Their Kung Fu is Strong
Not all licensed kids' games have to be bad. Luxoflux proves it with Kung Fu Panda.
Published: June 25, 2008
Licensed games get a lot of crap, mainly because they're almost guaranteed to be rushed, poorly-designed pieces of crap that, unfortunately, sell. Kids games -- and in particular games based on the latest CG or animated flick -- are the worst of all culprits. Usually picked up by an unsuspecting relative or parent, licensed kids' schlock is the life's blood of some publishers, all but justifying any long-standing deals with major Hollywood studios.
It wouldn't be completely unfair to say that Activision has rode this wave of ignorance all the way to the bank, regularly giving some publisher an insanely small window with which to develop an interactive take on the Dreamworks Animation film du jour. Almost universally, these games have been at the very least painful exercises in the futility of trying to rush a game out in time for a movie. It's not most of them were bad because they were just crappy games, but they often needed far more time to bake before being shoved out onto shelves. And yes, there were plenty of games that were just plain bad.
Here's the thing, though: Kung Fu Panda is not one of those games. It's not a mind-blowing game either, but it manages to succeed where most licensed games have failed time and time again: it's fun -- and fun for all ages, even if the aim was obviously at a much younger crowd than any of us in the office. That it also looks fantastic was an unexpected bonus, but developer Luxoflux apparently took the critical thrashing of stuff like True Crime as a challenge to clean up their besmirched name.
Clearly there is some talent in that studio, particularly in the art department. Kung Fu Panda is, on a fairly regular basis, a gorgeous game. It's less about exceptionally high polygon models or complex shaders (in truth the models don't quite hold up as well during close-ups as they do when the camera is pulled back to the default view) and more about painting a kind of visual feel. The very first level in the game, a daydream sequence, is rife with bloomed-out shafts of light. Bloom is a visual effect that has been grossly overused this generation, but for whatever reason, it feels like Luxoflux treated the effect with a little temperance, and it makes the visuals better for it.
It helps too that the game sports some decent animations, solid lip synching (with sound-alike voices that are actually convincing -- gasp!), plenty of variety to the environments, regularly throws something more than just a straight platformer at you, and does it all in rapid-fire succession. Sure, it's a natural byproduct of our ADD-addled kids that things have to change like so many TV channels in rapid-fire succession, but at least Kung Fu Panda manages to do it with some tact.
The game is simple, though, and maybe that's why it was able to dodge the usual licensed pitfalls. Po, the wanna-be Dragon Warrior, has a very basic set of commands that branch out into juggles, ground stomps, rolling attacks and so on, all accomplished with just a few face buttons. Banking coins during the course of a level will allow him to power-up or unlock these attacks, as well as beef up his health, chi (read: special moves meter) and so on. Like the rest of the game, it doesn't try to be anything all-encompassing, merely managing to serve its basic purpose with just a bit of flair and minimal fuss.
It's this reserved approach to everything in the game that staves off the doldrums of normal licensed games; you run around, you jump on stuff (and sometimes you jump again because if there's one part of the game that lacks polish, it's the collision on stuff like boxes), you'll roll around, you'll fight dudes, you square off in some nifty arena battles and you'll unlock a handful of local multiplayer mini-games. It's all decent stuff, never meant to be too involved, but because it all looks and plays so well, it's not really offensive, nor is it underwhelming.
Kung Fu Panda just shows that some keen design self-restrictions, a willingness to mix things up and an approach to visuals and sound that roundly reject the idea that they have to be pared down just because they're a kids game. The game feels like it was a labor of love, and in the end it delivers a short-but-sweet little adventure that does both the movie and the target audience justice. Nice work, guys.
It wouldn't be completely unfair to say that Activision has rode this wave of ignorance all the way to the bank, regularly giving some publisher an insanely small window with which to develop an interactive take on the Dreamworks Animation film du jour. Almost universally, these games have been at the very least painful exercises in the futility of trying to rush a game out in time for a movie. It's not most of them were bad because they were just crappy games, but they often needed far more time to bake before being shoved out onto shelves. And yes, there were plenty of games that were just plain bad.
Here's the thing, though: Kung Fu Panda is not one of those games. It's not a mind-blowing game either, but it manages to succeed where most licensed games have failed time and time again: it's fun -- and fun for all ages, even if the aim was obviously at a much younger crowd than any of us in the office. That it also looks fantastic was an unexpected bonus, but developer Luxoflux apparently took the critical thrashing of stuff like True Crime as a challenge to clean up their besmirched name.
Clearly there is some talent in that studio, particularly in the art department. Kung Fu Panda is, on a fairly regular basis, a gorgeous game. It's less about exceptionally high polygon models or complex shaders (in truth the models don't quite hold up as well during close-ups as they do when the camera is pulled back to the default view) and more about painting a kind of visual feel. The very first level in the game, a daydream sequence, is rife with bloomed-out shafts of light. Bloom is a visual effect that has been grossly overused this generation, but for whatever reason, it feels like Luxoflux treated the effect with a little temperance, and it makes the visuals better for it.
It helps too that the game sports some decent animations, solid lip synching (with sound-alike voices that are actually convincing -- gasp!), plenty of variety to the environments, regularly throws something more than just a straight platformer at you, and does it all in rapid-fire succession. Sure, it's a natural byproduct of our ADD-addled kids that things have to change like so many TV channels in rapid-fire succession, but at least Kung Fu Panda manages to do it with some tact.
The game is simple, though, and maybe that's why it was able to dodge the usual licensed pitfalls. Po, the wanna-be Dragon Warrior, has a very basic set of commands that branch out into juggles, ground stomps, rolling attacks and so on, all accomplished with just a few face buttons. Banking coins during the course of a level will allow him to power-up or unlock these attacks, as well as beef up his health, chi (read: special moves meter) and so on. Like the rest of the game, it doesn't try to be anything all-encompassing, merely managing to serve its basic purpose with just a bit of flair and minimal fuss.
It's this reserved approach to everything in the game that staves off the doldrums of normal licensed games; you run around, you jump on stuff (and sometimes you jump again because if there's one part of the game that lacks polish, it's the collision on stuff like boxes), you'll roll around, you'll fight dudes, you square off in some nifty arena battles and you'll unlock a handful of local multiplayer mini-games. It's all decent stuff, never meant to be too involved, but because it all looks and plays so well, it's not really offensive, nor is it underwhelming.
Kung Fu Panda just shows that some keen design self-restrictions, a willingness to mix things up and an approach to visuals and sound that roundly reject the idea that they have to be pared down just because they're a kids game. The game feels like it was a labor of love, and in the end it delivers a short-but-sweet little adventure that does both the movie and the target audience justice. Nice work, guys.
