‘Panda’ game surprisingly well done

• By JOSHUA WASCOM
• Special to 2theadvocate.com
• Published: Jul 15, 2008 - UPDATED: 2:30 p.m.

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Video game tie-ins are inevitable for animated movies these days, and “Kung-Fu Panda” is no exception. Most tie-ins are really half-hearted attempts at game-making, relying on the influence of children over their parents’ purchasing power to sell a few copies of a bad game.

“Kung-Fu Panda,” on the other hand, is an exception, as it proves itself to be a surprisingly entertaining game that works even without the movie to support it.

In many tie-in games, the developers never seem to know quite what to do with the story, and they often seem to just shove in some poorly contextualized bits from the movie, then go back to messing up the gameplay.

In “Kung-Fu Panda,” the story is handled very well, making sense on its own, but also integrating well with the source material. There are a few genuinely funny moments, and good voice actors were used for all the main characters, which has a huge positive impact on making this game feel like more than an afterthought to a summer blockbuster. There is even an absolutely uncanny Jack Black impersonator.

“Kung-Fu Panda” not only succeeds in the story, but also in the actual moment-to-moment gameplay. It is, at its most basic, a fairly run-of-the-mill 3-D action platform, but it layers a number of simple fighting mechanics well, keeping the player engaged and thinking during the fights. A simple RPG-like system of power upgrading has also been implemented, allowing the player to improve the strength of various attacks and special moves. This serves to draw in the player’s interest on a different level as they plan how to focus their upgrades.

Levels are also well-designed. Most of the environments have a unique feel to them, and the game gives the player just enough in the way of optional quests to distract from the underlying repetitiveness of many goals. Sometimes the standard gameplay disappears altogether, and the player finds himself using a giant firework-blasting turret to cover a friend or controlling a flying ally in an extended aerial chase sequence. These tangents never last long enough to outstay their welcome, but they do break up the basic gameplay well, pulling the player away before he has a chance to tire of the underlying mechanics.

Overall, the gameplay isn’t anything amazing or unique, but it is fun most of the time, and that’s the point of the game. The learning curve is pretty shallow, and the mandatory tutorial levels are probably the part of the game that drags the most.

The difficulty level never gets very high, but this is to be expected from a game whose primary audience is children.

The game includes a number of multiplayer options (local only, no online play). These include direct battles through the game’s normal combat system, a shooting gallery, versions of Othello and Mahjong, and other similar mini-games. All of them are fun, particularly with the full complement of four people, but none of them are really compelling counter-arguments to good party games already available.

In short, it’s not hard to have a good time with “Kung-Fu Panda.” It probably doesn’t have sufficient replayability for any adults, but it’s definitely worth a rent, and maybe a purchase for those with kids who really enjoyed the movie.