ''Championship'' is where you fight against your friends or CPU through 12 rounds of the madness, the winner is the champion. ''Miniseries'' is where each character has three challenges. ''Freestyle'' is where it's like never ending, and you can just mess around. And ''Rehearsal'' is just practice. The game has much to offer. But I just wish you didn't have to unlock most of the game in the story mode. Because it can really get hard. Although, I'm sure if you can get through it, the multiplayer will be the heart and soul of this game. I've never tried it out, because no one rarely comes to my house, so yeah. Basically, this is Super Smash Brothers Melee but extremely more hectic. Well, I'm going to give the gameplay a 6 out of 10.

REPLAY VALUE (10/10)
Well, this game like I just explained, has a lot of replay value. Even if the game is a challenge, it has much to do. And I'm sure the multiplayer is great. So I'm going to give the replay value a perfect score.

FUN FACTOR (5/10)
As I've said many times now, this game is either simple or frustrating to the max. The game can be fun at times, even if it is frustrating. And as of stated for the I think third time now, I'm sure the game is fun with the multiplayer. So I'm going to go half way and give the fun factor a 5 out of 10.

CONCLUSION on SCORES
Sound - 5/10
Music - 3/10
Graphics - 10/10
Controls - 4/10
Story - 3/10
Gameplay - 6/10
Replay Value - 10/10
Fun Factor - 5/10
Average Score: 5.75
FINAL SCORE: 6/10

FINAL THOUGHTS
If you're a patient person, get this game. I for one am impatient, so this game pushes my patience a LOT. The game is probably fun once you unlock everything, but I don't know if I'll ever get there. I can't take it back, so I'm stuck with it. But I'll try to unlock everything and maybe have fun in the end. So, that's my review and I'm sticking to it!

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/27/03, Updated 05/27/03